Lens for indoor volleyball

missylrn

Hello
Very new to photography. Big leap from using iPhone to a camera! Looking for the best lens (economical) to purchase for indoor volleyball. I have a Canon T6 1300 camera with a 18-55 and 75-300 lens.
Thanks
Melissa

PBked

Hi @MISSYLRN
I don't think you need to purchase another lens. Your 18-55 is more than capable. If you want a little more zoom, then your 75-300mm used around the 100mm mark is also capable.
What is more important is your set-up. You need to be looking at a shutter speed of at least 1/500 to 1/1000 for action shots so you need to be in Tv shutter priority mode. Your aperture needs to be around F3.5 or F4 to provide enough depth of field. You should set your ISO to Auto.
Because you are shooting indoors the aperture and shutter settings I have suggested may result in a high ISO reading (higher ISO means more noise in your photo) You can tweek your shutter speed to see if it lowers the ISO to what you consider an acceptable noise level. You need to be in the venue to make these adjustments. It is worth taking test shots - you can easily delete them later.
Another issue you need to consider is white balance. Indoor lighting can produce colour casts in your image. Try taking test shots with the different presets. If you still get a colour cast, then you can set up a custom white balance. This is a lot easier to do than to explain here, but it will be covered in your manual.
You will also need to set your camera to continuous shooting and your focus method to AI Servo.
Now you have your camera setup, here are a few points of technique:-
1) Try to capture your subject either moving towards you or at a slight angle to you. This makes it easier to get a moving subject than if it is moving horizontally across your frame.
2) Pre-determine a point on your volleyball court to focus on and hope that a subject moves into that field.
3) Try panning ie. follow your subject as it moves and snap when you want to take the shot. With continuous shooting enabled you should get some good frames.
Normally, I would advise shooting in RAW quality, but in sports and action sequences you do not get many RAW shots before the buffer fills so it is better to stick to JPG quality.
I know this may seem like a lot to take in, but it isn't really and the suggestions I have made make for better shots than just using the little green sports mode on your dial.
Good luck and happy shooting
Regards
PBked

missylrn

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. We are heading to a tournament next weekend and will use your tips. Thanks again!
Melissa