[Alex645]

Well the 50mm was the way to go for sure. Much lower ISO and really not too much cropping. I played a lot with settings and 1.8 is too shallow and hard to focus but 2.2 to 2.8 worked well. Shutter speed was another area I spun the wheel a lot and 1000 or 1250 worked well. I did do some playing with panning and slower too. Nothing great and the light was just as bad but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

They were not all like this but lots of bad light.




This was the best one.


And a crop


All in all a very good exercise and I at least I know my inclination towards my next lens being the Pentax 50-135 f2.8 is spot on!

Thank you so much for your help!

Awesome! Yeah, that ceiling light is pathetic, but I love your slow shutter blur shot. To me, it takes it from the typical fast shutter technically good to the slow shutter and the art of photography. Nice!

[pathdoc]

One thing I will be very interested to see with the release of the full frame is a battle between the new 70-200 on the full frame setting and the 50-135 on crop. We know who will win the pixel peeping war, but it will be interesting to see if lesser sizes turn out significantly different and where the cutoff is on screen and in print.

[RGlasel]

This shot was at ISO 8000, I used noise reduction and changed the white balance for the second version below. It was at the opposite end of the court from where I was standing, so I was zoomed out to 135mm, which is f5.6 on the 18-135. My advice is to not worry about pixel peeping, people will most likely be looking at your photos on a website or printed no larger than 4x6. The most critical and difficult part is getting players in focus while they are actually doing something, not just standing there. If you can reliably nail focus with a lens at f2.8, great, otherwise give up a stop of light and use a slower lens with better AF.

I tried to position myself about 10 feet back from one of the corners of the court, and never wanted to go wider than 50mm. A 50-135mm f2.8 zoom with a DC autofocus motor would be ideal in my opinion for APS-C. It isn't the speed that the players are moving at that creates challenges, it is the way the action suddenly moves around the court, requiring the photographer to zoom and move the camera quickly that makes framing your photos difficult. When I look at Sports Illustrated in the doctor's office, it seems that three-quarters of the basketball images are of instantly recognizable faces lining up to take free throws. Takes all of the fun out of it in my opinion.

[Kevwaly]

These are shots with the old F 50 1.7. Fast on the K3. I would hesitate to get the 50-135 for sports and action. (For all else, great!) It is considered slow to focus.

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[charchri4]

Holy buckets Kevwaly those are epic shots! In my minds eye that is what I was going to come home with. Just outstanding work there.

I did find the 50mm slow to focus and and with the lower f stop lots more focus problems. I did try my 16/85 with no converter on it for a few shots but not good with the f back over 4.5 and the iso back over 12K. With the Bigma shooting birds in flight the only way to get them sharp is manual so I'm kind of used to that and might just try one of my old manual hand me down lenses and see what happens.

I can't tell you how interesting this process has been and to see shots like you guys are posting here is super helpful!

[rtmarwitz]

charchri4 You did well given your conditions.. Some pretty poor lighting to deal with and some of the lights were even out. Most of the places I've shot had metal halides. Biggest problems I ran into is that when the bulbs are replaced they are different frequency than other bulbs. So you get lots of different color in your shots.

Yes nice shots indeed Kevwaly.

What I've gleaned from this set of posts is to open my ISO up a bit and set my aperture instead of let it float. Most if not all my pictures last year were f1.8 when I let the camera set it. As I looked through my shots again a lot of times their hands/arms between me and the camera. Mostly timing, but since most players are right handed positioning can play a factor in this too.

[dadipentak]

There's a Sigma 50-150 for sale in the marketplace--better for hoops than the 50-135 imho (and not easy to find.)

[Kevwaly]

Holy buckets Kevwaly those are epic shots! In my minds eye that is what I was going to come home with. Just outstanding work there.

I did find the 50mm slow to focus and and with the lower f stop lots more focus problems. I did try my 16/85 with no converter on it for a few shots but not good with the f back over 4.5 and the iso back over 12K. With the Bigma shooting birds in flight the only way to get them sharp is manual so I'm kind of used to that and might just try one of my old manual hand me down lenses and see what happens.

I can't tell you how interesting this process has been and to see shots like you guys are posting here is super helpful!

Thank you! I still think you could get some great shots with the 50 1.8. Set the AF setting to AF-C. Also, you could set the back button focus and then hold it with your right thumb. (When in AF-C, it constantly refocuses as action happens) The forum title to search to help you set up back button focus is "Perfect focus everytime". This is a great way to focus, as opposed to shutter half-press. I'll never go back. Hope this helps.

---------- Post added 12-13-15 at 07:19 PM ----------

Also, I rechecked settings for most gyms... Always manual: use spot/ center focus point, F 2.8, 1/800, ISO 3200, then slight noise reduction = perfect for most gyms

[charchri4]

There's a Sigma 50-150 for sale in the marketplace--better for hoops than the 50-135 imho (and not easy to find.)

