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EOS 7D Indoor Sports Photography with No Flash

forloines
Contributor

Brand NEW to any sort of Photography, let alone the Canon EOS 7D-Indoor Sports without flash issue.

Hello!

I'm new to photography.  Normally, I use 'Auto' everything when I take pictures of indoor sports for a HS cheerleading team, but someone got upset with the use of the flash.  

I have a Canon EOS 7D.  The only lens I have is:  EFS 18-200mm 0.45m/1.5ft.

I am vaguely aware that the f/ should be lower to allow more light in, I think the lowest it goes is 4.5.  Zooming in makes this worse.

What settings could I use to make this work without the flash.  With the flash, everything's great.

Any constructive help for a "photography dummy" would be great.  If I need a different lens, that would be 'ok', too.

Thank you!!

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

What focal lengths are you currently using not factoring in the variable aperture limiting you. Before we recommend either the 24-70mm F/2.8 or the 70-200mm F/2.8 lens. Canon has discontinued the EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS II USM lens but they can be found on the used market. If you want a new lens the EF 700-200mm F/2.8L IS III USM lens has replaced the older version. I own the EF 700-200mm F/2.8L IS III USM its a very good lens.

-Demetrius

EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM (Retired), EF 50 F/1.8 STM, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM & EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS III USM

EOS 40D (Retired) & 5D Mark IV

430EX III-RT, 470EX-AI & 600EX II-RT


-Demetrius

Current Gear: EOS 5D Mark IV, EF F/2.8 Trinity, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM, 470EX-AI & 600EX II-RT

Retired Gear: EOS 40D

View solution in original post

42 REPLIES 42

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

Try setting the top dial to P mode.  If you have not downloaded a copy of the Instruction Manual you can download it the link below.

https://www.usa.canon.com/support/p/eos-7d 

When you purchase a used camera, it it highly advisable to reset the camera back to the factory defaults.  This is an option in the menus when the top dial is set to P.  Some menu items have their own reset function, like Custom Controls.  So, I recommend that you go through all the menus and reset every menu item that has a reset.   There are at least 4 or 5 of them.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

deebatman316
Authority
Authority

Hello forloines welcome to the forums. The 7D is a great camera geared toward sports and wildlife photography. Now as far as your lens. You have what is known as a variable aperture lens. As you zoom in the widest open aperture will decrease. At 18mm your usable aperture range will be between F/3.5-22. Then at 200mm your usable aperture range will be between F/5.6-36. It is also recommended that you shoot with Image Stabilization (IS) on to avoid camera shake. Since you're new to photography I recommend that you watch a few videos on the exposure triangle and follow along with the videos. To better learn the relationship of each setting to find the best setting for your situation. Also Tv Mode is also best for freezing or showing action which works great for sports. Do you have a budget to spend on a new lens, if so how much. Most Telephoto lenses are designed for FULL FRAME cameras and cost a lot of money. Especially for lenses with fast apertures ie F/2.8 and for Image Stabilization (IS).

-Demetrius

EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM (Retired), EF 50 F/1.8 STM, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM & EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS III USM

EOS 40D (Retired) & 5D Mark IV

430EX III-RT, 470EX-AI & 600EX II-RT


-Demetrius

Current Gear: EOS 5D Mark IV, EF F/2.8 Trinity, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM, 470EX-AI & 600EX II-RT

Retired Gear: EOS 40D

ebiggs1
Legend
Legend

The camera is great. The lens, The only lens I have is:  EFS 18-200mm 0.45m/1.5ft." is not. It is going to be very difficult to get good indoor sports shots with it.

Rule of thumb, never buy a zoom lens that is over the 1:3 zoom ratio. The "EFS 18-200mm 0.45m/1.5ft" is not only over that ratio but it shatters it!

That said and understood here is what you can do to get the best it can deliver. The three most important things in sports photography are location, location and number three is location. Where you shoot from is paramount. This brings us to number four and that is, know your sport. If you don't what is going on and/or what is about to happen forget it. You will never get good shots and that brings us back to location. Knowing puts you in the right spot at the right moment.

