I disagree completely with you saying not to use the burst mode for shooting hockey. You will never get the shot you had in mind by trying to time things for a single shot (unless you're shooting little kids). Using the burst mode almost guarantees that you got a great action shot somewhere in the group, and you can just delete the rest of them. That's what the burst mode is for - why not use it?
Things have changed 8 years later - well, some things. I can understand "timing the shot", but I can also understand burst modes with the insane number of blackout free FPS you can get these days - and with pre-capture built in. The question is (i.e. with Nikon Z8/Z9 - do you want to shoot JPG only (not saying that is wrong) at 30, 60, or 120 fps? and what file size is adequate for the client you are shooting for or place you will show your images.
This is by far the best hockey photography video I have ever seen. Brilliant, thank you. Most of the sport pro photographers simply pump up the ISO and freeze all the action using 1/1000s or faster whereas the motion is totally lost. I used Kodak TMAX P3200 film and got great shots in the late 80s using a manual focus 135mm lens and sitting at the 25% part of the stadium and above the plexiglass. Mostly used 1/250s shutter speed and some at 1/125s.
I shoot professionally for a AHL hockey team in Austin, Texas. Been with them 8 years now. I also shoot with a Canon 7D and last year added a Canon 7D Mark II. I rarely shoot at f2.8, most of my hockey shots are at f4 and f4.5 with a Canon 70-200mm.
If professional, I'm guessing you have good lighting-f4.0 sounds like you do, post a link to some shots, i'm sure my subs would love to see the work by others.
At which ISO are you shooting at with f4? I find it quite tricky, maybe our rink isn’t bright enough. I shoot synchronized figure skating. Please share samples and settings for them.
John, if you are still around, fast forward 8 years. You may be shooting with the Canon R5/R3 or Sony a1 or Nikon Z9 (my current camera of choice for sports/action/wildlife since I was in the Nikon ecosystem). Things have changed a lot since this video. I am a former high school/college hockey player and competitive dancer. My question is this: I am going to start photographing our local amateur hockey stuff (currently do dance/wildlife) and since I have the advantage now of mirrorless, blackout free EVF and WYSIWYG, I was wondering if you had any advice in general. The cameras now also have fine tuning flicker control (something I haven't needed in the past). Thanks, in advance, for any personal suggestions. BTW: I'm in Houston, Texas. Maybe I should come out to Austin!
I'm not new to photography but very much an amateur photographer. Most of my shots are self portraits of me with fish captures however I am starting to use my camera for other things since I have a few lenses(35mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.8 primes, 17-70mm f2.8-4 & 70-300mm f4-5.6, camera is a 60D). The 35mm is the one I use mainly but my daughter is horse jumping outdoors so I thought I would go along and practice. I do watch lots of how to guides and I know practice is the key, just wanted to say that your guide is very informative, logical and you make it easy to understand so thank you for sharing this.
Thank you Kris. Enjoyed the session. I've been living my hockey vicariously through my Granddaughter and been photographing her events for several years. The challenge for me is always the lighting and the focus point. Canon 5D Mkiv. I generally set my focus 'spot' one above the center point as I find I have a tendency during action to aim too high. That forces me down. I'll give a try using some high contrast points as you suggest to see how that goes. but with back button focus and AI Servo I like to try to get my spot on the helmet. Great diagram about where to sit, or stand. I also have found getting to know the coaching staff and standing by the end of the bench can offer some 'glass free' sight lines, but it always seems the refs/linesmen like to stand right in front of me :-( One technique I like to use to force me into different set-ups is to change lenses and/or settings by the period. That way I gets me to use 'tool' consistently and when I change during the intermissions, I have time to change and not miss any action (although in minor hockey I always find there are some great shots when the coaches are addressing the players at the bench) Thank you again. Well done Time for a remake? 🙂
Thanks Kris great video! New to Photography. Team pictures looked so poor last year that I bought the Canon 70D and am having a lot of fun this year. I couldn't afford the 2.8 but bought a used 70-200 F4. Really struggle with this lens and have my eye out for a used 2.8. I shoot at anywhere from 2500-3200 and 1/500th most of the time as our home rinks are quite dark. Problem I find is noise, even at 3200 they are fairly noisy, perhaps I expected too much from the 70D. Although you don't like the shotgun I have had a lot of success with catching the puck at the right time, I never seem fast enough when shooting singles. Thanks again.
nothing wrong with the 70D you bought the wrong F stop. Grab a 50mm 1.8 for a $100.00 bucks. your rink most be pretty dark shooting at 3200 iso. that's getting noise.