For sure and I bumped it with a comment that $530 this time of the year isn't going to happen but would love it to! I really could have used it in church today.

---------- Post added 12-13-15 at 11:45 PM ----------

Thank you! I still think you could get some great shots with the 50 1.8. Set the AF setting to AF-C. Also, you could set the back button focus and then hold it with your right thumb. (When in AF-C, it constantly refocuses as action happens) The forum title to search to help you set up back button focus is "Perfect focus everytime". This is a great way to focus, as opposed to shutter half-press. I'll never go back. Hope this helps.

---------- Post added 12-13-15 at 07:19 PM ----------

Also, I rechecked settings for most gyms... Always manual: use spot/ center focus point, F 2.8, 1/800, ISO 3200, then slight noise reduction = perfect for most gyms

Copy that AFC and SEL M with BBF but I did not know you could keep the button pushed all the time and it would track. I was just bumping the button till it hit the spot I wanted then not again unless there was lots of movement. So you you use spot metering then, one of the SELs or?

[Kevwaly]

Copy that AFC and SEL M with BBF but I did not know you could keep the button pushed all the time and it would track. I was just bumping the button till it hit the spot I wanted then not again unless there was lots of movement. So you you use spot metering then, one of the SELs or?

Yes, I use spot metering for sports. Forgive... SEL ?

[charchri4]

I can't remember who or why the suggestion was made to use SEL metering but this is it.

[Kevwaly]

I can't remember who or why the suggestion was made to use SEL metering but this is it.

I understand now. Thanks. My understanding, could be wrong, but the screen you put up is not about metering but about 3 options (with variants) for focus points. The first options: focus tracking (the left two options), and then manual selection focus point (SEL - small, medium, or large area), and the far right option which is constant center focus point. The metering is determined not in the menu options, but by the button left of the view finder(Same as trash bin). If you know this already, I apologize... you will hold that button down with LEFT thumb, then turn the dial on the back to select one of three options. The default is matrix or full metering which takes a reading of full image to determine exposure, the second is center-weighted metering which narrows the amount metered to the center area of the frame, and the third is spot metering (which takes only a very small area focus point to meter.

Ok, my settings for gyms, for metering =spot, for AF I use constant center focus point. (I would like to use the focus tracking 27points but it is still lacking in technology a bit.. tracking=locking on moving subjects)

If you haven't set up your back button focus properly yet, be sure to do that as well, it helps. ("Perfect Focus Everytime")
I may have given more information than you needed, but better enough info, than not. I hope this has helped
Btw- this forum is how I learned what I know so far, I've come a long way since I began. Enjoy the journey. Let me know any way I can help.

[munch008]

Charchri4
Two years ago I purchased a use Sigma 70-200 F2.8 on the forms to shoot Hockey. Its a very heavy beast on a K-30 but it takes very good shots. If you can find one (Sigma gave up on the Pentax version) I would recommend it highly. I Know Fulda is a long way from the Twin Cities but if you are ever on your way through I would be happy to show you what it can do. I took this shot through the very dirty glass at the arena.

[Kevwaly]

Charchri4
Two years ago I purchased a use Sigma 70-200 F2.8 on the forms to shoot Hockey. Its a very heavy beast on a K-30 but it takes very good shots. If you can find one (Sigma gave up on the Pentax version) I would recommend it highly. I Know Fulda is a long way from the Twin Cities but if you are ever on your way through I would be happy to show you what it can do. I took this shot through the very dirty glass at the arena.

I agree that the Sigma is good for sports. I use it for some football, etc. I don't use it much for basketball really as 70mm is a bit too long if courtside and the 1.8 or wider helps in dim gymnasiums. The fast screw mount primes with good speed reputations are great on K3 or K3II. (F 50 1.7 or 1.4, FA 43, etc.) The fastest focusing prime on the K3 is the F 135 2.8. ....quick!
Here is a shot with K5IIs + Sigma

[charchri4]

Copy that. Truth to be told I don't have any kids in sports or have any interest in basketball I was just wanting to learn how so I used a couple of my drumline kids a guiana pigs. I coach our drumline and we play in the same gym so it seemed a reasonable effort.


After Sunday I came to the same conclusion on the 70-200 f2.8 though in a very different situation.



With what was in the bag my 50mm prime and a lot of crop was the only safe option in such low light. Turns out they flipped on a couple of overhead lights just before they got in the tank but still the ideal lens would have been that 70-200.


I read a million reviews on f2.8s and considered 50-135, 50-150 or the 70-200 ranges and landed on this guy...


Yeah 70 could be a bit of a push in some situations but over all I think I would use this more than 50-135. Reviews flip flop on who is better Sigma or Tamron but at 450 shipped this copy was hard to pass up. I'm looking forwards to another basket ball game to try it out now!


PS Kevway that football shot is soooo nicet!!! Love the color, angle and wow is it sharp! Someday I'm going to have a shot that good... all be it with a louder team