Help, please -- what settings on my camera for school gym lighting???

[Scrapper007]

My dd has her first volleyball game in a few hours and I can't find the book for my Canon Digital Rebel. DH isn't here to help, ugh. I know I should have done this before this morning but I didn't, so...pls. help???

Should I also keep it in sports mode? I'm not sure what I need to adjust...the white balance, aperture, ???

TIA!

[sprauncey1]

Sports mode. Fluorescent lighting white balance (not sure what exactly it is called on your camera). Good luck! Gymnasium photos are the hardest!

[Scrapper007]

Thank you. I adjusted the white balance to fluorescent but had to do it under "P" mode. If I change the dial to sports mode, it won't allow me to change the white balance (says "this function is not available in current shooting mode"). Will changing the white balance alone be good enough?

[Kara]

Gym lighting is SO hard to get right!

[Scrapper007]

I found something online...does this sound right:

ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/125

???

[krystalhartley]

How did the photos turn out?

I would think shutter speed / ISO would be more critical than white balance here. You can always correct for color in photoshop, but you're going to have a hard time dealing with blurry or badly focused photos.

[sprauncey1]

I found something online...does this sound right:

ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/125

???

Yes these are the bare minimums. Sports needs high shutter speeds which means less blurr. But in order to compensate you have to lower your aperature (your f number, which is limited by your lens) and up your ISO which means more grain. So it is all a balance act. 1/125 is usually the speed I set to start off with when photographing my boys. But you may need to go even higher (1/200 or so) to get the action shots like spikes and dives. This is essentially what sports mode does (gives priority to shutter speed vs ISO).

I would take pics with both settings (sports mode no white balance and shutter priority with fluorescent lighting and those numbers) and see which is better/easier for you to handle and still enjoy the game! Good luck! I love volleyball!

[allboyz]

Yep, make sure your ISO is above 800.
Gym/Basketball is the worst for me..

[Scrapper007]

Thanks everyone. I started with the ISO at 800 but upped it to 1600 after a few dark shots. The shutter speed was 1/125. I did have to lighten the photos up in Photoshop, but all in all, they turned out decently.