Express Action Sports

Should you use the "sports mode" for all action shots?
Is a 75 – 300mm lens sufficient for shooting action shots?

I do a lot of high school basketball sports photography, and I can say that the less your camera has to think about, the better it does. Since you don’t provide a whole lot of information, I’ll answer as generally as I can.

First consideration: how close to the action can you be? I’m allowed to be right behind the baseline in the gym, so I can get away with a 50mm prime lens. If I had to be in the stands, I would need a longer focal length.

Second consideration: how is the lighting? Inside a gymnasium, the lighting is pretty constant from one side to the next. That means you can put your camera on "manual mode", set one exposure for all your pictures and get great exposure all the time. Gymnasiums do happen to have some of the worst quality of light, so you’ll have to experiment with color balance to get something that works for most pictures. If you are lucky, the lighting will be relatively good. Outdoors and the lighting isn’t always so consistent–particularly if it is a night game.

Third consideration: how much motion blur can you handle? The higher the shutter speed the less motion blur. If you can’t go fully manual, you might consider "Tv mode" (Time Value) mode to have the same shutter speed, but let the camera choose the right aperture. Letting the camera choose both the shutter speed and the aperture in "sports mode" will probably give you fewer results you’ll want to keep.

As always, there are certain compromises you’ll have to make. When you have to compromise, always favor the faster shutter speed. Depending on the lighting where your event is, you will probably need a lens with a wide aperture (the lower the f/ number the wider the aperture). If your 75-300mm lens shoots f/2.8 and has image shake control it can be a pretty nice lens. If you are right next to the action, it might actually be too long of a lens. A 50mm f/1.4 prime costs about $350 (it’s a standard price point regardless of the system you shoot), and an 85mm f/1.8 prime is about the same. Both are excellent choices depending on how close you are to the action.

What you don’t want: flash. If you are far from the action, or shooting football where the field is very large, even the most powerful flash won’t always reach the players. It’s also distracting to the players, which can cause injuries.