Lighting for night sports

[ronlcox]

I will be shooting night football games this fall(USA). The field light will not be enough for me to get well lit shots with a shutter speed that will stop the action, which may be anywhere from 20 to 50 yards from me(will be using the 70-200 afs-vr lens). Considering the Metz60CT-4 possibly with the teleconverter(if I'm down the field or up on the press box). BTW, there are high school games so getting onto the sidelines isn't that big of a problem. Any one had any experience with the Metz 60CT-4 or any other recommendations?

[PeeTee]

Haven't used a Metz 60CT4, but I've got a Metz 60CT2. Manual adjusting, and all, but it works just fine. It does seems weird though, that you're allowed to shoot with a flash during the game. In Europe you'd be kicked of the field and stoned to death for doing that... :D

In the rare moments that I have to shoot sport photos for my clients, I tend to go back to good old film, pushing colour slides to 1600 and 3200 iso or b/w to at least 3200 iso.

[quill]

At F2.8 you don't have enough light? I am surprised here. I know American football usually has some decent lighting - esp. the college ball.

At any rate, I've shot indoor martial arts with no spot lighting, martial arts on stage, volleyball in the evening and highland dancing. I'd say you should be fine.

However, I've found that my fixed 85mm F1.8 (~120mm on the S2) is the best bet for sideline work and allowed me to shoot at about 400ISO once I compensated for the dark background.

The S2 at 1600 was pretty decent too though, esp. if you're going to newspaper.

How 'frozen' do you need?

Q

[ronlcox]

My concern is that @ 2.8 I will not have the DOF needed especially if the action is coming towards me. I will also be shooting in continuous mode in order to catch the action and need a flash that can keep up.

[quill]

Hmmm.... well, you only get 2fps with the S2. So you're flash doesn't need to quite such a strober. I think you might find that the DPF is not such an issue though, as you will get 'apparant' DOF by the fact that with a flash, your background will be so much darker.

When I do sports I use S-mode and then just select the speed I need to get my effect. Then I let the camera go for it. Most underexposure is relatively correctable. Also, you may find that when you do your white card test, that the camera wants a good -2.0 or so on the exposure comp.

Q

[Wichita Wayne]

However I usually use it as and auto flash with the camera set on manual. That way it realy works fine. The only suggestion would be to get a Paramount cord that attaches to the hot shoe so you dont have to fight the PC plug.