A digital SLR to video indoor basketball games?

[dtel]

My favorite, nice job. [Y]

I had to make them smaller or they would not post here, but still being the size on here and not bigger I doubt you lost any quality, unless you click on them to make them bigger then being small hurts, cool pics.

[dtel]

But it was something like mode TV...30 to 45 seconds shutter..... ISO 6400 .......F4.0......auto white.......most important is a clear sky away from citys.

So this was shot as a video ? mode TV ?

[JL Sargent]

Yeah, that is a great looking place. I have a Canon G1 and G3 already and been using Zoombrowzer for years so that won't be a problem. Beautiful pictures and I'm with Dtel, really like that one that includes the lit rock face the best.

[Utard]

If you look on the right on the photo with the flash on the rocks that is andromeda galaxy. TV is for timer Value. I checked both of these and they where 45 and 63 second exposure with 4.0 F, 6400 ISO at 17 MM.

[Utard]

When in TV mode you tell the camera how long you want the exposure to be and it adjusts other settings to make it work. So like on a really over cast day at a water fall you could set at 1-2 seconds and it will figure out every thing else. So you get the nice flow of water but not over exposed. Its just a quick cheat instead of figuring out full manual when you don't have time.

[dtel]

If you look on the right on the photo with the flash on the rocks that is andromeda galaxy. TV is for timer Value. I checked both of these and they where 45 and 63 second exposure with 4.0 F, 6400 ISO at 17 MM.

OK, I didn't know what TV was.

Let me ask a question.......I know if you use a shutter speed to long the stars will show up as streaks not bad if that's the look you want, but what if you used a lower ISO and a little longer exposure to make up the difference, would this help ? I ask because the biggest problem cameras have is more noise and other problems with higher ISO speeds ? Also with really long exposures, didn't know what was worse ?

NOT that I see ANY problems with your pics, I just always use manual and "playing" with settings. Also my camera is a little older and does not do as well as the 7 with high ISO so I can see a difference at very high ISO in my pics in very low light. Although with more than a minute exposure you may get some steaks as the stars move across the sky, never tried it to see how long it takes to form a streak ? Fun hobby

Hope you don't mind [:$] I have your second pic as my computer background right now. Looks great []

[Utard]

So if you zoom in on those photo's you will already notice the stars are streaking.

That is what is giving the slight out of focus look to them.

One was at 45 and the other at 63 seconds.

Now I did take a lot of photos that night and did notice to really get that galaxy look with the starish looking clouds it really needed to be on ISO 6400.

But that really hurts the quality.

Ideally you want a gyro mobober so you can have the camera track the stars.

I have a small telescope that can do this but I have not purchased a mount to put my camera yet.

When you can do that then you could put the camera at ISO 100 or 200 and have an exposure for an hour and get the same effect put it would be better quality and no star streak.

[Utard]

Hope you don't mind I have your second pic as my computer background right now. Looks great

That is fine:) Glad to share my stuff. Just don't sell it.

[dtel]

Glad to share my stuff. Just don't sell it.

Don't worry I would never, I did not even save it just put it as background.

[dtel]

So if you zoom in on those photo's you will already notice the stars are streaking.

That is what is giving the slight out of focus look to them.

I was looking at the picture after it was made smaller, thought that was from the small size.

One was at 45 and the other at 63 seconds.

OK never tried with more than about 30 seconds, I didn't realize you could start to get the movement at about a minute, makes me want to try a few minutes to see what kind of streaks I can get.

Now I did take a lot of photos that night and did notice to really get that galaxy look with the starish looking clouds it really needed to be on ISO 6400.

But that really hurts the quality.

I was just wondering, that cloudy galaxy look is what looks so cool, much nicer than just the stars. Your camera does great with high ISO, better than many from the way that picture looks.

Ideally you want a gyro mobober so you can have the camera track the stars.

I have a small telescope that can do this but I have not purchased a mount to put my camera yet.

When you can do that then you could put the camera at ISO 100 or 200 and have an exposure for an hour and get the same effect put it would be better quality and no star streak.

An old friend had one, had no idea what it was called, must be tricky to set up considering how little it really moves.

[JL Sargent]

I had an old Nikon EM? film camera and would use it with a telescope and a manual trigger to shoot pictures of the stars 30+ years ago as a kid. Those always turned out with streaks of some kind! My brother and I did the whole darkroom deal. Talk about inconsistent!

What about older lenses with these newer digital cameras? They get mucho dollars for new lenses with high speed motors and vibration reduction I've noticed. Any recommendations?

