New D5000 owner

[IndyAnna]

This is only my second time on this forum and I have enjoyed reading the feedback on other's threads.
After much internet research and speaking with any camera shop associates I could the predominant suggestion for my interests was the D5000. It seems to be as easy as my 8700 point and shoot but I still need a few pointers on how to get the really good action shots I desire. Right now I am practicing at WNBA games before I move on to the high school gyms where my niece will be playing volleyball and basketball. I still notice some blurring when I attempt to get some "stop action" shots. I am currently using the sports setting but I'm sure I could be using manual settings to my advantage. The lense I bought with the body is a Sigma DC 18-250mm with optical stabilizer. It gives me the ability to let the camera focus automatically or let my eyes be the judge.
I have read so much about shutter speeds, aperture, etc, but putting it all together has been a bit confusing for me I'm sorry to say.
Any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated as I know this camera can do so much more than what I have figured out so far. I would post some samples but I have not figured that out either.
I look forward to hearing from all my soon to be shutterbug friends. Thank you

[xd40c]

I have a D5000 too. It'll take all those action shots you want. Lighting is your big concern at a Bball game. Basically the lighting is pretty poor for stop action captures.

So how can we get as much light in as possible? Open the aperture as wide as possible for your shot. (And shoot in Aperature Mode. At least that's how I do it.)

Next you'll want to jack up the ISO. You can check out the higher ISOs but I wouldn't go above 800. Increasing the ISO will really speed up your shutter. High ISOs though

And finally try to get court-side!

Good luck...

[kuvahmagh]

I don't have any experience with that lens or camera but just from reading the specs I can tell you that lens will let you down when it comes to indoor/night sports. At the long end the largest aperture is 6.3. Its likely not a bad lens to general purpose shots as it covers an extensive range but it doesn't really do anything great, at least that is my impression looking at it and seeing similar lenses.

Ideally you want something in the range of 2.8 or better. The larger aperture will allow more light so you can up your shutter speed and stop the action.

In the mean time depending on where you are now you can up the ISO, this will allow you to up the shutter speed at the cost of more Noise. If the Noise is bad enough you may want to consider a Noise Removal Program, until recently I was a fan of Noise Ninja however if you use Phototshop I really can not recommend Topaz DeNoise enough, I used the 2 side by side with a trial license for Topaz and by the time it ran out I wasn't using NN anymore so I bought the full product, easily one of the better purchases I have made. Althouygh it only works with Photoshop as a plugin it is a great program.

I would also advise shooting in Shutter Priority, there isn't much point in Aperture Priority for you since the camera will already most likely pick the largest one for you anyways so you want to control the shutter speed to stop the action.

[OsmosisStudios]

Shutter priority, high ISO with a minimum shutter speed of 1/200 is preferred. That will likely mean some large-aperture lenses. Canon shooters have termed the 85mm f/1.8 their basketball lens, but the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 wont autofocus on your D5000 (the new, crazy expensive 85mm f/1.4 will).

Keep in mind: lighting at the WNBA level will be considerably better than in a high school gym

[IndyAnna]

Thank you, thank you to all who replied!
My subject matter is going to pose some challenges but I can hardly wait to try everyone's suggestions. Unfortunately my WNBA team was knocked out of the playoffs so I must now move on the the more dimly lit high school arenas.
Wish me luck