gymnastic photo's

[aussie eagle]

g'day I've just got my hands on a nikon d80 with a 70-200vr 2.8 lens to use on daughters gymnastics 2morrow, being a novice I'd appreciate any suggested camera settings

[JohnG]

Set custom WB (see manual on how to do it)
Shoot manual exposure - ISO 3200, f2.8 and whatever shutter speed exposes the faces correctly.
Note - you may have to change shutter speed for different events because of the lighting - lighting for gymnastics isn't always uniform - sometimes an aparatus is stuck near a wall where lighting isn't as good.
Use center focus point only, continuous focus

[aussie eagle]

okay thanks mate will see how it goes.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by aussie eagle

... I've just got my hands on a nikon d80 with a 70-200vr 2.8 lens ...

Very sweet!

Originally Posted by aussie eagle

... to use on daughters gymnastics 2morrow...

Good luck. Come back and post some of your photos if you can.

[Mark1616]

John shoots gym so knows his stuff, go with what he says and do make sure you come back and let us know how you got on.

The exposing for faces is key, you will already have quite a lot of noise so if you under expose then you will be in a lot of trouble.

Be warned you might only get 1/200s even at those settings. The gym I've covered most only gets me that which is a real pain so I use ISO 6400 and a lens that is f1.8 to get the fast moving shots.

If you are stuck with only 1/200s then your timing is key, shoot when they are in a balance etc rather than moving. The younger ages are always easier to shoot with slow shutter speeds as they don't do as much fast action which helps.