Need tips for photography at Texas Stadium

[justice29]

Saw a thread recently discussing photography at some of the SX events and was hoping for some advice.

I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT that I plan on taking this weekend to the Dallas SX. I plan on using a Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS lens with a Canon 1.4 extender.

Has anyone had problems taking large zoom lens to the SX events?

I'm new to this, so I have basically just used the auto settings. Any suggestions on using the other modes? Shutter speed, aperture, iso, etc.?

Thanks in advance for any advice. Looks like good weather for the weekend!

John

 

[justice29]

Anyone?

 

[Chili]

As far as trouble with large zooms a buddy of mine had a few issues at early rounds but no one has posted any issues of late. I was at St. Louis and there was many 70-200, 300 and 400 f2.8 and even one dude I saw with a 300-800 Canon that looked like a friggen telescope mounted on his camera.

First advice I'll give is get there the moment the doors open and shoot the practices and afternoon qualifiers, come evening put the camera away and enjoy the show.

As far as the 1.4 tc goes, I'd personally leave it at home. It turns your f2.8 lens into an f4 lens and for this situation you don't want to give up that stop and speed. That being said I've never been to Irving stadium but I understand it's open in the centre so you may have way more light than any of the SX's I've been to.

As for the other modes, you really should try to get familiar with your camera but as a way to get out of shooting fully auto preset modes you could start by using Aperature priority (AV mode). Choose your aperature which for most indoor stadiums will be f2.8 or f4 maximum, again you may be able to stop down more if you have alot of light from that hole in the roof. Set your focus mode to AI Servo. Once you set to AV and shoot a couple of test shots if the shutter speeds the camera is giving you are too low then bump up your iso setting. At St. Louis I had to shoot f2.8 with the iso between 800 and 1600 most of the day to get decently exposed shots.

Have fun!

 

[justice29]

Thanks Chili! It's almost time to head out.

 

[Chili]

Well, How did you make out? Do we get to see some results?

 

[justice29]

:) Hmm. Well, the wife and I decided to spend the afternoon at the hotel, so we missed the afternoon practice and I didn't want to lug my camera around at night so I didn't get any pics. :debil:

I figured we'll be in Vegas in a couple of weeks and maybe I can get some pics there.

Thanks for the tips though, I'm going to try them out.


John

 

[tx246]

chili,
maybe justice did take some pictures that "afternoon at the hotel" but did not get the "signature releases" needed to make the pictures public. hehehehe now that gives a new meaning to afternoon practice!!!

 

[Chili]

chili,
maybe justice did take some pictures that "afternoon at the hotel" but did not get the "signature releases" needed to make the pictures public. hehehehe now that gives a new meaning to afternoon practice!!!

Well in that case I'd be happy to help once again. He only needs model releases if he intends to sell said photo's for advertising. They can be used editorially without a release :)

 

[justice29]

LOL. I did get some good pictures in Vegas, a few, not as many as I would have liked. I'm still learning. I didn't take my nice lens to Vegas, wish I would have. That would have made it easier to take the night pictures. I was still using the automatic sports setting, which worked fine during the day. However, at night it was holding the shutter open too long. I played with the AV and TV modes and got better results.