Ideas for shooting a basketball game

[dpinion]

Ok,

So I was invited to take some shots of a basketball game. One of the dads liked the look of some football/soccer pics I have taken in the past, so thought I could do it. Of course this is a bit of a different beast due to the lighting. Here is what I have available to me:

Nikon D40 and D50

Nikkor 35mm 1.8 prime
Nikkor 60mm 2.8 prime

Nikon 55mm - 200mm f/4-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR

and the kit 18-55mm

I am guessing the last 2 are out as options due to the lighting (ISO max for the camera is 3200 and that is pretty noisy. I am assuming that I will stick the 35mm on one for close "under the goal" shots and use the 60mm for shots a little farther out. Any other ideas/thoughts on how to get the best results? Should the 60mm be fast enough for the lighting?

[lputman]

I'm not familiar with the Nikon brand but I do shoot basketball frequently. I can shoot very well with ISO 3200 on my camera now. I still need to use noise reduction. I shoot with either my 50 1.4 or 100 2.0, it just depends on how I feel at the time. Ideally, an 85 is great for basketball on cropped body cameras. You might be able to make it with the 60 2.8 but that really depends upon the lighting at the school, our home gym has horrific lighting and some of the schools that we visit have absolutely fantastic lighting. I don't shoot with a slower shutter speed than 1/500, I try to maintain a 1/640 shutter speed so whatever combo of ISO and aperture give me that, that's what I go for. I'm not a rapid fire shooter and I shoot RAW. I use the center focus point and focus on the player's chest. I try to shoot from either end of the court and try to be where the 3 point line meets the baseline. Sometimes that can't happen because of cheerleaders or other obstacles or just plain lack of room.

Here's one from our most recent games, an Xmas tournament at a gym that has better lighting than our home gym:

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/2.0
Focal Length 100 mm
ISO Speed 1600

[inkista]

Originally Posted by lputman

Ideally, an 85 is great for basketball on cropped body cameras. You might be able to make it with the 60 2.8 but that really depends upon the lighting...

Lori, the 85/1.8 on the Nikon side of the fence is AF, not AF-S, so it won't autofocus on a D40/D60. My other guess is that the 60/2.8 is a Macro lens, and so its AF performance won't be particularly zippy, alas. But the plan sounds solid, given the gear limitations.

There are no exact equivalents to the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM and EF 100 f/2 USM on the Nikon side of the fence. The 85/1.8 is AF (i.e., doesn't have AF-S [think: USM] and won't autofocus on the entry-level bodies); and the 105 f/2 DC is more like our EF 135mm f/2L, both image quality and pricewise, and is also AF, not AF-S. Nikon's been going through the lineup and making G/AF-S versions of their primes, but they're starting from the top with lenses like the 24/1.4, 35/1.4, and 85/1.4 (equivalent to the Canon 24L, 35L, and 85L).

dpinion, the 35/1.8 is probably the best bet, and what you may want to consider is renting a 70-200 f/2.8 zoom lens, and/or upgrading to a D90 if you're going to do a lot more basketball shooting.

You may, in the meantime, still want to try the 55-200 and getting some practice with noise processing and doing push-processing (i.e., underexpose at high ISOs, shooting RAW, and then increasing the exposure in post--it adds even more noise than bumping up the ISO directly, though).

[lputman]

Thank you, Inkista, for jumping in. You very well know that I'm a Canonite

[dpinion]

Thanks for the responses! lputman, that was a very nice shot. What do you use for noise reduction? Alas the D50 will only go to 1600, so I am also limited on the shutter speed. The D40 will go to 3200 (what they call "HI1") but there is a LOT of noise at that point.If I try reducing it using lightroom, I get an image that looks a bit "cartoony" where it is very apparent that heavy processing was done.

dpinion, the 35/1.8 is probably the best bet, and what you may want to consider is renting a 70-200 f/2.8 zoom lens, and/or upgrading to a D90 if you're going to do a lot more basketball shooting.

Oh how I wish inkista. I do have a D90 (well, the company I work for does) but I would be responsible if something happened to it, and right now I just don't have the cash. The same with the 70-200. Would LOVE to have that one, but even renting it is prohibitively expensive as these are "get my feet wet" shoots and I am not being paid.

Thanks for the advice though! Will definitely consider it

[lputman]

I use Lightroom for noise reduction. I haven't upgraded to LR3 yet, which is supposed to have better noise reduction than LR2.