Number 5. Always shoot Raw format never, ever, jpg. And, use a good post editor. A favorite setting used by the best pro sports photographers is Av mode where you set an aperture, in your case select wide open. Use One shot not Ai-servo at first and rarely after that.  Use Auto ISO, set an upper and lower limit that you can live with (more grian as it goes higher but less light is needed). Now with Av mode set up the 7D will determine the correct SS for the proper exposure. Using Raw and a post editor will allow for enhanced ability to adjust exposure, sometimes up to 4 or more stops. That is extremely important and valuable. So far all of this is free to do. It costs you nothing as Canon offers you for free the very good DPP4 as a post editor and Raw converter. Raw files basically do not save any other information besides exposure and focus. All that can be set in DPP4 or other good editor like Photoshop. However, all editors use the jpg settings to make the initial viewable image so keep that in mind. Raw images are not viewable themselves.

Last piece of advice that does cost you money is buy a better lens. This is your weakest link.  Good news is almost any lens will be better. Of course the very best for indoor sports is probably one of the 70-200mm f2.8 constant aperture lenses but they can be very expensive. My own personal lens combo for indoor sports is my ef 24-70mm f2.8L and Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 Sports lens on my 1DX. I have done the Corporate KC Challenge volleyball games and was allowed courtside. I used my ef 50mm f1.2L and ef 85mm f1.2L. Notice all are fast aperture lenses.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

So, this?

1.JPG

[Commercial link removed per forum guidelines and replaced with screenshot to facilitate discussion.]

Or this one?

2.JPG

 

[Commercial link removed per forum guidelines and replaced with screenshot to facilitate discussion.]

The lenses you posted are VERY good lenses I own both. When purchasing lenses you should look for a lens ONLY not a kit with filters and other accessories. Also ONLY purchase gear from a REPUTABLE website or store such as B&H Photo, Adorama, Canon Online Store. Amazon and Ebay ARE NOT REPUTABLE places to buy camera gear. If you shop from Amazon or Ebay you can't tell if the seller is selling you U.S. gear. If you get international gear also known as GRAY MARKET and if it breaks Canon WILL NOT WARRANTY IT OR REPAIR IT. So ALWAYS shop from Canon Authorized Dealers. The 24-70mm will have an angle of view 38-112mm and the 70-200mm will have an angle of view 112-320mm. The reason why the lenses act longer is due to your camera having an image sensor smaller than Full Frame/ 35mm Film. The 7D is an APS-C camera (22.5 x 15) with a 1.6x crop compared to Full Frame/ 35mm Frame (36 x 24).

-Demetrius

EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM (Retired), EF 50 F/1.8 STM, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM & EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS III USM

EOS 40D (Retired) & 5D Mark IV

430EX III-RT, 470EX-AI & 600EX II-RT


-Demetrius

Current Gear: EOS 5D Mark IV, EF F/2.8 Trinity, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM, 470EX-AI & 600EX II-RT

Retired Gear: EOS 40D

normadel
Authority
Authority

"Number 5. Always shoot Raw format never, ever, jpg."

You are giving this advice to someone who hasn't a clue about photography? Wow. 

Give forloines a break and let him learn how to take a picture, view it, and MAYBE print it.

Number 5 is the correct answer to the OP's question to, "What settings could I use to make this work without the flash." Whether you like it or not is not germane to the advice. Perhaps a focus on the topic and not me would be helpful.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

rs-eos
Elite
Elite

When you cannot provide your own lighting, with the current minimum aperture on your lens, you'd need to use slower shutter speeds and/or higher ISO values.  But for sports, you're trying to capture action, so shutter speeds will need to be faster.  So the only thing you or the camera can do is to set ISO to very high values which lead to noisy images.

As others mentioned, your lens here is the limitation.

For indoor sports, I use an EF 135mm f/2.  That would let in anywhere from 3 to 8 times the light of your current lens.  Letting you keep shutter speeds higher and reducing ISO for cleaner images.

--
Ricky

Camera: EOS 5D IV, EF 50mm f/1.2L, EF 135mm f/2L
Lighting: Profoto Lights & Modifiers
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