Am I on the Right Train of Thought....Help

[Shifletjl]

I used my new Pentax K100 with kit lense at my daughters volleyball tournament last weekend. I knew it would be difficult to get a good shot with this lense, but I wanted to "play" with it a bit before investing in my next lense to be certain I know what I need.

Here is what I did: The games are played in a huge warehouse with horrible lighting, so aperature needed to be wide, and exposure needed to be fast to stop the action. My zoom was a little short. I would have liked to get closer to the "action" at times.

ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/30 sec.

ISO 3200, f/4.5, 1/125 sec.

I tried shooting 3200 ISO to quicken my shutter speed. Is this correct thinking? My camera was set in AV mode. I "tweeked" the exposure a bit on occasion by .5 to 1.0. I had the camera set to spot AF, continuous shooting.
Is there anything else I could have done with this lense in this situation that would have compensated for the conditions? TIA, Jen

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It sounds like you are doing all that you could. Max ISO and max aperture should get you your fastest shutter speed.

On the first shot, it looks like your focus point missed the player and focused behind her. That's a problem with max aperture shooting - the lattitude for focus errors gets reduced as the DOF is reduced.

 

[Shifletjl]

... On the first shot, it looks like your focus point missed the player and focused behind her. That's a problem with max aperture shooting - the lattitude for focus errors gets reduced as the DOF is reduced.

Yes, I can see what you are saying. Thanks

 

[Gdad]

It looks like you did the best you could with the equipment you had. You could perk it up a bit in photoshop...Hope you don't mind me tinkering with it (If you do just say so and I will remove it)

 

[jann1033]

if lighting is a problem you could shoot raw also so you have more latitude to process and play with the exposure etc

 

[Shifletjl]

It looks like you did the best you could with the equipment you had. You could perk it up a bit in photoshop...Hope you don't mind me tinkering with it (If you do just say so and I will remove it)

I don't mind at all. Thank you for your help. I like the adjustments you made.

if lighting is a problem you could shoot raw also so you have more latitude to process and play with the exposure etc

I haven't used RAW before. I will try it. RAW files allow for more processing options after the fact?

 

[Furgus]

Yes RAW will allow for more processing options, but it also takes a lot more work, and you need to have the right software for your camera. If you use photoshop, ACR's latest update has pretty much everything now.

 

[Shifletjl]

I have Photoshop Elements 2.0. Probably should upgrade.

 

[ukcatfan]

I also have the K100D. If you want to do anything more than screen viewing, I would avoid ISO 3200. From my experiences if you shoot RAW, use ISO 1600, go ahead and allow for a little underexposing to get a proper shutter, and then manipulate the exposure up in software you will be happier with the end results. Also, try using some noise reduction software if you are not already. With noise reduction and then an unsharp mask, the ISO 3200 shots are bearable, but would be a little too soft for printing beyond 4x6 in my opinion.

It looks like you could get close enough with 55mm, so I suggest a Pentax brand 50mm prime. A new one would be the best, but I could not spend that much so I went used. A decent quality used manual focus one should run around $40-50. Many people are intimidated by MF, but it is not too tough. It really is not that big of a deal for a sport like volleyball b/c each player does not move around too much. It would be tougher for something like football, but remember that there was a time before AF and people managed to get shots. For action shots, I would suggest at least an "A" lens though. It will allow the aperture to be controlled by the camera. Trying to set the focus, aperture, and shutter speed for an action shot might get a little frustrating. If you do go this route, the F/1.7 A is a really good one, but I am very happy with my F/2 A.

Kevin

 

[ukcatfan]

I have Photoshop Elements 2.0. Probably should upgrade.

I would not upgrade just for RAW processing.

The RAW processing program that came with the camera is pretty good. I would only open one at a time though b/c I have not found a way to keep it from applying every change to all images that are open together. A minor inconvenience, but it is bearable if you are not processing a bunch.

Adobe Lightroom is still free, but that is going to change soon. There are other free alternatives if you search. Check out the Pentax DSLR forum over at DPReview.com to find out more about them.

Kevin

 

[jann1033]

I have Photoshop Elements 2.0. Probably should upgrade.

you may be able to batch process with what ever came with your camera( i have a canon) as i would imagine any camera that has the ability to shoot raw must have the software to process it or else what would the sense be
you can also add that editor to pse5, batch process them then play around with them in the pse5 editor..pse5 has a raw converter, so you can do each one singly in that it just doesn't have a batch converter. it literally takes me maybe 1-2 mins to use the raw converter unless it is really off then i don't do much else in the other editor usually cause i did it in the raw converter. so i don't think it takes all that much extra time unless you usually don't do anything to your photos but i almost always check levels and sharpen slightly, sometimes push the saturation just a tad up in jpg also

i don't know what other software you have but there are some nice features in 5 like BW conversion, color curves...it's an improvement over 4 so guessing not to play down 2 but it probably is an improvement over that also just get a disk as i have had problems galore with the download from adobe website and wonder if it is messed up there

 

[handicap18]

Your definately on the right train of thought. You next step is to get a lens that is a minimum of f/2.8. I don't know Pentax' lineup in that regard so a bit short research should help there. Sigma makes a very nice 70-200 f/2.8 zoom, but its on the expensive side. Pentax has a large assortment of prime lenses so you might even be able to find one somewhere in the 50-100mm range that has f/1.8 or f/1.4 which is even better.