[dtel]

What about older lenses with these newer digital cameras? They get mucho dollars for new lenses with high speed motors and vibration reduction I've noticed. Any recommendations?

It looks like it depends on each camera, some can use older lenses some can't.

One thing I can say is the vibration reduction I have on one lense really works great. It's the Nikon 70-300 VR, this is just a normal hand held pic, nothing special but without VR it would have been bad at 1/10.

1/10 sec 300 mm f 5.6

[Utard]

I had an old Nikon EM? film camera and would use it with a telescope and a manual trigger to shoot pictures of the stars 30+ years ago as a kid. Those always turned out with streaks of some kind! My brother and I did the whole darkroom deal. Talk about inconsistent!

What about older lenses with these newer digital cameras? They get mucho dollars for new lenses with high speed motors and vibration reduction I've noticed. Any recommendations?

The main thing with any brand of newer lens is the technology. Just like with the audio (7.1, 9.2, 3D, Imax) the newer the better. Newer lenses have better coatings and glass placements. And the image stabilization is amazing for telephoto lenses. With out it on older 35 MM telephoto shots HAD to be on a tripod. Now you can get away with out using a tripod.

[Marvel]

My older son has a Panasonic Lumix GH something or other. It is a Micro 4/3rds camera. He uses a Nikon 50mm on it, which makes it about the equivalent to a 100mm on the Lumix (excellent for portraits). The shots he gets are really, really nice. Video is superb.

Bruce

[Islander]

So if you zoom in on those photo's you will already notice the stars are streaking.

That is what is giving the slight out of focus look to them.

I was looking at the picture after it was made smaller, thought that was from the small size.

One was at 45 and the other at 63 seconds.

OK never tried with more than about 30 seconds, I didn't realize you could start to get the movement at about a minute, makes me want to try a few minutes to see what kind of streaks I can get.

Now I did take a lot of photos that night and did notice to really get that galaxy look with the starish looking clouds it really needed to be on ISO 6400.

But that really hurts the quality.

I was just wondering, that cloudy galaxy look is what looks so cool, much nicer than just the stars. Your camera does great with high ISO, better than many from the way that picture looks.

Ideally you want a gyro mobober so you can have the camera track the stars.

I have a small telescope that can do this but I have not purchased a mount to put my camera yet.

When you can do that then you could put the camera at ISO 100 or 200 and have an exposure for an hour and get the same effect put it would be better quality and no star streak.

An old friend had one, had no idea what it was called, must be tricky to set up considering how little it really moves.

I just started shooting digital last year, after many years of shooting film. I've almost always used Pentax cameras, so I got a K-5. It can use all my old lenses, but of course the wide lenses aren't as wide anymore, since it's an APS/crop camera.

With the Pentax DSLRs, the shake reduction is in the camera body, not the lens, so you get the benefit of steadier pictures no matter what lens you're using. As well, with some models, the sensor can be set to track with the Earth's movement to a limited extent, so for astrophotography you can get clear photos, as long as the exposure is under 5 minutes.

http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog.php?b=333

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/38632253

As for the OP, some of the Pentax DSLRs do not autofocus while shooting video. That has not been a problem for me while shooting concerts, but for sports it would be.

[JL Sargent]

I hope to work on this project over the next couple of weeks. If I can get a good short clip of my son's basketball action I'll post a link here. I've picked up a couple of lenses which I think will be suitable so we'll see how it goes.

[Utard]

For this I would learn how to use the custom white balance.

Or at least test with the pre set light settings.

I did this same thing at my nephews b-ball games. I did not adjust for the lighting and it came out terrible.

Every thing was yellowish.

They make some special white balance sheets but I have just used plain white paper with good results.

[Utard]

Dtel/Islander

I was surprised at how well the D7 did with the stars myself.

I need to get the mount to put on my telescope and i bet it would even be 10 x's better.

I had the original canon rebel slr and even it did pretty but hardly compares to the newer technology of the D7.

With your little gadget i bet you could do a 4 minute exposure at a lot lower iso with good results.

You should try pointing the camera at the north star and do this. You get a nice spiral effect with the stars.

[Marvel]

I did this same thing at my nephews b-ball games. I did not adjust for the lighting and it came out terrible.
Every thing was yellowish.

A lot of gyms have high pressure sodium lights. Not really easy to get an accurate white balance, but new electronics can do amazing things.

Bruce

[JL Sargent]

Utard, Great advice about the white sheet. We play these games in different gyms each week with lighting from 50yrs to 5months old. There are of course different lighting challenges at each one. Video clips that we can watch/discuss at a later time in an education way is my main goal.