I intend to buy a camera(Canon FTb-N) that I can use to practice taking action photos using manual focus(at local basketball games). And I was wondering if anyone can tell me if the 1/1000th of a second shutter speed of the camera is necessary or adequate under normal conditions.(Assuming film and aperture settings are optimal)? The idea is to eliminate the blurring effect. Also, how powerful a flash should I consider purchasing? Thanks a lot. Darren.

-- Darren Harris (Searcher7@mail.con2.com), May 20, 1999

Answers

I doubt you'll ever use 1/1000 second indoors; in a well-lighted gym with ISO 800 film and a fast f2.8 lens I can usually get only 1/250 second. Often, 1/250 is fast enough to freeze basketball players.

If you use flash, you will be limited to the maximum X-sync for your camera, probably 1/60 second. However, the actual duration of the flash is about 1/1000 second or shorter and will, by itself, freeze the motion. To use flash for action shots, you must under expose the ambient (gym lighting) by about 3 stops, or you'll get ghosting.

-- Dave Herzstein (dherzstein@juno.com), May 20, 1999.

Thanks a lot. Actually, I'll probably be shooting both indoors and outdoors. And considering I also will probably have either ISO 400 or ISO 800 film, I'll have to do a lot of research and experimentation in order to find out what my limitations(parameters) are.(Particularly the narrower ones with the ISO 400 film) Can anyone recommend an ideal lens for what I want to do?(The fairly general purpose lens I have on the camera already is a Seikanon 28-70/f3.5- 4.5, (with Seikanon 2x doubler/extension tube)). Thanks a lot. Darren.

-- Darren Harris (Searcher7@mail.con2.com), May 26, 1999.

For gym shots, I suggest using a 50mm/f1.8 lens (inexpensive and fast), if you have one. Otherwise a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster. Your f3.5-4.5 lens with doubler (effectively f7.0-9.0) is just too slow.

-- Dave Herzstein (dherzstein@juno.com), May 26, 1999.