Action shots in artificial light.

[IndyAnna]

My photo interests range from outdoor wildlife to indoor sports. I currently use a Nikon 8700. I have tried for years to take pictures of nieces and nephews playing various sports from football and soccer to basketball and volleyball. When it comes to getting the shots in any type of artificial light--indoors or night games-- they either end up bright and blurred or dark green. I was wondering if I just have not mastered the settings available on my current camera or if I need to consider different equipment. I have tried many combinations to no avail. Most of the gyms discourage the use of a flash. Thank you for any input anyone might have.
I am very new to this web sight.

[zona5101]

Hi and welcome to DPS,
Hard to say exactly if its your settings but without an external flash you are asking alot for indoor action shots from that camera. It has limited iso range (50 to 400) and although it is a relative fast f2.8 @35mm, zooming to a tele setting and the lens is at f4.2... some pretty tough obsticals to overcome.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by IndyAnna

- they either end up bright and blurred or dark green.

The bright/blurred and dark, we may not be able to help you with. But the green probably means that you're using the automatic white balance, rather than a setting that's more appropriate for the inside of a gym. You may want to try using the "flourescent" setting, or learning how to use a custom white balance in that situation. This is the flip side of "all my photos are orangy.", where you want to use the "Tungsten" setting.

The "bright and blurred" issue is what happens when there's not quite enough light to shoot by and they don't let you use a flash. Your exposure is therefore limited to three things: the iso setting you're using, the aperture you're using, and the shutter speed you're using. A P&S camera, especially when it's zoomed in, typically has a pretty small aperture, which forces you, even with a high iso setting, to use a long shutter speed. If the shutter speed is slower than 1/100-1/60s, camera shake blur and subject motion blur are both likely to register in the shot. Hence the "blurred". But at least you got the bright.

If you try to force the shutter speed higher, you're probably hitting the limits of your iso and aperture and still not getting enough light. Hence the "dark".

A digital SLR won't make this a piece of cake either, but you'll have more "elbow room" in two very important ways: the usable iso range is much higher. These days, shooting at iso 1600 or even 3200 on a dSLR is pretty clean and usable if you know how to expose and post-process properly. And because you can switch lenses, you could use one with a much wider maximum aperture. Fast lenses ain't cheap, though.

Low-light action shooting (indoor sports, stage shooting, etc.) unfortunately, is the most demanding type of photography possible when it comes to lenses, because you want both reach and speed in a lens. Either one tends to be costly, but in combination, the prices can get very high. The ideal lens for this type of situation is probably a 70-200 f/2.8 lens, and those go for around $1600. You can get away with a prime (lens that doesn't zoom) for about $300-$500, but it's harder to frame things to your liking without cropping afterwards. And that doesn't include the cost of the camera body.

[IndyAnna]

Thank you both for your input! I figured I would need to make the switch. I have been setting a little aside each month to upgrade to an SLR but have not yet reached some of the figures I've been seeing. So does any one have any thoughts about a Canon Rebel T2i or in that family or a Nikon D90 with appropriate lenses. I am more than willing to upgrade but I am trying to establish some achievable goals and a time frame. I have read review after review on many models but would like to narrow my choices before getting some hands on looks. Friends remind me that this is just my hobby and don't go overboard, but there's so much joy in getting a good shot to enlarge, frame and give as gifts to family and friends. Thanks again for your responses.