I have been photographing my sons football games. Action shots at night is tough. Any suggestions. I purhcased an SB800 flash, which helps. I'm using a D80 DSLR. Anysuggestions would be great.
Its not the flash its the lens..You need a lens with an aperture of 2.8 for shooting at night. Your probably using a lens with an 5.6 aperture which does not let enough light in. 2.8's are pricey..I have a D100 and I have several lenses. An 80-200 2.8 a 24-70 2.8 and a 400mm 2.8. Good luck
You can still use your kit lens for your sport photography. Change your camera setting to.. - manual - white balance : flash - increase your ISO - reduce your shutter speed - increase your aperture
i myself have an interest in taking sports photography - particularly soccer and night time high school football. Well, I use a NIKON D70s with a SB-800 flash. At the beginning of the season, i was using the 55-200mm lens with an f stop of 4.5. I found that catching actions shots during the last part of the second quarter through the remainder of the game was TOUGH!!!!! i put forth the cash for a NIKON 200mm f/2.8 - what a difference!!!! it is heavy and now i must use a monopod, but the photos have definitely improved.
I shot football games for 2 years a while ago. It's not the flash, it's the lens that is probably holding you back. Get a longer + faster lens. 80-200 2.8 would be ideal, unless you want to be like one of the Sports Illustrated guys you see on tv sundays with the 300mm 2.8's. Go with the 80-200, bump your iso up a bit. That should help greatly. Good luck.
I shoot football games for our newspaper and use my 55-200 5.6 lens. Still get great shots just have to see the action before it happens and it helps when you can get on the field. Just watch out for the players. My first published photo was of the Spiro Graphic photographer not paying attention. It was on the front page too. I shoot at 80 shutter and a F8. Try different settings to test it. When I get the money I will upgrade just don't have a spare $500-$800 to spend just for a 200 lens.
The other side of the coin is using to use a flash. A low powered flash isn't much good when shooting over long distances so you'll have to lay out some cash for a relatively powerful flash. In the 70s I worked for a small town studio and we shot everything. For the high school football games we used Mamiya RB67 cameras, print film and Metz flashes. Since these cameras were all manual and the lenses relatively slow (f3.5 max aperture), we would first set the lens aperture/automatic flash setting for the "normal" settings (say f8 for distances out to 30 feet or so) and then open the lens aperture by 1 or 2 stops (f5.6 and f4.0). The flash didn't know any different and the flash worked out to 60 and 120 feet and the pictures were generally excellent. Even a smaller flash would work in this scenario but you have to be brave enough to use manual settings on your camera and leave the automatic settings at home! Another alternative is to let the action come to you and be ready when it does. Be on the sidelines if you can and wait until the action moves to your side of the field and better yet, when the action comes directly at you. Just don't get run over.
I have a D80 as well. It is the lens that makes the difference. Two choices from Nikon 80-200 or 70-200VR. The 80-200 can be had for around $500, depending on the age and the 70-200 VR will cost you an arm and a leg ($1,500+ used). If you shoot with an ISO at 1600, all you will see is grain!
Before you spend any money try these suggestions: Turn off your TTL, shoot at full power. Set your flash to "slow". Shoot on "manual", set the f-stop wide open, set the speed to your max. Shoot at 1/60 unless you want to try to get action shots, then speed it up. Shoot RAW image so you can fix lighting later.
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