EOS REBEL XS BEST SETTING FOR TAKING PICTURES IN GYMNASIUM

[pic]

I take lots of pictures of grandchildren playing sports but they just dont always turn out so well .I am useing a cannon 75-300 zoom, somtimes in af somtimes in mf in sports setting.Somone told me to use the tv setting but i still dont like the photos and would prefer  the sports setting what adjustments can made to sports setting pictures are somtimes too dark or blurry.

[Skirball]

Tv isn't going to do much for you, it'll just open up the aperture as far as it goes and you'll probably be very underexposed.

Indoor sports is very demanding on photography equipment, probably one of the most.  Best you can do is work with what you have.  I would do one of the following:

Shoot in full manual.  Open my aperture all the way, turn up my ISO as far as I'm willing to push it (higher ISO = more noise), and then use the fastest shutter speed you can to get proper exposure.

Shoot in Av.  Pretty much the same thing, you open your aperture all the way and turn up the ISO as far as you're willing to go.  Then the camera will decide the shutter speed for proper exposure.

In either situation, if the shutter speed is too slow, the only thing you can do is raise your ISO more.  I rarely try to blame things on equipment, but this is a situation where your equipment just isn't going to do well in this situation.  A faster lens and/or higher ISO camera would help significantly.

[cicopo]

I suggest reading this previous thread & the 2 other threads mentioned in one of the messages.

http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS-Rebel/Blurry-Shots-in-a-Gymnasium/m-p/126657/highlight/true#M5...

[ezpop]

Apart from pushing the aperture value and ISO to the limit i.e. largest aperture and highest ISO accepatble to you (to let in more light), if the shutter speed is slow, you may consider to use a monopod to keep the camera/lens steady to avoid camera shake (thus less blurry).

Limited by the gears you have, there is little that you can do about it. But if you accept the overall performance in sport mode except the images appear "too dark", you may adjust the exposure in post processing. Canon has a free software that can do it easily. Otherwise, a lot of free program can help you to do the adjustment as well.

[ezpop]

You may download photo gallery from Microsoft or Picasa 3 for free and they do a lot more than just adjusting exposure.

[ebiggs1]

Unfortunately the equipment you have is at it's very limit for what you are asking it to do.  I know you may not want to hear this but you need to upgrade both your lens and the camera.  That said there are a few things that can/might help.

First, are you trying to shoot fron the stands?  Get on the floor if you can.  Almost nobody gets real good pictures from the bleachers.  Second, set your camera to ISO 800 as it is almost always better than the highest ISO setting but you may have no choice except to use 1600.  Try not to zoom the 75-300mm lens to much as it is a varible aperture and quickly closes it down. That means you need more ligh than ever.

Third, I would use Tv and set it to 1/125.  This will let the camera choose the varibile aperture which will be as open as is possibile.  While 1/125 is not ideal for sports in the gym, it is probably going to get most action stopped to a acceptibile level.

You can experiment with 1/250 jus to see if it will work.

DId you get another lens with you Rebel kit?  Whatever it is, it will likely be a better choice than the 75-300mm.  Just don't try to shoot players (grandkids) on the far side of the gym!  Being on the floor helps with this.

[ebiggs1]

Oh, and while on this topic, do you have a post editor?  If you don't get one.  Any of them, some are free, will help make your pictures beter. I reccommend Photoshop Elements.  If you use PSE, you can shoot in RAW.  This is a setting in your camera that makes best use of the information.  However it needs to be converted in PSE.  It offers the advantage of it's ability to capture and recover even badly underexposed shots.

Good luck.