What settings should i put my Canon Rebel XTI on with a 75-300mm f/4-5.6 to shoot ball games under florescent?

Question

I have a canon XTI, I just recently bought a 75-300mm f/4-5.6 for around $200.00. I bought this lens for ballgames at night which is under florescent lighting. and I have played with it and i can not find out how to set it where the pictures will turn out without being dark or blurry.

Answer 1

That lens is really too slow for decent interior or night sports shooting.  The best you can do is push your ISO to 800 and keep your aperture wide open, use the AV setting, with your aperture at f4... you'll need a tripod to steady the camera so you don't have any jiggle.  Your best option for shooting interior sports is with a lens with an aperture of 2.8 or faster.  Or one with Image Stability.

Answer 2

There are only two ways to solve this problem. One is to turn your ISO all the way up to 1600, and seeing the graininess show like never before, or buy a lens with a lower aperture (f/stop).  It isn't the camera's fault for not being able to shoot in low-light, nor is it your fault; it is the lens's, because it can not open wide enough to capture enough light.

Answer 3

Those conditions are very difficult to shoot under without spending some major money.  As mentioned, you really need to have a much faster lens.  The fastest zoom you'll find is an f/2.8.

Since the XTi can do a maximum of ISO 1600, you'll probably need to bump it up to there.  The pictures will be noisy, but can look much better than them being too dark or too blurry.  You'll need to nail your exposure though because at high ISO, you don't have much room to correct.  Also, get as close to the field level as you can.  The lighting is better there and you might be able to go back down to ISO 800.  If you stay at 75mm, you can shoot at f/4, but if you zoom to 300mm, you'll be at f/5.6.

The suggestion to get a tripod is good, but for sports, a monopod is much more practical.  To stop the action, you'll want a shutter speed of at least 1/250.  (1/500 stops more action, but it might be hard for you to get in those conditions.)  A monopod provides enough support to get that shutter speed.  Plus a monopod takes up much less room and is easier to transport.

The advice to shoot in Av mode and your largest aperture value (f/4 @ 75mm to f/5.6 @ 300mm) is good for getting pictures that aren't too dark, but your pictures may come out blurry.  For shooting sports, its much more common to put your camera in Tv mode and set the shutter speed appropriate enough to stop the action.  If set properly, your pictures won't be blurry but they may be too dark.  If that's the case and you are at your highest ISO, your aperture is at it's largest opening, and you're as close to the field as you can get, you might want to save up to get a much faster lens as that's about all you can do.  An on-camera flash like the 580 EX won't be bright enough and strobes cost a lot of money and probably aren't practical.

As for getting a lens with an Image Stabilizer, this won't help you stop the action.  It just might eliminate the need for a monopod or tripod.  So for your lens, at 300mm you would need a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 (since it has an effective focal length of 480mm on your body) to handhold and not see camera shake.  But if the action is such that 1/250 is enough to stop it, you could handhold at 1/250 with IS turned on and not need a monopod or tripod.  But let's say at 1/60 is the 'proper metered' exposure.  IS may let you handhold at that shutter speed, but the action will be blurred.