Action photos and ISO settings

I don't want to derail the Nikon D3100 thread so I decided to start this thread to get specific answers and advice regarding my ISO settings.

I would guess that Bwana will be the perfect person to ask because he does this for a living but I'm sure lots of you guys have enough experience to give me some solid advice.

I will post photos of my first ever action shoot in the next two posts and would like to get some advice on how I can improve.

Bwana already pointed out to me that I should have raised my ISO setting even higher than it was.

Just some background regarding why I picked 400/800 ISO for these photos:
Last time I took action photos with an SLR was with a Canon EOS 300 and I used ISO 400 film at the time. After that I switched to a bridge camera which could not shoot ISO higher than 800 and when I did shoot at 800 it looked crap. Grainy as hell and no sharpness.

So the reason I shot at 400-800(as light faded) is because I was afraid it might come out too grainy and I will lose some of the sharpness. Unfortunately I didn't take the laptop along so I couldn't download and check photos immediately. And the camera screen does not give a true reflection of the photo. Otherwise I might have tried the higher settings.
Next time I will be sure to test out ISO 1600 or even ISO 3200

Maybe I don't fully understand ISO settings. If you get that impression please give me a crash course.

Please share how you think I can improve on my action photography as I will be taking lots of rugby photos in the near future when the school season starts again.

Side note: I am currently saving up for a better lens but it might take a while to get all the cash together. So I am stuck with my 55-200mm Kit lens for now. (I am looking to rent a lens from Outdoor Photo for one day just to see what I am missing)

Below are some of the photos I took at the rugby. First action shoot I ever tried.

Time was between 16h30 and 19h00 with natural light fading fast.
It was overcast for 95% of the photos and with the floodlights on.

Used 55-200mm Kit Lens for all the shots with ISO between 400 and 800 as light faded more and more.

The shot with the rugby ball and arm was cropped 100%. ISO was 800.

Let me know what you think. Honest opinions please.

They look great, even the crop. You could print those.

I think with modern DSLRs it's safe to go to ISO 800 with almost no loss in quality, and ISO 1600 is still very much usable.

You lucky SLR guys

I took a few at the World Cup at 800 and 1600 and they're not even 'usable' on a bridge

Dolby said:

You lucky SLR guys

I took a few at the World Cup at 800 and 1600 and they're not even 'usable' on a bridge

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That's the exact reason I was afraid of going higher than 800. The photos I took with my bridge on ISO 800 was terrible.

I still have a lot to learn about my camera and I think step one is never ever to compare it with a bridge again.

APoc84 said:

That's the exact reason I was afraid of going higher than 800. The photos I took with my bridge on ISO 800 was terrible.

I still have a lot to learn about my camera and I think step one is never ever to compare it with a bridge again.

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Yea - I do believe a bridge has it's use though - and was warned strongly by everyone here to avoid it, but I bought it anyway I don't really regret it either.

My budget then was R7,000.00- max - and the bridge was R6,300.00 while an entry level SLR (1000D?) was R5,000.00 or so. So it was or the other at that stage.

I found the bridge camera 'weaknesses' within days and sensor size is a HUGE one. However a friend has the Nikon 3100 and I was amazed at how different his high ISO shots are!

Dolby said:

You lucky SLR guys

I took a few at the World Cup at 800 and 1600 and they're not even 'usable' on a bridge

Click to expand...

I finally got around to working on my bridge and it only makes me want an SLR so much more The sad thing is if i just added an extra 1 or 2 k when i bought my bridge i could have rather gone for a nice entry-level slr and then got the lenses later. damnit

Positively Negative said:

I finally got around to working on my bridge and it only makes me want an SLR so much more The sad thing is if i just added an extra 1 or 2 k when i bought my bridge i could have rather gone for a nice entry-level slr and then got the lenses later. damnit

Click to expand...

I was opposite ; I didn't want ultra budget ... I preferred the bridge.

I had a (equivilant) 560mm optical zoom, RAW shooting, HD 1080 recording, 1st / 2nd curtain flash (not as cool as I thought it was and a few other features which the ultra budget didn't have.

These are just some junkers that I have in my library but CRANK THAT ISO UP!




. . . but only if you have to.

Wow. 3200 ISO and so sharp. I would guess the lens was a big factor there.

I also notice your Shutter speed was not very fast with any of those shots.
All the photos I took was at around 1250/1 and only much later when the light got really bad, did I go as low as 800/1
Was this possible, mainly because of your high ISO or is the low F stop also a big factor in that.

Thanks for the advice. I seriously need to attend a workshop or something to get my head around all this stuff.

APoc84 said:

Wow. 3200 ISO and so sharp. I would guess the lens was a big factor there.

I also notice your Shutter speed was not very fast with any of those shots.
All the photos I took was at around 1250/1 and only much later when the light got really bad, did I go as low as 800/1
Was this possible, mainly because of your high ISO or is the low F stop also a big factor in that.

Thanks for the advice. I seriously need to attend a workshop or something to get my head around all this stuff.

Click to expand...

The camera is the biggest factor when it comes to higher ISOs - but having a fast lens helps. I only go that high because I need to keep the shutter speed as high as I can. Those shutter speeds were as high as I could comfortably get while still keeping down the ISO.

When I upgrade the 7D to a 1DMk4 I plan on going even higher.

Even in broad daylight I'll crank up the ISO.


My 600mm is in reality a 300mm with a 2x TC so right off the bat the F2.8 drops down two stops to a f5.6.

Another question for the Pros.

What release mode do you use most of the time? Especially for sports/action photography.

Do you you prefer continuous shooting at 3 or 4 FPS or do you try and get your timing right and just snap the one picture at the right time?

Continuous shooting during the action. . . at 10FPS - if you've got it you might as well use it. You can always delete the duds later.

bwana said:

Continuous shooting during the action. . . at 10FPS - if you've got it you might as well use it. You can always delete the duds later.

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Showoff

I agree. Deleting the duds are better than missing the money shot.