EOS R6 Mark II Recommended settings for roller derby

[FeelsGoodman]

I was invited again to go to a friends daughter's roller derby game to take pictures. I was hoping I could get suggestions for next time on how to lighten the photos and to make them more crisp when I mess around with the ISO? See examples below.

[wq9nsc · Accepted solution]

It looks like you have your shutter speed at 1/200 which is too slow to freeze athletic motion, 1/800 would be the minimum I would want.  That will push the ISO higher but it should give you sharp photos of the players within the fairly narrow depth of field with your 100mm lens @ the f2.8 aperture you used.  If you want more depth of field (a deeper group of players in focus), then you will need to also close down the aperture (higher f number) which will also force the ISO higher.  I haven't shot with a R6 but it should provide good high ISO performance so first move up your shutter speed to 1/1,000 and keep the aperture at f2.8 with the ISO set to auto and see how you like the results.  Then shoot a few more with the aperture at f4 (which will double the ISO needed) and look at those.  

If you aren't shooting in RAW (instead of JPG), you should be because you can do a lot of noise reduction in post with RAW files that isn't possible with JPG and also correct for white balance issues when needed.  I haven't shot a file in JPG format since I bought my first 1 series Canon digital 20 years ago.

These are a couple of indoor soccer images (same sort of lightning and movement speed you are dealing with) shot with 1DX II and 1DX III bodies using 1/800 @ f2.8 which pushed ISO into the 8,000 to 10,000 range.  Images were shot in RAW using the default noise reduction in Canon DPP.  Don't be afraid to let the ISO climb, noise can be cleaned up but motion blur is there forever unless you want to play AI games with all of the weird artifacts that result from generating data that never existed in the image.

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

Rodger's suggestions are correct as always. I will add you need to understand all photographic gear, no matter the cost, has its limitations. You are in the area where trade offs are bound to happen. Basic thoughts are higher ISO's should be avoided if possible and of course that's not possible in certain conditions. Lower f-stop numbers are another problem area as DOF decreases quickly.

The best things you can do to help your task is 1> use raw not jpg. Never use jpg. Next d/l DPP4 from Canon it is free. You will use it to convert your raw images to viewable photos. DPP4 is a seamless operation to u/l to your computer and do the conversion all automatically so there is no reason to not do it. Now next on the list of things to make sure you do are 2>, 3> and 4>.which are location, location and location. That's right where you shoot from is of paramount importance. Ring side and the ability to move around with the action is priceless. And last number 5> is know the sport, if you don't know what's happening or what is going to happen you will never get great shots just relying on luck.

[ebiggs1]

Let's talk gear. You have a pretty decent camera in the R6 Mk II but I am not sure about your lens choice. Is it a fixed 100mm f2.8 prime? A far better choice would be the RF 24-70mm f2.8L. And its companion lens the RF 70-200mm f2.8L.

The settings I would use with that combo is Av mode, One Shot with just the center AF point. Auto ISO with lower and upper limits set. And of course raw which makes most other setting not important but you can set them to let DPP4 make the conversion. Remember using raw you will set all those settings to your liking, You can even push the exposure up, or down, to a bigger degree over jpg. The best thing about raw is it is non destructive so it is completely reversible so you can try again if you don't like your edits. This is not true using jpg as it as it is when you save it and can not be recovered.

Lastly again leaving you with, keep in mind all camera gear has its limits to what it or you can do. There are and will be trade offs, you give to get.

Good shooting to you.

EB

[FeelsGoodman]

I only own two lenses. I was told to try a F2.8 so that is why I used that lens. I have my eye on a RF 70-200mm 2.8. Also I screwed up I usually shot RAW and JPEG. I forgot I changed it last time and didn't put it back. I will looking to playing around with RAW photos. So far I have not did any editing. It kind of confuses me, but sounds like I need to get use to it.

Thank you to both of you.

[Tintype_18]

Adding: The nice thing about digital cameras, one can experiment with different settings and not worry about wasting film. I have taken photos of cross country events and baseball games, freezing the action. Those are mandatory with grandkids.