New ... Need help Shooting my sons hockey game

hockeymom724

Hi,
I'm new to anything more then Auto focus photography. I have a D3200 and a 55-200 Dx lense. Is this lense a good choice for a hockey game? What should the camera settings be? Thank you in advance for all help

bruto

It will depend on the available light in part. The lens is probably long enough, but you will always be challenged if the light is poor, because of its slow aperture, and it may also be slower to auto focus than is ideal.

You will need a fairly fast shutter speed to stop motion. 1/250 or so is probably as slow as you can go, and may be slower than ideal. For this reason, you will likely have to crank the ISO up higher than is ideal and end up with more digital noise than you'd like. Double check your images and if the shutter speed is not enough to avoid blur, increase it. It's better to have a sharp noisy shot than a blurry shot with less noise.

Before you start, see if you can determine what the highest ISO you can stand is. Go to the menu and set that as the top limit for Auto ISO, and then use Auto ISO. Set the camera to shutter priority mode, and set the auto focus to "C" continuous focus, which tracks motion. Set the focus to "Dynamic" mode so that it will continue to track if the subject if he or she moves out of the center zone.

Metering mode may depend on how well the venue is lit. If the subject on the ice is a good bit brighter than the surroundings, you may find that matrix metering overexposes a little, needlessly correcting exposure for the stands and background at the expense of the subject. If this is the case, try spot metering.

Set your shutter to continuous mode, but keep bursts short so as not to overload the buffer. Shoot 3 or four at a time.