Canon Rebel XS Question??

[elixir09]

Hello Everybody,

I have a Canon Rebel XS and I am going to be taking pictures for my Fraternities Dodgeball Tournament. I was wondering what the best setting would be. I have 3 different lenses. EFS 18-55mm w/ Image stabilizer, also a 35-80mm w/o image Stabilizer, and lastly a 70-210mm w/o stabilizer. Please Let me know the best setting you would use. The tournament will be outdoors, and I'm hoping for sunny day.

Thank You

[KeithB]

It depends on how close to the action you are - or want to be! 8^).  If you are close enough, then the 18-55 IS would be the best choice since IS is always nice.  However, I would take all three lenses and use them all.  As long as it is sunny, camera shake will not be a problem.  But I would use all three lenses to get a good mix of wide shots showing the "big picture" at 18 mm down to uisng the 210 mm to zero in on action shots of the individuals.

Make sure you have plenty of storage capacity.  In this case you probably don't need RAW, the largest, finest, JPEGS should come out fine.

As far as settings go, the "sports" mode would probably work fine.  It does several things:
It sets AI Sevo mode to track moving objects and turns on continuous shooting so that you will take a "burst" of shots as you hold down the shutter button.  It also biases the exposure to increase the shutter speed to freeze action.  It also keeps the flash from firing.

Take lots of pictures!  Most will be fairly serviceable, but taking lots of pictures will help to get some real keepers.  You should also try to anticipate the action.  (Your SLR is *much much* better than a P&S for this...)  When using the 210 mm, you will need to try and anticipate when the action will happen.  If you shoot when the ball is next to the person, the shot will happen just as the ball goes past.  Try to shoot as soon as you see the ball in the frame.  Chimp (view the just taken shot) a bit to make sure that you are getting the action where you want it.

Do not be afraid to experiment.  You might want to try a few panning shots to get a good feel for the action, since a "frozen" moment - even in a dynamic sport - might not give a good feel for the action going on.

Oh, one more thing.  Make sure to hold down the shutter button half way when the shot is composed.  This locks focus - make sure the red focus point lights up where you want it - and then press the button all the way when the action warrants.  It takes much longer to get the shot when you push the button all the way for each shot - especially for action shots.

[elixir09]

Thank you very much. This will help a ton.