[jake14mw]

Looking for some advice here. I coach youth basketball and I like to video some of our games to be able to watch the video back later. Last year, I caught a great deal on a low end refurb Canon HD camcorder, and was very happy with the video I got out of it. Good PQ, good sound, easy to use. Somehow I lost it though.

Now I’m thinking that I could just use my K-01 instead of buying another camcorder. It’s not too demanding of a situation, other than the low light. I simply mount it on a tripod, and have someone slowly pan back and forth to follow the action. The 40xs lens will probably be too tight, so I will use a Tamron 28-75 2.8 at 28mm. To give an idea of the light levels, based on stills that I have taken before, most of the gyms would require ISO 3200, f3.5, to get 1/350th of a second.

Does anyone see any issues with doing this? The games consist of four quarters with each quarter lasting about 15 minutes. Can you suggest any particular settings that might be best? Would 720p at 60fps be best? Use the manual setting and set the SS at 1/125? Any advice people have for me would be greatly appreciated!

[RonHendriks1966]

Well I never used it inside, but I would say that you have no trouble. I use it for outside video recording. I use it in Av and set the aperture. You could also well use it in P, since you don't have the most choices to work with. In Av I would set it at f3.5 or so and just let the camera make the other choices.

From last weeks UEFA Women's Champions League game in Liège in Belgium:

You Tube

You Tube

[gylfimag]

The K-01 should easily be up to this. I have used it to shoot videos of kids' sports indoors without any problems. I usually use a monopod and the DA 18-250 so that I can both zoom in on individual players and zoom out to show the whole field. The only problem I have run into is related to focusing, you have to be careful there as the camera does not adjust the focus automatically when you are taping. Also, turn off shake reduction for video. I usually use the full HD setting at 30 fps but 720p at 60 fps should work very well too. Setting the exposure, ISO and white balance manually can be an advantage but I would suggest leaving it all on auto at first when you are getting used to using the camera for videos. Under normal lighting for indoor sports it will select fairly high iso but the image quality is still quite reasonable in my opinion.

[jake14mw]

Thanks, I will turn off the shake reduction. If I have the camera up a half dozen rows of bleachers near center court, I wonder if I will have to worry about anything being out of focus? If I can get to f5.6 at 28mm, I would think that would keep everything in reasonable focus? Nice video Ron!

[gylfimag]

At this aperture and focal length you won't have to worry about refocusing, there will be sufficient depth of field. If you, say, focus on something 25 ft / 7.5 m away, everything from approximately 12 feet / 3.5 m to infinity will be in focus.

[jake14mw]

I know it does vary, but can anyone give me an idea of how many GB 15 minutes of video at 720p 60fps should take up?

[RonHendriks1966]

So I made my second video with the same team, Standard de Liège:

You Tube

You Tube

This time in the BeNe League, wich is the women's soccer league at the toplevel off The Netherlands and Belgium.