Comments on: Camera Settings – Basketball (D300)

By: Billy Townsend

Billy Townsend — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:32:18 +0000

Thanks for the shooting tips with the D-300 with respect to inside event shots! Although I am shooting a cheerleading competition this weekend (not a basketball game) I will use most of theses settings and let you know how it performs!

By: The Sports Photo Guy

The Sports Photo Guy — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:47:54 +0000

Honestly…I have never shot hockey. Hell, I’ve never even SEEN a real hockey game. Just not my sport.

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:47:02 +0000

I love hockey and shoot it quite a lot. Always trying to improve my shots. What setting do you like? Thanks.

By: Jenna Johnson

Jenna Johnson — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:12:36 +0000

Loved how listed exactly the set up for basketball. Would you be able to do the same for outdoor portraits for the D300

By: The Sports Photo Guy

The Sports Photo Guy — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:58:20 +0000

With the advent of the D300, I use matrix. In the past, I’d meter with a Sekonic handheld prior to the game and shoot 100% manually. The D300 does the best job of metering of any camera I’ve owned.

The only time I will revert to manual metering with the D300 is if I’m in a relatively dark arena that sports those lighted advertising panels around the edge of the court. They will throw the metering off.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:00:59 +0000

Re camera settings for basketball what metering do you use, centre weighted or 3D colour matrix 2

By: The Sports Photo Guy

The Sports Photo Guy — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:48:52 +0000

A user posted the following comment to another post, so I’ve moved it over here:

I used your indoor basketball settings to shoot indoor cheerleading competitions and volleyball games and am finding that the uniform color (red, royal blue) seems almost cartoonish, very exaggerated, how can I adjust this?

Colors are always subjective and affected by lighting, materials, and end-device properties (monitor and printer characteristics) in addition to camera settings. If these settings don’t produce colors to your liking, reduce saturation or even select a different picture control setting altogether (such as Neutral or Portrait if you think Standard colors are “cartoonish”).

By: The Sports Photo Guy

The Sports Photo Guy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:31:32 +0000

I don’t know if I’d call that “no image degradation” – you’re going to get noise in the shadow areas that you wouldn’t have otherwise. But what you’re doing is more or less the concept behind the Active D-Lighting that is part of the D300′s feature set.

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:26:41 +0000

Another technique I use to compensate for low-light conditions while keeping ISO reasonable (800 or below) and shutter speed high (<1/400) is to shoot RAW and purposely under-expose the image. Using Capture NX2 or other RAW processing software, you can then adjust EV to compensate for at least 3 f stops perhaps more, with no image degradation. Extra work compared to shooting JPEGs but another way to optimize settings in low light.

By: The Sports Photo Guy

The Sports Photo Guy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:53:12 +0000

I’m fortunate enough to be able to shoot in an arena that allows me to achieve 1/500-1/640 @ f2 and still remain at ISO 400. When I’m shooting in a darker arena I’ll drop as low as 1/400 if necessary. That’s where shooting with a fast prime vs an f2.8 zoom really has an advantage.