EOS Rebel T7 Best Settings for Hockey Photography?

[Jakobe]

Hi! I was just wondering if anyone had any good recommendations for camera settings to use for some Hockey Photos i'm looking to take.

I have a Canon EOS Rebel T7 with 2 Lenses, just a very basic starter kit that I got a little while ago and I'm looking to get into sports photography and would be grateful if anyone had any recommendations for the equipment I have now.

The 2 lenses I have are:
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 (this is what I've primarily been using to shoot some other sports such as indoor basketball) https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/ef-75-300mm-f-4-5-6-iii?color=Black&type=New
EF-S 18-55MM f/4-5.6 IS STM
https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/ef-s-18-55mm-f-4-5-6-is-stm?color=Black&type=New&utm_source=google&...

I've been tinkering with some settings for the past few days and was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for what they use if they have these same lenses. I've included links to the exact lenses as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[rs-eos]

Capturing enough light will be your biggest obstacle.   Especially when either lens is zoomed in near to or at their highest focal lengths (55mm and 300mm).   Typically you want your shutter speed set high (around 1/1000s or so).  So with the narrower apertures of those lenses, higher ISO values would be needed.

[wq9nsc]

I agree with Ricky's advice and would add that the reflection from the ice will often throw off exposure metering so this is a case where you may want to lock in all of the exposure parameters OR use spot or partial spot metering linked to a single focus point or small array of focus points.

If the rink isn't well illuminated, you can try dropping shutter speed slightly but anything below 1/500 is going to result in a lot of motion blur and even 1/640 is marginal.  Also keep in mind that when your lens is at 300mm, you are at the point where 1/500 is also on the edge of being prone to camera shake blur unless you are very careful.

Rodger

[Waddizzle]

Totally agree with locking down exposure.  It is a best practice when shooting indoor sports, not just hockey.  The lighting is usually fixed and constant shooting indoors.  No need to allow the camera to vary your exposure from one shot to the next. Use M shooting mode. 

[Waddizzle]

Totally agree. Gathering enough light will be struggle with the kit lenses. Use your current lenses to find a good working focal length. An inexpensive prime is the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM.  Longer focal lengths are more costly.