Kris, it's 8 years after you posted this, but with all the "action" cameras now available, I haven't seen anyone update this kind of thing. I started my photographic journey a little over 4 years ago, but have come a long way since those days. I am sure you are well aware of the ability of cameras today to shoot at high frame rates black-out free (including some of the insane Nikon Z9 120 fps - only 11 megapixel jpg). The development of AI with subject detection/eye detection is also something that I've found helpful when subjects are moving predictably, but this will be my first time shooting hockey, indoors etc. Of course the cameras also have flicker control settings. All in all, the choose your moment (I get it) is probably less likely to get utilized these days. So here is my question to you - and I suppose one time out on the rink will be helpful. I played hockey at the high school and college level. I understand the speed and changes of direction in action. I will likely bring a 70-200mm f/2.8, 105mm f/1.4, and 200mm f/2. On the full frame body (Z9) I can throw it into crop mode 1.5x with the tap of a function button. I also have a 1x1 custom square that can have subject detection active, or with touch of a button, turned off - acts like single point. I will likely end up trying out an older DSLR Auto-focus area mode called dynamic small in the Nikon universe where you pick the initial focus point and then the camera may choose anything within a very small radius to focus on. I was curious what was the most common focal length and f/stop combination you found useful over the years. I realize it changes with equipment used and preferences. I will be at Ice level. I might have to look for my helmet. LOL Do you press your lens agains the glass? Thanks for this review.
I do a lot with my two kids: ice during the winter, inline during the summer. For winter I've got a 100-300 2.8 lens - I can normally set up between the two benches or to the far right of the home bench, ie a couple of metres in front of the goal line. In the summer I've got a 70-200 2.8. The depth of field at 2.8 especially on at 300 is very small and I have to discard a lot of miss focuses - the faster the game, the more wasted clicks. But, when they do work the effect is more dramatic. If I can come down a stop or two then I generally will so an F4 lens is probably good and a lot cheaper. The 300 I have is really heavy so I mount on a cheap gimbal I got from ebay - you get what you pay for, it's really heavy and goes out of line when you slacken off the tension screws so I often have to level out the image at post. I mount the 200 lens on ball head just because it's more convenient. The other thing that's a must is the focus on back button. Forget using shutter release auto focus - you'll throw away 4x more. I still have a lot to learn but I'm getting there: Some examples: www.flickr.com/photos/146087040@N04/albums/with/72157696692999004
Thanks! I had a D610 before and used auto iso which worked reasonably well but a bit on the grainy side. I've just moved up to a D810 to address that I hope. The clarity is soooo much better (see the most recent album) but I'm still figuring out the new body and the new 70-200 (new to me, second hand). Too lazy to go do it without a hockey game in front of me!
So I watched you video it helped a lot. Thanks! My son plays inline as well as ice hockey I don't do to bad with ice hockey but I tend to as well inline the lighting is a lot lower than ice hockey because of the ice but I just a camera. I bought a canon 70D and I love it I can't afford the 70mm-200 lens right now so I'm working with a 55mm-250 lens f4 my question is how can I know I need to make some adjustments to my camera but I'm still a little confuse as to how to get to come out a little lighter
the best way to check for proper exposure is to look at the histogram after you take a shot. In just about all cases you may need to do some lightening in software. I use Photoshop Elements and generally just adjust the levels (clipping the white to brighten the whites and clip the black to bring out detail in the darker areas.
If 2.8 offers such a narrow depth of focus, wouldn't a little higher be better anyway? Hockey rinks are generally well lit and as you said the ice reflects that light. I'm just starting out and have a micro 4/3 camera and a cheaper 40-150mm lens that is 4-5.6. Looking at your chart, I should be able to use 5.6 with a shudder speed around 500 without having to go too high with the ISO. Would that not be better to have a little greater available depth? Allowing for more margin of error? Even for a cheaper telephoto lens that will do 2.8 is nearing that $1000 mark.. (cdn currency)
Hi Kris, I don't know about cameras and photography, but, I'm big fan of it. I'm volleyball player and my wife wants shoot pictures of me while I'm playing, I would like to buy a pretty good camera, but unfortunatelly in this moment I can't, my budget for that is low now, so I need help from someone who understand about that, as I really appreciat your video I decided to contact you, could you help me please about that? I'm looking for camera and lenses that I can have good photos of my volleyball matchs as U saud before she will take it for me. Thanks a lot
Hard to say w/o seeing your lighting conditions. i'll guess....Run in Av mode and start with ISO around 3200, f4.0 and shutter will be computed by the camera, if it's less that 1/320, crank up ISO. If shutter is high say 1/2000 or more, the reduce ISO. If you have enough light reduce ISO until shutter is around 1/1000. The when you get a reasonable shutter, set camera to M and set the f and shutter to what you previously found. Yoy may continue to run in Av mode though.
