Question with my new f2.8 lens for Ice Hockey ?

Birty

Birty

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James
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Hi there, just bought my first f2.8 lens (70-200mm) - it will primarily be used for Ice Hockey.

My old lens was a 70-300mm F4-5.6 and I used to shoot in 'M' all the time as I needed to whack the ISO up as high as it would go and adjust the shutter speed as I was shooting to get the correct exposure as I couldn't get enough light into the lens.

But was just wondering if now i have the f2.8, is it better for me to use 'Av' - open the lens right up and let the camera control the shutter speed ?

Someone told me that if I do this that and am shooting a burst of images (my 30D will only do 5fps) that the camera struggles to expose the last few images correctly ?

Can anyone give me any advice plz ?

Thanks :thumbs:
 
I haven't shot ice hockey for a good while, but when I did I used shutter priority (Tv in Canon-speak) to ensure I got crisp pictures. I also used auto-ISO with 1600 set as the max and just let the camera figure out the aperture ... normally it would be at 2.8 or very close.

A pro-sports photographer that I was speaking to at one game said he always tried to use exposure lock, if the lighting was suitable. When he got into position he would compare the meter readinds around the rink and provided they were within +/- 1/2 stop of the centre he would meter for that and then hit the exposure lock button. He reckoned it helped to keep the fps up as the camera wasn't checking exposure before each shot. Don't know how reliable that hint was as I never tried it myself.

Hope that helps :D
 
Bristolian said:
I haven't shot ice hockey for a good while, but when I did I used shutter priority (Tv in Canon-speak) to ensure I got crisp pictures. I also used auto-ISO with 1600 set as the max and just let the camera figure out the aperture ... normally it would be at 2.8 or very close.

A pro-sports photographer that I was speaking to at one game said he always tried to use exposure lock, if the lighting was suitable. When he got into position he would compare the meter readings around the rink and provided they were within 1/2 stop of the centre he would meter for that and then hit the exposure lock button. He reckoned it helped to keep the fps up as the camera wasn't checking exposure before each shot. Don't know how reliable that hint was as I never tried it myself.

Hope that helps :D
Click to expand...
 
Whether you shoot AV or M would depend on conditions. If the rink is fairly evenly lit I'd shoot in M, once you've got the correct exposure you wont need to be worried about the difference between a close up of players in dark kits and wider shots with lots of ice.
 
A guy I know sent me some pics of some ice hockey they other night.

He was useing a 5d mk2 with a 70-200 f2.8 attached and was shooting iso 6400 to get the shutter speed up as its fast action game

Light was not that good, even around the ice but not that bright.
 
Definitely depends on the lighting in the arena and I'm sure you will have to shoot at highish ISO speeds even shooting wide open at f2.8 to get a decent shutter speed to freeze the action.
 
For continuous drive shooting the exposure mode makes no difference to the frame rate and the exposure is unaffected. The only thing that slows down the frame rate is longer shutter speeds, fairly obviously.

With Canons, the number of frames available in a single burst before the buffer fills is shown bottom-right of the viewfinder. This is substantially reduced with high ISO noise reduction enabled.

For ice hockey, the best mode is manual. On any auto mode the exposure will vary if there's a lot of white ice in the frame, leading to under-exposure. These places are notoriously poorly lit for photography, so set lowest f/number, ISO as high as you dare to get the shutter speed you need. Check the light level at each end and in the middle of the ice, and be ready adjust accordingly if needs be.
 
Thanks for all the great advice, I was at my son's game at Cleveleys yesterday and decided to try Av - below are some of the results ....

This one is straight out the camera - exposure seems not too bad but not great.....


IMG_7292 by Birty70, on Flickr

Again straight out of the camera, but seems a bit dark...


IMG_7334 by Birty70, on Flickr

This is the same image after a couple of presses of the Auto buttons in CS5 (I personally don't like what the Auto's have done but just wanted to show the difference)


IMG_7334a by Birty70, on Flickr

Still can't get my head around it - I am thinking that the ISO is my restriction now maybe ??

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated :thumbs:
 
Birty said:
Thanks for all the great advice, I was at my son's game at Cleveleys yesterday and decided to try Av - below are some of the results ....

This one is straight out the camera - exposure seems not too bad but not great.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/birty70/8441092895/
IMG_7292 by Birty70, on Flickr

Again straight out of the camera, but seems a bit dark...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/birty70/8441099493/
IMG_7334 by Birty70, on Flickr

This is the same image after a couple of presses of the Auto buttons in CS5 (I personally don't like what the Auto's have done but just wanted to show the difference)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/birty70/8441111215/
IMG_7334a by Birty70, on Flickr

Still can't get my head around it - I am thinking that the ISO is my restriction now maybe ??

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated :thumbs:
Click to expand...

The reason that the ones straight out the camera are a little dark is all the white has fooled the Meter into under exposing the shot, o would dial o. Approximately 1 to 1.5 stops of +ev.
 
Like Phil suggested, I would also use manual mode if the rink was evenly lit. Once you've figured out the right settings you'll rarely need to change them. It seems your shots are underexposed due to your camera metering with so much white ice in the arena.
If you like sticking to Av mode, you might want to think about dialling in some exposure compensation to achieve a better exposure. Good luck!

Edit: Dave beat me to it.
 
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Thanks for these guys but....

I get the top bit of what you said but sorry, what does this bit mean ??
Davec223 said:
o would dial o. Approximately 1 to 1.5 stops of +ev.
Click to expand...
??

and....

Im Bald Ok said:
you might want to think about dialling in some exposure compensation to achieve a better exposure. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I thought I did dial in some exposure compensation ?? :thinking:

Is there a way to interpret this on my Exif data ??
 
Birty said:
Thanks for these guys but....

I get the top bit of what you said but sorry, what does this bit mean ??
??

and....

I thought I did dial in some exposure compensation ?? :thinking:

Is there a way to interpret this on my Exif data ??
Click to expand...

Yes you can, I am on my phone so it is difficult, can you post it up we can have a look.
 
James if you look on your Flickr and Exif data, it's the exposure bias that will tell you what you dialled in. The goaltender shot was +1/3 EV. So try dialling in a bit more, maybe around a whole stop, possibly more depending on the situation.
 
OK I think that if light permits use M and if not and am using Av dial up the exposure compensation right up if need be ?? :thumbs:

Thanks again for all the great advice :thumbs:
 
If you're unsure which is the best level of exposure compensation to use you could try shooting a few test frames with AEB (auto exposure bracketing) enabled. That way you could get, for example, one frame 'correctly' exposed, one a half stop over-exposed and another a full stop over-exposed. Of course, you'll lose out in terms of your burst rate (since you'll be taking 3 exposures), but if you want to get a quick idea of the right level of exposure compensation to dial in this could help you out.
 
Birty said:
As the light changes at virtually every rink we go to, I think I will have to look up how to enable AEB and give it a go to see what the images look like.
Click to expand...

I'd also suggest that you use it a few times before you actually go to a rink so that you know how to quickly turn it on and off and to adjust the settings. That way you'll have more confidence when you're at the event and you'll be less likely to make a mistake.

Birty said:
Also I have just had one of my pictures used on a website (and I only sent them a low resolution version)

:D I'm well chuffed :D
Click to expand...

Congrats :thumbs:
 
Great result James, I hope they paid you for the usage.
 
Don't think it's been mentioned - but I'd suggest using spot-metering if using AV mode?
Should negate (some of) the influence all the white ice has on the overall scene.
 
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