just when i think i cant get any darker....

decided to shoot my girlfriends indoor soccer game. after i was done, i told the coach im never photographing in there again. He just laughed. Horrible color, so hard to WB, cycling lights, and just dark overall. Funny thing is, I work at this place. I should have known.

Shot the 70-200 2.8 for the first half, then gave up and succombed to the 50mm f/1.8. didnt have much reach, but a lot more light, and i was able to drop the ISO to (gasp!) 1600!

here's just one. Underexposed about 1/3 stop, then corrected in PS elements. sharpened, and neatimage, along with a color cast correction.

1/320
f/2.8
ISO 3200

this is pretty good compared to the original. You should see the noise I got. Oh man. That's my girlfriend, and yes I know it's still dark. If I lighten it up anymore, the noise really starts to jump out. Just putting it on here for fun. only 1 or 2 keepers from about 70 shots.

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/8981/img2085copy4yg.jpg

I think maybe you could try over exsposing and see what that does. In certain light thats sometimes the best way to go (using exsposure compensation)

JS

yeah, except for the fact that would leave me with an even slower shutter speed. It's hard to use a slow shutter in such a small space as an indoor soccer field, when things move much quicker than normal soccer. Plus I hate blown out whites. I know overexposing prevents noise though.

Brent,

Ah, indoor shooting sucks...definately enjoy outdoor soccer much more. Well, I guess a lesson learnt!

Jared

Liven,

You have a ton more light than I do when when shooting soccer at night outside. Plus you have light colored walls. The problem is actually the camera, it just can't deal with low light. You have two choices.
1: use flash
2: wait till you get your 1D...this is one place the 1D will make a big difference.

JS

Welcome to my world. I have been fighting these kind of lighting situations for years at our local indoor gyms. I wish that there was a simple solution but I sure haven't found it.