My first assignment for Swim Meet - Suggestions??

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

06/09/2006 10:09:45 AM · #1

My first assignment to shoot for local swim meet. No, it's not paid one, still trying to learn. It's an investment, right?

It will be indoor swim meet. That will make it more difficult. I will appreciate any suggestions.

NstiG8tr

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

06/09/2006 10:12:24 AM · #2

Wear a Speedo?

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

06/09/2006 10:12:41 AM · #3

I shot swim team shots all of last season (my daughter was on the team) and its really not hard... you can position yourself very very close to the pool edge once the race begins, then just click like mad. You shouldn't need flash because even the indoor pools are usually fairly well lighted. You'll likely want a tele lens though to get all the action. I'd suggest looking at a few "swimming" type websites to see what kind of shots work really well.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

06/09/2006 10:14:52 AM · #4

I used the 20D plus the 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens to shoot a swim meet. That seems to work out good, both in terms of zoom factor and light sensitivity (I believe I was generally at ISO 800). The 20D's 5-fps works out good for some of the starts. You might want to play with panning on some, not panning on others and see which you prefer.

White balance is terrible - but you may not want to shoot RAW here (I shoot RAW for everything but sports). It just takes too long to write to the CF card, you end up missing shots because of it, and you fill your cards up faster. So if you can get a good custom WB to start with and shoot jpeg you'll be better off.

ShaneBlake

Nikon D7100

06/09/2006 10:15:41 AM · #5

might i suggest this:

//www.adorama.com/EWUAZ.html

Message edited by author 2006-06-09 10:15:48.

Prof_Fate

06/09/2006 10:20:15 AM · #6

Originally posted by dwterry:

teh 20D is 3.3 FPS unless you know of some mod to speed it up? The 30D is 5fps (or 3 - you can switch).

other than that your suggestions are dead on.

PhantomEWO

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

06/09/2006 10:36:21 AM · #7

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

Originally posted by dwterry:
I used the 20D plus the 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens to shoot a swim meet. That seems to work out good, both in terms of zoom factor and light sensitivity (I believe I was generally at ISO 800). The 20D's 5-fps works out good for some of the starts. You might want to play with panning on some, not panning on others and see which you prefer.

White balance is terrible - but you may not want to shoot RAW here (I shoot RAW for everything but sports). It just takes too long to write to the CF card, you end up missing shots because of it, and you fill your cards up faster. So if you can get a good custom WB to start with and shoot jpeg you'll be better off.

teh 20D is 3.3 FPS unless you know of some mod to speed it up? The 30D is 5fps (or 3 - you can switch).

other than that your suggestions are dead on.

From DPC own equipment list and link there-in I found the following under description of the 20D as far as PRS:
"The DIGIC II architecture drives blistering 5fps continuous shooting with a maximum burst of 23 frame JPEG images"

I've always thought it 5 also.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

06/09/2006 10:36:32 AM · #8

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

teh 20D is 3.3 FPS unless you know of some mod to speed it up? The 30D is 5fps (or 3 - you can switch).

other than that your suggestions are dead on.

20D shoots 5 fps, Prof... I think you're remembering the 10D or something...

R.

Telehubbie

Canon EOS-40D

06/09/2006 10:42:13 AM · #9

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

teh 20D is 3.3 FPS unless you know of some mod to speed it up? The 30D is 5fps (or 3 - you can switch).

Originally posted by Canon Website:

The EOS 20D has been designed to capture images with speeds that had been reserved for professional level cameras. Whether it's the 0.2 second start-up time, the high speed mirror drive, the class-leading 65 msec. shutter release lag time, or the predictive AF focusing at speeds up to 5 frames-per-second

robshookphoto

Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM

06/09/2006 10:56:52 AM · #10

i took hundreds of swim photos during my season. i used a 20d and a 70-300mm, which is nearly the same equipment as you. i would suggest setting the shutter speed to 1/250 in shutter-priority mode, which is fast enough to stop this action, and bumb up the iso to get proper exposure. without an L lens, this is really your only option. good luck

Telehubbie

Canon EOS-40D

06/09/2006 11:16:00 AM · #11

Maybe Skiprow will see this thread and give you some pointers to get nice stuff like this:

Prof_Fate

06/09/2006 11:35:37 AM · #12

I stand corrected on the FPS. I read the 3.3 someplace and thought one of the benefits of the 30D was the faslt FPS - new shutter and two speed options...seemed logical to me. My 20D came used with no book.

Can't believe all you read on the web, can ya?

06/09/2006 12:13:15 PM · #13

Thanks everyone for your help. Those are really helpful tips. I will post pictures soon.

06/29/2006 01:25:55 AM · #14

As promised, here are some of the Swim Meet pictuers. All the tips were very helpful. Once again Thanks guys.

As always, love to have some comments.

Message edited by author 2006-06-29 01:26:14.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

06/30/2006 06:17:37 PM · #15

BUMP (in the hope of geeting some comments/critiques)

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

06/30/2006 06:20:33 PM · #16

Shailesh, you did a great job with these! Exposures look good, shutter speed is great to stop the action, good close compositions - overall no complaints! Congrats on a job well done.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

06/30/2006 09:37:16 PM · #17

I have done two indoor swim meets in the past and neither pool had enough light where I could shoot without my flash at a fast enough speed to freeze the action. If I ever do another one of those, I plan to wear my own goggles. The chlorine vapor in the indoor pool about killed me :)

robshookphoto

Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM

06/30/2006 10:10:55 PM · #18

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

haha.. no problem for me. Of course, the swim team is used to swimming "rain or shine," even if the pool chemicals have been "spiked." We have huge coughing fits while we practice, and climb out with stinging, bloodshot eyes.... Man, i can't wait for next season! : P

ANYWAY...

Shailesh, those are great shots. Congrats on your fisrt job, have fun on your future ones.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

06/30/2006 10:11:57 PM · #19

Good job! IMG_4978 and IMG_5019 are my favorites (3rd and 8th in the posted message)