Ideal settings - Nikon D200 indoor basketball w/o flash?

[asdfoi83wyrl]

I'm going to take photos for my school's newspaper with the Nikon D200 tonight at an indoor basketball game. I've never really used a DSLR before, but I have a point-and-shoot camera with full manual controls (save for many focus settings) and know how to coordinate aperture, shutter, and ISO appropriately in different lighting conditions.

I'm going to be one of the first Journalism students to take pictures with this camera. For the last few weeks, our Journalism teacher/adviser has been shooting at basketball games. He's optimized the settings to shoot the games with a Speedlight external flash (not sure which one), and uses f4.0@ISO800, 1/250sec. Below is a link to a sample.

http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/gargoyle/2007/01/b...ketball_lsa.htm

Tonight, I'd like to shoot without a flash, if possible. Shouldn't the D200 be capable of that? After all, the camera + the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens we use ran us around $2,000.

Provided that the lighting conditions are the same as that in the sample linked above taken with flash--If I set the ISO to 3200 (yes, I know it'll be a little noisy, but we downsize photos for online publication)--what's the maximum shutter speed I should use (with max aperture) to get usable photos? Or is there no way I can't use flash to shoot these action shots?

If there are any other settings I should be aware of, please tell me, as well :)

Thanks in advance.

[Draconian Guppy]

hmmm well that lens is pretty "slow" being it's largest aperture at 4.0, I would say since it's your first time with dSLR don't try anything fancy and if possible use the kit lens ( if you have one ).

My advice would be, go and shoot some practice sessions before the game, when the team is practicing maybe? That way you would see what setting took the best shot.

[Dallas]

Leave it at 70mm @ f/4. Don't be afraid to use a high iso setting. Your shutter speed will depend on the lighting conditions.

Make sure you get the white balance set correctly too!

[asdfoi83wyrl]

Well, I wasn't able to see your guys' replies during the game, but I figured stuff out.

I used mostly f/4 @ ISO3200, 1/160-1/200 sec. The shots were reasonably well-lit; a little adjusting would make them perfect lighting-wise.

I had a little trouble with the Nikon D200 at first. I had it set to Manual mode but wondered why the shutter speed got progressively lower and lower with each shot. It's because I had bracketing turned on when I was testing that out and forgot to turn that off--silly me!

Anyhow, as I used the camera more and more, I got better and better. I realized that if you hold down the shutter release button, it can take several shots in rapid succession--something I could never imagine my Kodak EasyShare doing. All in all, the D200 was awesome, and I hope to use it a lot more in the future.

The 70-300mm lens wasn't ideal for basketball shooting; I had to stand really far away from the hoops to frame shots, and consequently I missed a lot of would-have-been-good ones. Since good lenses cost good money, and our school's budget isn't exactly super-high, I doubt we'd be getting a "better" lens sometime soon.

[6785077276]

This is easy:

-Shoot in manual mode

-Shoot RAW mode (even if the shots turn out dark, you can easily bring up the levels, albeit with more noise)

-Set a constant shutter speed to "freeze" the action

-Set the largest aperture possible

-Set it to ISO 3200

-Turn on continuous focusing

-SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT

This is what I usually do with my Canon 400D, except it only goes up to ISO 1600.

[metro]

Shame you didn't have access to a beastly lens like the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED. IIRC, it's a $1,500ish lens though, but I could be wrong.

[SamNeeds]

Ouch! ISO3200....The noise! The...Nooooiiissseee!!

[asdfoi83wyrl]

Yeah, ISO3200 is really noisy, but at least you can still see stuff ;)

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

Such a nice camera they bought with crapy lenses :(

If you can get closer to the court, try to buy the tamron 17-50 f/2.8. That is what I have and damn this such a lens! Of course this is not a power zoom and at least at 2.8, you will be able to get something :/

[Dallas]

I just got a 50mm 1.8 (Canon though). I am going to use it for basketball tonight. It might be a little short but of well.