Another next step to think about is setting your own white balance rather than using Auto or one of the other pre-set white balance modes.

 

[Shifletjl]

.... If you want to do anything more than screen viewing, I would avoid ISO 3200. From my experiences if you shoot RAW, use ISO 1600, go ahead and allow for a little underexposing to get a proper shutter, and then manipulate the exposure up in software you will be happier with the end results. Also, try using some noise reduction software if you are not already. With noise reduction and then an unsharp mask, the ISO 3200 shots are bearable, but would be a little too soft for printing beyond 4x6 in my opinion.

... For action shots, I would suggest at least an "A" lens though. It will allow the aperture to be controlled by the camera. Trying to set the focus, aperture, and shutter speed for an action shot might get a little frustrating. If you do go this route, the F/1.7 A is a really good one, but I am very happy with my F/2 A.

Thanks Kevin. I will look at some new software and include noise reduction on the "need" list. I am not familiar with digital software programs. Have only slightly used my Photoshop E2. I can see I have much more research to do.

I would not upgrade just for RAW processing.

The RAW processing program that came with the camera is pretty good. I would only open one at a time though b/c I have not found a way to keep it from applying every change to all images that are open together. A minor inconvenience, but it is bearable if you are not processing a bunch.

Adobe Lightroom is still free, but that is going to change soon. There are other free alternatives if you search. Check out the Pentax DSLR forum over at DPReview.com to find out more about them.

Kevin

Okay, I'll start there.

...you can also add that editor to pse5, batch process them then play around with them in the pse5 editor..pse5 has a raw converter, so you can do each one singly in that it just doesn't have a batch converter. it literally takes me maybe 1-2 mins to use the raw converter unless it is really off then i don't do much else in the other editor usually cause i did it in the raw converter. so i don't think it takes all that much extra time unless you usually don't do anything to your photos but i almost always check levels and sharpen slightly, sometimes push the saturation just a tad up in jpg also

i don't know what other software you have but there are some nice features in 5 like BW conversion, color curves...it's an improvement over 4 so guessing not to play down 2 but it probably is an improvement over that also just get a disk as i have had problems galore with the download from adobe website and wonder if it is messed up there

I'm sure PSE5 would be a nice upgrade for me. Now that I am learning more about exposure etc., I'm sure that the software will be easier for me to understand and apply.

Your definately on the right train of thought. You next step is to get a lens that is a minimum of f/2.8. I don't know Pentax' lineup in that regard so a bit short research should help there. Sigma makes a very nice 70-200 f/2.8 zoom, but its on the expensive side. Pentax has a large assortment of prime lenses so you might even be able to find one somewhere in the 50-100mm range that has f/1.8 or f/1.4 which is even better.

Another next step to think about is setting your own white balance rather than using Auto or one of the other pre-set white balance modes.

Great! I will play with the white balance before the next tournament. That was frustrating me a bit. I tried the different fluorescent settings without much improvement. The warehouse really is a tomb and half the time they are having electrical problems, so this location is a good learning "lab" for me.

Thanks so so much for the help everyone!

 

[jann1033]

you can get noiseware community edition for free
www.imagenomic.com

 

[Groucho]

I'd agree that you did about as well as you could with the equipment. The exposure looks very good, so that'd good.

I would definitely recommend shooting RAW, though. Just the fact that you can adjust white balance later instead of worrying about it there is enough of a reason for me, but you also have more latitude for adjusting the brightness, sharpness, saturation, etc than with the jpg. Several of the photos I've posted to my trip report were fairly dark out of the camera (probably due to spot metering grabbing something that I didn't mean it to) but brightening up the RAW consistently produced a good, brightened image, and it's not obvious from looking that they weren't originally shot this way. I think the software lets you brighten up to two stops, and I often went one or slightly more than no noticeable visual anomalies.

Something like the 50mm 1.4 would help tremendously - but again, the lower F number means less depth of field, which might be nice if you want to isolate your daughter, but you have to make sure that she's what the camera is focusing on (you mean want to set it to spot focusing.) The 50mm is also sharp enough where you can crop pretty far and still very a nice, clear image.

Also, make sure that you're using the current version of the Pentax raw software, if you're using that - they updated it since my camera. Mine came with 2.5 and 3.0 is the latest (last time I checked.) The trick is use both Browser and Laboratory - go into Browser and select all the photos that you want to modify with the same settings, then right-click and launch Laboratory. Make your settings and change them (I have it set to queue them instead of starting immediately) then go back to Browser, pick the next bunch that you want to set as a bunch, and Laboratory will automatically look at those - it always shows whatever's highlighted in Browser.