Setting for Sports

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weaselander

New member
I have a feeling that most people on this board are interested in making films, but I was hoping to get some advice on recording sporting events. I have been asked to film a Ultimate Frisbee game (think soccer match if you don't know what Ultimate is) and I don't know the best setting for the GH1. The game will be at night under lights and I only have the kit lens (I know faster glass would help). Any advice on the settings I should use?

I was thinking 720P, 60 frames/sec, maybe even full auto (not really looking for that "film look"). Or should I set a high shutter speed (1/120) and hope the lighting is strong enough for the kit lens?

Thanks
 
Martti Ekstrand said:
I shot this with the kit lens, 1/50 on PAL and auto focus set to "23-area-focusing" (page 77 in the manual) and wide open aperture manually. Had to use NDs but I don't think you'll need that under artificial lights at night.

http://vimeo.com/groups/gh1/videos/5966843
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Did you ever push the shutter halfway or did you just let it auto focus totally the whole time? Doesn't look like you did but I'm curious. I just did a street interview shoot and the 23-area focusing really let me down, too many shots got backfocused.
 
I mostly let it run wild and free but I had so much overlapping action in the foreground it didn't have much free view to the backgrounds. It did focus on the buildings behind on a few occasions when middle of the frame got empty. For a interview I'd probably go for AF tracking or 1-area-focusing but even more likely full manual focus.
 
Ozpeter said:
720 or 1080? The former focusses much faster.
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Yep 720. Next time I'll try one-area focusing and really be careful to frame the subject prominently, and near center. Or maybe try MF, which is harder because I'll sometimes be changing distances, moving closer to subject, then back out...
 
Did you just say at night? Under lights?

Doesn't sound like a good combination. Not sure if the lighting is going to be strong enough to give 1/120 at f/5.8.
 
Thanks for the responses. I know this is not the ideal situation, just trying to make something work. Right now my main concern is that I have no idea how bright the lights will be (stadium lighting, but not pro stadium). I will post some footage if things work out.
 
Ok, so based on some past experience, 1/500 is just nice for still photography for a lot of action shots. I used to get that sometimes in good night lighting at ISO 1600 with a f/2.8 lens.

So at ISO 800 (don't want to be using GH1 at ISO 1600 in movie mode), f/5.8, you've effectively lost slightly over 3 stops, so that'll bring it down to a little less than 1/60. Just barely making it. If the light is slightly dimmer you'll be underexposing the footage.
 
yslee said:
Ok, so based on some past experience, 1/500 is just nice for still photography for a lot of action shots. I used to get that sometimes in good night lighting at ISO 1600 with a f/2.8 lens.

So at ISO 800 (don't want to be using GH1 at ISO 1600 in movie mode), f/5.8, you've effectively lost slightly over 3 stops, so that'll bring it down to a little less than 1/60. Just barely making it. If the light is slightly dimmer you'll be underexposing the footage.
Click to expand...

Agreed that ISO 1600 isn't the best... actually though I have gotten some good looking footage using ISO 1600 in MJPEG mode! You might want to run some tests to see what you like.

You could also use 1/3EV increments in ISO and get something about ISO 800 but under 1600.
 
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