Hi , recently i was shooting with 85mm 1.8 /f prime, most hardest part to get focus on the eyes special to those yangsters with gates on helms . This prime nikon 85mm good but still i need much sophisticated AF . Should i get Nikon 70-200mm 2.8f or Nikon 300pf 4f witch is dark for ice hockey or isn't it ?
I've heard good things about the 70-200 and being a 2.8 lens I would lean towards that. For the 300, a fixed lens at that length and depending on how far the subject is, it may be hard to track moving objects. I'm not sure what body you are on, if it has a crop factor, and how it will handle higher iso required by the F4 (even though were talking about 1 stop). I'd lean towards the 70-200.
Kris Kasprzak Recently i made a shuts with Nikon 85mm AF-S 1.8G , i think 50mm or 85mm , 24mm high aperture prime lens u could have as next cam-body , in close rage u can get wonderful kind of portraits. I use D7100 and i love this camera for the low price and gives a great output and i feel it really perfect cam for my home work before switching to some serious sport like d500 or d750 bodies . I love in D7100 that auto focus assistant wile you in M - mode but it sad that in view finder located down from the center point in view finder. I feel that sometimes manual focus require. Is D500 or D750 has that A- focus assistant right in the center ? Thanks in anyway.
I use the nikon d3400 with a 70-300mm I shoot 1/800 at 5.6 at iso 6400 Check out some of my images I know a lot of sports photographers that here in the UK at our rinks shoot at 6400 iso even when they use a f2. 8 lens that stop it upto f4
I disagree completely with you saying not to use the burst mode for shooting hockey. You will never get the shot you had in mind by trying to time things for a single shot (unless you're shooting little kids). Using the burst mode almost guarantees that you got a great action shot somewhere in the group, and you can just delete the rest of them. That's what the burst mode is for - why not use it?
Things have changed 8 years later - well, some things. I can understand "timing the shot", but I can also understand burst modes with the insane number of blackout free FPS you can get these days - and with pre-capture built in. The question is (i.e. with Nikon Z8/Z9 - do you want to shoot JPG only (not saying that is wrong) at 30, 60, or 120 fps? and what file size is adequate for the client you are shooting for or place you will show your images.
This is by far the best hockey photography video I have ever seen. Brilliant, thank you. Most of the sport pro photographers simply pump up the ISO and freeze all the action using 1/1000s or faster whereas the motion is totally lost. I used Kodak TMAX P3200 film and got great shots in the late 80s using a manual focus 135mm lens and sitting at the 25% part of the stadium and above the plexiglass. Mostly used 1/250s shutter speed and some at 1/125s.
Glad you enjoyed it
I shoot professionally for a AHL hockey team in Austin, Texas. Been with them 8 years now. I also shoot with a Canon 7D and last year added a Canon 7D Mark II. I rarely shoot at f2.8, most of my hockey shots are at f4 and f4.5 with a Canon 70-200mm.
If professional, I'm guessing you have good lighting-f4.0 sounds like you do, post a link to some shots, i'm sure my subs would love to see the work by others.
At which ISO are you shooting at with f4? I find it quite tricky, maybe our rink isn’t bright enough. I shoot synchronized figure skating. Please share samples and settings for them.
John, if you are still around, fast forward 8 years. You may be shooting with the Canon R5/R3 or Sony a1 or Nikon Z9 (my current camera of choice for sports/action/wildlife since I was in the Nikon ecosystem). Things have changed a lot since this video. I am a former high school/college hockey player and competitive dancer. My question is this: I am going to start photographing our local amateur hockey stuff (currently do dance/wildlife) and since I have the advantage now of mirrorless, blackout free EVF and WYSIWYG, I was wondering if you had any advice in general. The cameras now also have fine tuning flicker control (something I haven't needed in the past). Thanks, in advance, for any personal suggestions. BTW: I'm in Houston, Texas. Maybe I should come out to Austin!
Hi Kris,
This is one of the absolute best videos I have seen...
Super Educational and informative.
Thanks for sharing...
/Johan
You're very welcome.
Thanks Kris very good informative video. Looking forward to more of your great videos.
You're very welcome.
Great tips here! Thank you
I'm not new to photography but very much an amateur photographer. Most of my shots are self portraits of me with fish captures however I am starting to use my camera for other things since I have a few lenses(35mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.8 primes, 17-70mm f2.8-4 & 70-300mm f4-5.6, camera is a 60D). The 35mm is the one I use mainly but my daughter is horse jumping outdoors so I thought I would go along and practice. I do watch lots of how to guides and I know practice is the key, just wanted to say that your guide is very informative, logical and you make it easy to understand so thank you for sharing this.
