Originally posted by Jim Peszek Hi Everyone
New to Pentax having just bought the K-30 with 18-55 and 50-200 lenses that came with the camera.
Love taking photos of my grandchildren playing soccer and ice hockey. Currently hockey season.
I know the 55-200 is optimally not the best lens for this application so I will likely buy the DA 60-250 or Sigma 70-200.
Not sure which one would be better though I think I'm leaning toward the Pentax 60-260 for the WR factor though it is not 2.8 as suggested for sports photography. For now, as I use the 50-200 for ice hockey, I basically set the scene mode to moving subject and play with the ISO. My shots are o.k.anyone have suggestions on different settings using this lens that will give me even better results ? Lastly, can I expect seriously better results if I purchase one of the other two discussed lenses ? Sorry, Kind of a novice here but I really want to max out the cameras capabilities.
For indoor sports where the lighting is poor you will be better served with an f2.8 lens.
The Sigma is recommended because the HSM focus is very quick and will be able to keep up with the movements of the players.
With your current 50-200 lens you can try the following instead of scene mode:
Set your camera to TAv mode with aperture wide open (rear wheel) and shutter speed (front wheel) in the 1/300 or higher range.
Let your ISO float as high as possible.
This will introduce grain but you may start to see sharper shots.
Also, play with the White Balance to see if some other setting than AWB gives more accurate color based on the lighting used.
With an f2.8 lens you will use the same settings but the faster aperture will let the ISO run at lower numbers, so less noise.
If the lighting is even throughout the rink you can switch to full manual control and select ISO yourself.
Indoors sports are tough. For outdoor sports in daylight you can get away with other lenses.
If you are shooting outdoors at night you will want a 2.8 lens.