[TYOsborn]

Hello everyone,

My granddaughter plays basketball every Saturday afternoon in the school gym. I've been trying to find the right settings. My camera is a Pentax K200D with lenses Pentax DA 18-250mm as well as the Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8. I've been trying different settings to freeze the action and also use available light. I'm not satisfied with what I've come up with. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
Tara

[bbpa103]

Without flash, suggest the Tamron at 70 mm or more as required, F2.8 or one or two more stops, ISO 800 or 1600, and as a fast a shutter that this will allow, learn how to use manual white balance setting or try some test shots at various white balance settings until close to what it actually looks like colour wise. If you shoot RAW you can tweak this afterwards but if you shoot at the same gym a lot it is quite handy to set the manual white balance as the camera will remember this. (Just remember to go back to AWB when done at the gym). Try focussing on a certain spot on the floor and switching camera to manual focus mode and then shoot action as it come to that location.

Try capturing shots at the peak of action - also try panning.

Try a few with the flash too to compare.

Others will prefer shooting in sports mode which uses continuous auto focus.

I have my eye on that Tamron and would like to hear more of your results as you learn what works best for you.

Team shots - the wide angle lens and flash

Good luck. Ken.