Thank you Kris. Enjoyed the session. I've been living my hockey vicariously through my Granddaughter and been photographing her events for several years. The challenge for me is always the lighting and the focus point. Canon 5D Mkiv. I generally set my focus 'spot' one above the center point as I find I have a tendency during action to aim too high. That forces me down. I'll give a try using some high contrast points as you suggest to see how that goes. but with back button focus and AI Servo I like to try to get my spot on the helmet. Great diagram about where to sit, or stand. I also have found getting to know the coaching staff and standing by the end of the bench can offer some 'glass free' sight lines, but it always seems the refs/linesmen like to stand right in front of me :-( One technique I like to use to force me into different set-ups is to change lenses and/or settings by the period. That way I gets me to use 'tool' consistently and when I change during the intermissions, I have time to change and not miss any action (although in minor hockey I always find there are some great shots when the coaches are addressing the players at the bench) Thank you again. Well done Time for a remake? 🙂
Thanks Kris great video! New to Photography. Team pictures looked so poor last year that I bought the Canon 70D and am having a lot of fun this year. I couldn't afford the 2.8 but bought a used 70-200 F4. Really struggle with this lens and have my eye out for a used 2.8. I shoot at anywhere from 2500-3200 and 1/500th most of the time as our home rinks are quite dark. Problem I find is noise, even at 3200 they are fairly noisy, perhaps I expected too much from the 70D. Although you don't like the shotgun I have had a lot of success with catching the puck at the right time, I never seem fast enough when shooting singles. Thanks again.
nothing wrong with the 70D you bought the wrong F stop. Grab a 50mm 1.8 for a $100.00 bucks. your rink most be pretty dark shooting at 3200 iso. that's getting noise.
Kris, it's 8 years after you posted this, but with all the "action" cameras now available, I haven't seen anyone update this kind of thing. I started my photographic journey a little over 4 years ago, but have come a long way since those days. I am sure you are well aware of the ability of cameras today to shoot at high frame rates black-out free (including some of the insane Nikon Z9 120 fps - only 11 megapixel jpg). The development of AI with subject detection/eye detection is also something that I've found helpful when subjects are moving predictably, but this will be my first time shooting hockey, indoors etc. Of course the cameras also have flicker control settings. All in all, the choose your moment (I get it) is probably less likely to get utilized these days. So here is my question to you - and I suppose one time out on the rink will be helpful. I played hockey at the high school and college level. I understand the speed and changes of direction in action. I will likely bring a 70-200mm f/2.8, 105mm f/1.4, and 200mm f/2. On the full frame body (Z9) I can throw it into crop mode 1.5x with the tap of a function button. I also have a 1x1 custom square that can have subject detection active, or with touch of a button, turned off - acts like single point. I will likely end up trying out an older DSLR Auto-focus area mode called dynamic small in the Nikon universe where you pick the initial focus point and then the camera may choose anything within a very small radius to focus on. I was curious what was the most common focal length and f/stop combination you found useful over the years. I realize it changes with equipment used and preferences. I will be at Ice level. I might have to look for my helmet. LOL Do you press your lens agains the glass? Thanks for this review.
I do a lot with my two kids: ice during the winter, inline during the summer. For winter I've got a 100-300 2.8 lens - I can normally set up between the two benches or to the far right of the home bench, ie a couple of metres in front of the goal line. In the summer I've got a 70-200 2.8.
The depth of field at 2.8 especially on at 300 is very small and I have to discard a lot of miss focuses - the faster the game, the more wasted clicks. But, when they do work the effect is more dramatic. If I can come down a stop or two then I generally will so an F4 lens is probably good and a lot cheaper.
The 300 I have is really heavy so I mount on a cheap gimbal I got from ebay - you get what you pay for, it's really heavy and goes out of line when you slacken off the tension screws so I often have to level out the image at post. I mount the 200 lens on ball head just because it's more convenient.
The other thing that's a must is the focus on back button. Forget using shutter release auto focus - you'll throw away 4x more.
I still have a lot to learn but I'm getting there: Some examples: www.flickr.com/photos/146087040@N04/albums/with/72157696692999004
Good shots, thanks for sharing. I wish I could stop my lenses down, but I have such limited light.
Thanks! I had a D610 before and used auto iso which worked reasonably well but a bit on the grainy side. I've just moved up to a D810 to address that I hope. The clarity is soooo much better (see the most recent album) but I'm still figuring out the new body and the new 70-200 (new to me, second hand). Too lazy to go do it without a hockey game in front of me!
