Question about football picture settings

[Scotty11]

I have purchased a Olympus e 500 digital camera and have been taking some Football pics. They turn out so-so, nothing like the pics I see in these posts on this site. I was wondering about the modes and settings you all use when you take your pics. Most of the games are in the early afternoon. I have the 40-150 lens that came with the camera and have tried shooting in the shutter priority mode mostly. My pics are somewhat grainy, not sharp like the pics on here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[JETA]

I have no clue what kind of camera that is. Maybe someone can comment further.

For sports the only constant is my aperture. f/2.8. I shoot manually. When I came to this board the first thing the guys helped me with was to start shooting on M. With that setting it's always a game between iso and shutter speed to get the best shot possible.

[BFiredup]

Jeta is right, and she was a mentor to me when I first started here.
I am not familiar with your camera either, but I am sure there is someone here that is and can help you get started, so be patient, they will appear. You will need to get aquainted more with your camera and the settings, and how to make adjustments to your model. The more you learn the better your pictures will become. It all just takes time and practice. Good luck and keep shooting.

[matt2k]

It essentially comes down to the lens. I shot some college football with a 400 2.8 lens rented from Calumet in NYC and was very happy with the results. Typically, the lenses used for sports are large, prime lenses with very wide apertures (f/2.8). A prime lens is sharper than an zoom and the depth of field is nicer, IMHO, and easier to control. The downside is lack of focal length variance.

I don't think there are too many 300 or 400 2.8 primes for your Olympus but look around, call rental houses and ask.

For now. Set your cam for Aperture Priority, your zoom to as close as possible, and your aperture for as wide as you can get. If you're not getting Shutter Speed readings of at least 1/1000 change your ASA rating til you do. Anticipate plays and movement.

And have fun doing it, too.

This was shot with a Nikon D2x with a 400 f/2.8:



-matt

[Homer]

As everyone else I'm not familier with your camera and am assuming your lens has a aperture range of either 3.5/4.5 to 4.5/5.6. Now during the day this will be ok, you'll just have to push your ISO up around 400 to keep the shutter speed up. I say ISO 400, as most of the action you get will be at 150mm range, which has the smaller aperture. Even though in night games most are shooting at shutter speeds of 1/320 - 1/500 (depending on light), and I'm talking about high school games where the lighting is terrible, I like to shoot my day games with at least a shutter speed of 1/1000+ (it's usually much higher for me though).

With the equipment you have night games are going to be rough. Not sure how high your camera's ISO will go, but if it goes to 3200, that's pretty much where you need to be. Although with the aperture limits of your lens, not sure if even using a flash will help you out.

My honest advice, if you plan on shooting sports I highly recommend finding a 70-200 f/2.8 lens for your camera. This is a great all-around lens that has decent range and is great for indoor sports as well.

Jim

[sharons]

I too have questions for the best setting for taking MS/HS football pics.
I use a Canon XTi with a Tamron lens 28 - 300 3.5 - 6.3. I have tried various settings and cannot find a consistent one that I can depend on for clear focused pic ( excluding user error of course )
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!