Flash question

[BFiredup]

I am a newbie, in every since of the word. New here, and new to the digital sports shots. My son is playing football, and we are going to have a night game soon, (something we hardly ever have) and all I have is the built in flash on my Canon 300D. Will that work? Or do I need to invest in a new one? If so...where to start on what to buy? And for basketball games in the gym, do I use a different flash?

Okay, I think I got all the questions in...LOL....Thank you for any help you can give a newbie...and no I don't know all the terminology yet either, so give it to me in laymans terms please..... I need all the help I can get....

Thanks in advance.
BFiredup

[JBPhoto]

Your built in flash will not cut it. I use a Canon 580EX and I'm very happy with it. My settings (manual) are usually ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/250th, with the flash set to ETTL. For best results, you should use a flash bracket or another method to get the flash off the camera. This greatly reduces red eye and zombie eye. Recently I've been using a superclamp with a hotshoe adapter to clamp the flash to my monopod, about knee height. Works well. You'll need a remote flash cable too.

[BFiredup]

Wow....okay, thank you for your help. I will look for a 580EX. Does $350 sound like the right price? I don't have a monopod yet, I have just been walking around the field during the game, mostly standing in the enzone, trying to catch the action. I need to practice ALOT....What will happen if you just attached the flash to the camera? I have to take baby steps here.....LOL

Thank you for your help...
BFiredup

[JBPhoto]

You'll get red eye and worse than that, zombie eye. Red eye you can correct in PhotoShop but you can't do anything to correct zombie eye (no eyes at all, just white). This happens when the flash is too close to the lens. I notice from another one of your posts that your shooting with a f/4-5.6 lens. You'll find that won't be fast enough, you'll need f/2.8 to get the kind of shots I think you're after.

[BFiredup]

Oh my, okay, I will look into that too.....can you suggest the type of lense I need? And it this for night shots? Or both day and night? Looks like I need to save up, or ask Santa for some of this...LOL....

Thanks again for your help.
BFiredup

[JBPhoto]

I would strongly recommend the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. It will run you around $1700.