Thanks kris!
So I watched you video it helped a lot. Thanks! My son plays inline as well as ice hockey I don't do to bad with ice hockey but I tend to as well inline the lighting is a lot lower than ice hockey because of the ice but I just a camera. I bought a canon 70D and I love it I can't afford the 70mm-200 lens right now so I'm working with a 55mm-250 lens f4 my question is how can I know I need to make some adjustments to my camera but I'm still a little confuse as to how to get to come out a little lighter
the best way to check for proper exposure is to look at the histogram after you take a shot. In just about all cases you may need to do some lightening in software. I use Photoshop Elements and generally just adjust the levels (clipping the white to brighten the whites and clip the black to bring out detail in the darker areas.
If 2.8 offers such a narrow depth of focus, wouldn't a little higher be better anyway? Hockey rinks are generally well lit and as you said the ice reflects that light. I'm just starting out and have a micro 4/3 camera and a cheaper 40-150mm lens that is 4-5.6. Looking at your chart, I should be able to use 5.6 with a shudder speed around 500 without having to go too high with the ISO. Would that not be better to have a little greater available depth? Allowing for more margin of error? Even for a cheaper telephoto lens that will do 2.8 is nearing that $1000 mark.. (cdn currency)
Thank you I'm working on getting a good photo shop without spending a fortune.
I use photoshop elements and it cost less than $100
oh that's actually not bad I can afford that thanks for your help
Hi Kris,
I don't know about cameras and photography, but, I'm big fan of it.
I'm volleyball player and my wife wants shoot pictures of me while I'm playing, I would like to buy a pretty good camera, but unfortunatelly in this moment I can't, my budget for that is low now, so I need help from someone who understand about that, as I really appreciat your video I decided to contact you, could you help me please about that?
I'm looking for camera and lenses that I can have good photos of my volleyball matchs as U saud before she will take it for me.
Thanks a lot
Your rinks must be better lit than the Australian Rinks.
I struggled recently with a full frame, 70-200 f2.8 inside a hockey arena. light is just horrible. My iso was unmanageable
I hear ya. Bad light is really hard to deal with.
Just purchased a 7D Mark ii I currently use my 70-200mm f/4.0 what would you recommend me starting my settings at when shooting hockey?
Hard to say w/o seeing your lighting conditions. i'll guess....Run in Av mode and start with ISO around 3200, f4.0 and shutter will be computed by the camera, if it's less that 1/320, crank up ISO. If shutter is high say 1/2000 or more, the reduce ISO. If you have enough light reduce ISO until shutter is around 1/1000. The when you get a reasonable shutter, set camera to M and set the f and shutter to what you previously found. Yoy may continue to run in Av mode though.
Hi , recently i was shooting with 85mm 1.8 /f prime, most hardest part to get focus on the eyes special to those yangsters with gates on helms . This prime nikon 85mm good but still i need much sophisticated AF . Should i get Nikon 70-200mm 2.8f or Nikon 300pf 4f witch is dark for ice hockey or isn't it ?
I've heard good things about the 70-200 and being a 2.8 lens I would lean towards that. For the 300, a fixed lens at that length and depending on how far the subject is, it may be hard to track moving objects. I'm not sure what body you are on, if it has a crop factor, and how it will handle higher iso required by the F4 (even though were talking about 1 stop). I'd lean towards the 70-200.
Kris Kasprzak
Recently i made a shuts with Nikon 85mm AF-S 1.8G , i think 50mm or 85mm , 24mm high aperture prime lens u could have as next cam-body , in close rage u can get wonderful kind of portraits. I use D7100 and i love this camera for the low price and gives a great output and i feel it really perfect cam for my home work before switching to some serious sport like d500 or d750 bodies . I love in D7100 that auto focus assistant wile you in M - mode but it sad that in view finder located down from the center point in view finder. I feel that sometimes manual focus require. Is D500 or D750 has that A- focus assistant right in the center ? Thanks in anyway.
˙Hi Kris I currently own a 50mm 1.8 stm lens would this lens be good for shooting hockey ?
+matt schilmoeller I've never used that lens, but I've head focus times are slow-and maybe too slow for action. I'd recommend trying before you buy.
I have used the 50mm 1.8 stm lens for basketball and i am slowly working on upgrading lenses
I use the nikon d3400 with a 70-300mm I shoot 1/800 at 5.6 at iso 6400
Check out some of my images I know a lot of sports photographers that here in the UK at our rinks shoot at 6400 iso even when they use a f2. 8 lens that stop it upto f4