Sports Lenses

bon

I received a D3100 as a gift and it came with the 18-55mm lens, but I am looking for a lens I can use for shooting hockey shots of my son. Not all rinks are well lit so I'm not sure what I should be looking for. I don't have a big budget for a lens, but I'm hoping there is one out there at a reasonable price that will do what I need.

Riddelske

My advice is to look at the Sigma/Tamron range; they are reasonably priced. You will need at least 300mm depending on how far away you are from the play area. The main problem is lighting, so you will need a low aperture lens, but as we know they cost big bucks.

Personally I have stayed clear from shooting indoor sports as the equipment required is costly to produce good quality shots. Some may disagree with me.

I can't name a decent lens in budget of that range as I don't own one. I love my Nikon 70-300mm and it produces some good images, but mostly taken outside in good light.
That cost me £233.

I'm sure someone else may have some ideas they could give.
Regards.

Throughmyeyes

I am a beginner at the D3100. I need some advice on proper setting when taking sports pictures on a soccer field. The game starts before the sun goes down and by half time I am dealing with stadium lights. I am shooting with a AF-S 55-200mm DX. Am I dreaming to think I can get good shots with this lens? Would the Nikon 70-300mm help? My pictures are grainy and blurry most of the time, even when taking pictures closer and the kids are just walking to the bench. I am also getting red eye and glare in almost all the pictures, even recently when I was taking a picture inside a building with okay lighting and people posing. I have played with the settings and used some advice from others, but I'm still not getting good pictures. I don't want to use a tripod if I can get away with it on the soccer field because I want to follow the action which is fast. I read to turn off VR on my lens. Is this useless for camera shake? If not what is it for then? In the past I took pictures during soccer games with a regular small digital camera and had better results, much better in fact. I read this camera is a lemon from someone who has been taking sports pictures with a D70 for 15 years and he tried the D3100 and can't seem to get the same results. Someone please help me! I know I am all over the place, so be kind and patient. Thanks!

Riddelske

TME,
Chill out my friend and relax. Grab a coffee and your camera. This camera is capable of taking some good quality pictures. The lens you have is good enough for a beginner. The 70-300mm is better but does the same job just at 100mm more.

Most beginners think that going from a point and shoot to a DSLR is a walk in the park. They grab it, put it on auto or any of the scene modes, and snap away hoping they will produce cracking images better than their basic camera just because its a DSLR. Point and shoot cameras were designed to be simple, so making that move is a big thing.

My advice is to step away from shooting in low light situations for the time being. It will make you more frustrated than ever if you keep producing shots that don't meet your expectations. I have advised others in the same way and I know how you feel; I was once the same. Take one subject and learn how to get good pictures in natural light. Don't put yourself in a position you feel uncomfortable.

If you want to take pictures of moving objects try cars. See if you can produce a range of shots using different shutter speeds. Turn the dial to S and then using the thumb dial change the speed. Use matrix metering mode, focus mode to AF-C and auto focus points. ISO 100 just to start off with. This plays a big part in quality of the shot too.

Take the camera handheld, turn VR on and shoot away. I would go out when there is good light but not mid-day as the light is too harsh. Try a couple hours before sunset or when it's cloudy.
VR stands for Vibration Reduction. When using a tripod this should be turned off as it will confuse the camera and may still cause blur.

The idea of the exercise is to understand how light will help you obtain a higher shutter speed to freeze the action. You should first understand how to take shots without using flash.
You will see a big difference in clarity and sharpness when outside in natural light.

I would love to help alot more but you can only take so much in, so little by little piece by piece.
I do agree that you may feel all over the place, but because your an enthusiast and want to learn quick it will feel like that. Take your time with one subject and learn about it. It doesn't have to be in-depth, just good enough so you understand. :)

Hope this has helped and please don't be frustrated with the camera, it's not worth it.

Regards.

Photosbyjojo

I shoot action rodeos and softball and now I'm moving into go cart racing and I would never leave home without my tripod or monopod. It's a great investment. Just a thought.

Throughmyeyes

Thanks so much for the advice, you are so kind. I will definitely do the exercise today. My son has soccer this evening and I may not be able to resist taking pictures again. I want so badly to learn this camera. My goal is to be able take good sports pictures by next year (my son's last year playing HS soccer). My long term goal is to take pictures professionally. I realize that experience, patience and taking the time to learn each element of the camera is in order. I am not the best at being patient when I want to do something well. I have a tripod, just have not used it yet. What is a monopod? I am sure you will be seeing more of me on this forum. I have already learned so much from reading here. Thanks again and have a wonderful day!

Riddelske

You're most welcome.

A monopod is like a tripod but has only 1 leg so its more portable and can practically be set up anywhere.

Regards.

Throughmyeyes

Riddelske can you explain focus mode to AF-C and auto focus points? I understand changing it to AF-C, but when you threw in auto focus points you lost me. I tried taking pictures at the game last week using your advice, but I must not be getting it because the pictures were black. I switched over to auto and the pictures turned out but blurry again and did not freeze the action. I am not going to give up, but I am frustrated again.

Riddelske

TME,
Do you have a Flickr account? If not get one and post your pictures on there that way I can view them and look at the camera data (known as EXIF) and can see what settings you were using.

Here are a few common problems why the shots were black (underexposed):
1. Shutter speed to fast
2. ISO not high enough to compensate for the light
3. Aperture to high (i.e. f/22)
4. Not enough light

I will explain a bit about each so you may get a better understanding.

In any of the pro modes you need to set the ISO. I advised you using ISO 100 assuming you had enough light.
What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations.
But the higher you go the more noise you have in the picture quality.

Shutter speed is the length of time that your image sensor sees the scene you’re attempting to capture. Shutter speed is measured in seconds, or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).
So the faster the shutter speed the less amount of light that enters.

Aperture in simple terms is the size of the hole. The smaller the number (f/1.8) the bigger the hole and the bigger the number (f/22) the smaller the hole.

So, in auto mode this decides everything from point one to three to obtain a correct exposure.

Did you attempt to take pictures of the cars? I will do another post soon to explain a bit more about the settings. I just wanted to explain a bit about why your images may have been black.

If you understand the relation of light and how it effects things in photography you will start to work out where you went wrong.

To freeze any action shot you need a higher shutter speed depending on how fast the subject is moving. So in the S mode you decide how fast the shutter speed is and the camera decides the aperture. Providing you have enough light you will get a sharp image.

Hope this helps a little.
Regards.

shunghila

I use the 55-200mm lens for just about everything. It is my favorite lens, and I'm able to get the blurred background when using the sports setting. Even if I use portrait I can get a blurred background. Works great for changing backgrounds to give my customers more of what they are looking for since I shoot a lot outdoors.