Express Action Sports

I am new to SLR camera and just got my new Nikon D90 with 18-55mm lens. Need suggestion to get my next lens. I wanted to shot potraits and close-up image and also my relative wedding photo soon.

It depends.

If you want to include action, sports and wildlife in your subjects, the next lens will either be the 55-200 mm to extend your reach or a 18-200 mm VR which will replace the lens you have now and add the additional extension to your cameras view in one lens

If you are into shooting landscapes, the 10-24 mm lens will be your best bet.

If you love shooting things like flowers close up, the 60 mm macro will be a good choice.

As you can see, you have to define your subjects before anyone can really suggest a "next" lens to you.

I am learning sports photography and would like some opinions on best settings for outdoor, sunny sports such as soccer, football and maybe baseball. I am going to starting by using an ISO of 100, f5.6, let the camera select the speed. I have a Nikon VR 70-200 mm. Your ideas and opinions would be great. Thanks

To be honest, I would FLIP the fashion in which you are planning on shooting. Faster subjects require faster shutter speeds. I recommend getting faster film, ISO200 would be good. If you have the option of selecting your shutter speed, and letting the camera select the FStop(Aperture) I would do that for now. Set your speed to a minimum of 1/250sec (I repeat, minimum). The higher the speed the better the stop action in the image. Another cool thing to do is to set the speed a LITTLE slower, 1/125, MAYBE 1/60, and then following (panning) your subject. Say it’s a soccer player. Then AS you are following the subject, keeping him in the frame, take the shot while still panning. You’ll get some really cool shots.

I am trying to cover an outdoor soccer game played at night in a lighted stadium. I have a Nikon D90 with an 18-200 mm lens that has worked for some previous photos.

I’m interested in upgrading to a very nice lens that captures (in high quality) a player/ball while blurring the background. What are the recommendations?

Also, when I shoot, I simply put the camera in the automatic focus mode (fast action shots), and manually press the button to capture images. Is there a better approach to capturing high quality images? Should I try to set the ISO or put the camera into infinite picture mode?

Tell me anything and everything you can! Thanks!
Thanks! Another amatuer-obvious question:
When discussing the f-stop, is that a manual setting, or does it solely describe the type of lens.

For example, if I purchased one of the lenses y’all suggested, I could attach it to my camera and take pictures without much further modification. Or, would I need to manually set something at a specific f-stop?

Also, do you know how to program your camera to put a copyright on all the photographs taken? I hear there may be a code/html/process for doing that.

Thanks!

The best lens for night sports is 70-200 f 2.8 vr and second best is the 80-200 f 2.8.

Set the ISO on your camera to 3200 or 6400 (H1) if you need to.

you can set your exposure mode to any of these three:

sports mode

aperture priority & f 2.8 or smaller

shutter priority & 1/250 or higher

basically, you want to keep shutter speed above 1/250 and f-stop within the 3 largest apertures increase ISO above 3200 only if necessary. A monopod is also nice to have but not essential

A few of my clients want me to document their children DURING THE GAME. I am a natural light portrait photographer but would love to dip my toes in to sports action photography. On a small budget, I bought a Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED DX VR (with a weeks worth of practice with it) and set off to a game. The daylight shots of the action were great! But at dusk then night fall, I struggled! All my shoots were noisy, blurry and the white balance (no matter what settings I put it on) were horrible!

So the Q’s are:
What settings do I need to use?
ISO?
Shutter speed?
White Balance?
Do I need a speed light or will the stadium lights be fine?
Any other tips can anyone enlighten me with is greatly appreciated!

PS:
I shot in aperture priority and never use a flash. All these games are outdoors and scheduled from 2 hours before dusk and end about 1 hour after dusk.
PSS:
I shot RAW and I don’t use this lens for my portraits. I mainly use my Nikkor 50mm 1.4D for that! Thanks guys for the advice! Any other takers?
🙂

sorry to be the one to say it but you will struggle to get high quality shots with the 55-200mm 5.6 lens and would also think that natural light portraits will be a struggle too with that slow lens. ALL of the pros at the game will be using a minimum of a f4 lens but most will have a 2.8 or faster lens with about 400mm or longer. They will most likely be shooting a Nikon D3 with the ISO cranked to around 1600 or more. This is not a blight on your skill level because as you say, the daytime shots were great. You are going to have to drop about $6000 on a lens unfortunately but before that, try to hire a pro lens and try before you buy.

All the best.

I’m wanting to buy a dslr camera mainly for shooting motorcross. I’ve been looking at the Nikon D90. Budget is under $2000. Keeping in mind i need the fast shutter release, does anyone have any other options in this price range?

I would say get the nikon d90 and an addition 70-300mm lens. The 70-300mm will be good for zooming into objects in the distance such as dirt bikes or the riders.

http://www.cameta.com/Nikon-D90-Digital-SLR-Camera-Body-18-105mm-DX-VR-AF-S-Zoom-Lens-35673.cfm
http://www.cameta.com/Nikon-70-300mm-f-4-5-6-G-AF-Zoom-Nikkor-Lens-10851.cfm

I do sports (action) photography with a Nikon D80 (thinking of upgrading to the D300 btw) … I want to get a faster lens and am considering the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR or the 80-200mm f2.8 (without VR).

Given that the new vibration-reduction model costs about twice as much (around $1,700, I think, versus $900) … would it be worth getting for my purposes (handheld sports photography)?

Really, my question is: Since I always use fast shutter speeds (always faster than 1/200, usually more like 1/1000 or more) is there any advantage to VR, or is the fast shutter speed itself enough to essentially eliminate the effects of camera shake?

Appreciate any input on this…

If you are only using this lens for sport photography and absolutely nothing else, and you are constantly using that very fast shutter speed, then the VR is not really going to be much of an advantage for you.

If, however, you plan to use the lens for things other than just sport photography, perhaps for portraits or scenic photography, the VR would come in handy especially for hand-holding some longer-exposure shots.

Hope that helps you out some 🙂

Also,what are some other needed equipment for capturing action shots?

I have a Nikon D80 with 18-55 mm lens and 75-300mm lens.

For outdoor sports photography the 70-300 mm VR is an excellent lens

For indoor sports photography, I use the 70-200 mm f2.8 which is fast enough.

My friends who shoot NBA games usually include the 200 mm f/2.0 lens in addition to the 70-200 mm f/2.8

Camera:Nikon d200
Lens: 55mm-200mm lens VR

When I was shooting a skateboarder today I kept getting blurry shots. What can I do to fix this? Will this happen when I shoot other sports?

Everybody else is right. Keep in mind, the VR (vibration reduction) in the lense only protects you against you shaking the camera. It doesn’t help you any if the subject is moving. Here are a few ideas:
1. Try using a flash.
2. Try setting up other artificial lighting.
3. Like everyone said, try using a fast shutter time.
4. Try making the aperature as large as possible.
5. Try a higher ISO (like 400).