Photographing matches

[Coredesat]

I was actually able to get decent photos of matches at VCU with a Sony CyberShot DSC-S650 point-and-shoot camera set to -0.3 to -0.7 exposure value and 200 to 400 ISO (mostly 200), with flash turned off. 100-200 ISO was fine whenever I used flash. I had to resort to using 320 ISO for some of the matches due to the poor lighting, though, although they weren't as grainy as some other photos I have that were taken at 320 ISO.

Next year I will hopefully have a Fujifilm S700, so I can take some better-looking photos (as well as videos that aren't horrendously loud and clipped).

[Rick]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

What results are the rest of you getting?

Check out http://www.joemenassa.com/robotics2008.html and see the beautiful shots he takes. He uses two giant canon cameras. Not sure which ones or settings, contact him on his site.

[Viper37]

For SD/LA I typically use the following settings.

Canon EOS 20D
1/250s f/3.5 at 200.0mm iso800 with Flash hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time 23-Mar-2006 09:38:48
Make Canon
Model Canon EOS 20D
Flash Used Yes
Focal Length 200 mm
Exposure Time 1/250 sec
Aperture f/3.5
ISO Equivalent 800
White Balance (-1)
Metering Mode matrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program aperture priority (3)


Use that light meter. It helps.

[Dan 1038]

I've been shooting FRC for two years with a Canon Digital Rebal (v1.0, 6.3MP) and cheap Canon lenses (an 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 and a 70-300 f/4-5.6) with decent results. My pics from this year's Midwest Regional are at www.frcpics.com. I have been shooting at mostly 1600 ISO in RAW format, when I shrink down the resulting jpegs the noise from the high ISO is vastly reduced. I like action shots of the robots and the drive teams, so the shutter speed is the key element for what I am trying to do, I shoot for at least 1/200 to help stop the action. Concerning white balance, I find the regional fields work best under the incandescent setting, while the Georgia Dome is a lot brighter and likes the cloudy setting. The beauty of RAW is the ability to easily adjust the white balance and exposure in Photoshop prior to publishing.

I just stepped up to the new Canon D40 with a pair of lenses I hope will make this easier, a Canon 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS (Image Stabilized) for general shooting an a Sigma 50-150 f/2.8 for the action shots. Stay tuned for pics!

[geeknerd99]

Superman dat ISO.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

In my experience, the key to getting sharp photos is simply to let enough light in. Open the aperture all the way up, and crank up the ISO. VCU has pretty bad lighting, but in Atlanta, I was getting 1/100-120 @f4.5, ISO 800. Seemed to work pretty well. Of course, some of this may be limited by availability of hardware.

I used 2 Digital Rebel XTs with Canon's 70-200 f/4 L, Tamron's 28-75 f/2.8, and Sigma's 10-20 f/4-5.6

[Dan 1038]

Originally Posted by geeknerd99

Superman dat ISO.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

In my experience, the key to getting sharp photos is simply to let enough light in. Open the aperture all the way up, and crank up the ISO. VCU has pretty bad lighting, but in Atlanta, I was getting 1/100-120 @f4.5, ISO 800. Seemed to work pretty well. Of course, some of this may be limited by availability of hardware.

I used 2 Digital Rebel XTs with Canon's 70-200 f/4 L, Tamron's 28-75 f/2.8, and Sigma's 10-20 f/4-5.6

I agree, Geek... Atlanta is the mecca for us photo-geeks! Great light = great shots! For action, though, I question if 1/100-120 is enough to stop it... If we are just looking for throwing the pics on the web and not making 11X14's of them, I am also a fan of cranking the ISO and opening the aperature to allow the speeds we need to stop the action. I am curious to see how I can screw up the depth of field of a 2.8 tele this year in Atlanta...

[geeknerd99]

I just wish I had shot more photos of the drivers and other PEOPLE instead of the robots. I'd like to do that some more, but I drove last year and I'm robocoaching this year. Maybe I can trade off with our photographer this year for a few rounds and have someone else robocoach for a bit.

[billbo911]

All these photo's are hosted from my Smugmug account, so I don't mind putting a few on here. It save a bunch of storage on CD to do it this way.

Some of these are obviously from the floor, others were from up in the stands. All were shot with a Canon 30D, some with a Sigma 17-70 2.8, others with a Canon 70-300 3.5-5.6 IS.

This first one if from the floor, during field reset. ISO 400,1/50, f/5.0, 40mm.


This is again from the floor between matches. ISO 1600,1/125,f/4.5,115mm.



Here is a shot of the Regional Champion during Autonomous.
ISO 400, 1/100, f/4.0, 70mm.



And now for a little fun.
ISO 100, 4s, f/32, 70mm.

[spinmunky]

Originally Posted by billbo911

Here is a shot of the Regional Champion during Autonomous.
ISO 400, 1/100, f/4.0, 70mm.

Nice shot of us!

Anyway.
I use a Canon Rebel XTi, either a 18-55mm or a 75-300mm lens, 1600ISO, Manual mode with no flash, and I adjust the shutter for the best exposure.
you can look at some of my pictures of the Silicon Valley Regional here: http://picasaweb.google.com/little.john.team100

I know that some of my pics are horrible but i take alot and don't filter them out when i upload them.I just have to say that I hate the lighting at regionals. The pit lighting is the worst, but the field is ok. I know that an ISO of 1600 makes you pics really grainy but i take them Large (3888x2592) so most of the time I shrink them down and at that size most people wouldn't notice it too much. Message me if you have any questions or comments.

[B.Collette]

At Manchester I was able to get good quality pictures from the stands about 70 feet away from the field.

Nikon D80
f/3.5-5.6 18-135mm
ISO @ 400
SpeedLite SB500

http://phoenixrobotics.net/gallery/m...?g2_itemId=197



/brian

[Luckyfish05]

Just wanted to say "THANKS!" to all of you out there giving advice. I love taking photos, and I know I always have more to learn. I'm going to be trying some of these suggestions!

[Cascade]

Cameras used: Canon 20 and 30D DSLR

Lenses used: Canon 24-70, 2.8 and Canon 70-200, 2.8 with IS

Film Speed: 800

Aperture setting: 3.5

Shutter Speed: 80-100

Flash: Yes, 430 and 580. Setting: -1/3 to + 1/3, usually set at 0, however.

Camera mode: manual.

Strategy: changes every direction in these arenas. Take plenty of test shots before you shoot, re-test in critical situations, adjust shutter speed when needed and leave the aperture and flash settings alone. Look at the histograms to confirm what the display is saying on the back of the camera. Too dark is better than too light. Use any version of Photoshop to do final cropping and cleanup.