Indoor sporting event.

[pbromaghin]

The last indoor sports I shot were my daughter's gymnastics team over 10 years ago. Now I plan to photograph a karate test and tournament in a couple of weeks. It will be in a pretty well lit gymnasium, with high windows and likely on a sunny day (this is Colorado, after all). I am trying to decide between tri-x and tmax 400, pushing to 800 and processing in tmax developer (It's what I have) with constant agitation. Incidentally, I'll be using a tripod and probably an 80-200 zoom. I don't think I should use a motor drive during the test due to the noise, but it might be ok during the tournament.

Does this sound like a good plan?

 

[jp498]

Find some other people's photos and look at their exif data. I don't think facebook carries that data, but flickr and some other services show it. You should then be able to determine shutter/speed apertures you can get away with. If your 80-200 is a f2.8 you might be OK, but for sports big aperture is better. A prime lens would be ideal. Both films can push pretty well.

 

[pentaxuser]

Not tried tri-x but was highly impressed with Tmax at 800 in Xtol in overcast daylight which presumably will be similar to an indoor Sports Arena during the day with even light unless it's a sunny day and a window or windows allow shafts of sunlight into the hall where the competitors perform.

pentaxuser

 

[Paul Howell]

I would use Delta 3200 rated at 1600 in DDX or Xtol. For tri x 1200 in Dianfine.

 

[LiamG]

Do whatever you can to determine the actual EVs of the arena beforehand, and plan accordingly. What seems well lit might be disturbingly dim when actually measured- arena lighting can be deceptive. Indoor sports with film are challenging in the best conditions, try to know exactly what you'll be facing. I personally mostly use TMY rated at 800 and adjust to lighting with aperture- if it's bright-ish, I'll use 2.8 telephotos/zooms, but if dark, I'm reaching for f/2 or 1.4, which limits me to shorter primes.

 

[markbarendt]

Does this sound like a good plan?

Sure.

If it were me I'd ask and see if I could use a flash.

 

[sbuczkowski]

For one more data point: I shot fencing tournaments for awhile most of which were held in high school or college gymnasia. I was typically shooting Delta 3200 or Neopan 1600 and was generally rating either at 3200 to get acceptable shutter speeds through the 300mm f/4.5 I owned at the time. While many of the gyms /looked/ bright to me, I found very few that actually measured as bright for the speed of the action I was trying to capture.

 

[tkamiya]

I've covered a sporting event (wheel chair basket ball pro-am) with 70-200 f/2.8 mostly wide open, Tmax400, Tri-X, and Delta 3200 all exposed as if EI was 1600.

Processed all with XTOL according to the manufacturer's recommendations EXCEPT for Delta3200 processed as if EI was 3200. There all came out quite nicely. It was an interesting test nevertheless.

 

[Nige]

agree with the other, what seems bright enough may not be anywhere near it. Using B&W film will at least get you away from one aspect of my sons dojo's, the terrible colour balance between the blue/red mat floor and the mixture of daylight, flourescent, and sodium (I think) lighting. I have found slowish shutter speeds give the best shots, but I take a lot (digi) to get a 'good' one. At times (not during gradings) the Sensei has invited me onto the mat and I've been close enough to use flash, but I don't like 'zapping' the kids too much as it's distracting.

 

[cjbecker]

Just shoot it at high iso with tri-x and use a fast lens. tripod or monopod. Motion blur in the subject ( if you can get the face or something stopped/in focus), is better then motion blur everywhere else. (there are exceptions like the typical car racing pictures.)

Just decide what iso to use when you get there and waste a roll on testing once you get home.

 

[skysh4rk]

I have personally found indoor sport to be quite challenging, particularly if you intend on freezing motion. Even in brand new buildings with state of the art lighting I need to shoot wide open (f/2.8) and at least ISO 3200 to get shutter speeds of even 1/500. If you're not taking action shots, then it's much easier.

It might be wisest to just use a black and white film, but I've personally been experimenting with Portra 400 pushed three stops for some indoor track and field:


Dead Link Removed

 

[pbromaghin]

Flash is out - entirely too dangerous. I remember 35 years ago a friend using a flash 3 feet outside the ring, just as I put a roundhouse kick upside a guy's head. It's a wonderful photo, but it did almost blind me for a couple seconds.

I'll definitely be using B&W. I learned that lesson back in my daughter's gymnastics days. Color gets too weird and a fld filter takes away another stop or so.

Gymnastics was easy at iso 400 because the real dramatic things happen when they are really not moving very quickly. Photographing a team through a season, I got to know the girls' routines and could focus on certain locations and wait for what I knew they would do there. The test should be pretty similar to that, but the tournament is more unpredictable.

As to lenses, I'd really like to use the 80-200 to frame the action at varying distances, but it's probably too slow. The only prime lenses I have that will go f2 or larger is 50, but that won't get in close enough. I have a 200mm from Goodwill that I haven't even used yet, but that might be to slow and too long.

I just came back from metering the gym. It's an overcast day (hey, we do get 60 of them a year) and the EV came out varying from 9.5 to 10.5. I'll go back again and meter on a sunny day. It looks like it will have to be Delta 3200. Hmm. I've never used diafine. Not sure if it's even available locally.

Have any of you been happy with tmy2 or tri-x at 3200? That Portra example looks great, but I'm resistant to using color.