I have a Rebel XTi, what settings should I use to take action pictures inside (normally they are dark and blur

Answer 1

First up, Megs's assertion that bigger lens = better is unfounded.

To minimise blur free shots indoors, you will need to make use of available lighting whilst turning up the shutter speed. This is a dilemma because turning up the shutter speed means the camera lets in LESS light.. which is obviously bad since there already isn't much light to work with in the first place.

Therefore to compensate, one would need to open the aperture of the lens more to let more light in. This corresponds to a small F number. The Av (Aperture-priority mode on your 400D allows you to control aperture values). This is precisely the reason why a 'fast' lens is preferred for indoor/night shots. A 'fast' lens is defined as a lens with a large maximum aperture (i.e smaller lowest F number.. e.g f2.8, f2, f1.8 etc.). This allows the lens to let in more light, letting you use a faster shutter speed (hence the 'fast' designation) to capture shots with less blurriness.

Now if you bought the XTi with the kit lens, then you would currently be using the 17-55mm f3.5-4.5 EF-S lens. That means the maximum aperture you can achieve is at the value of f3.5. That means this lens is not 'fast'. Consider the 50mm f1.8 prime lens. A prime lens is a lens with a fixed focal length. This lens is a staple for many photographers and is unbelievably cheap (usually less than $100USD). The optics of this lens is also superb for the price (i.e resulting in good image quality) and it is also a 'fast' lens (notice the f1.8 i.e high maximum aperture). Fast lenses also tend to cost more in general, so the 50mm is fantastic value for people looking for a great indoor/portrait/night lens.

Another method to let in more light without increasing the aperture is to increase the ISO. You will notice your XTi has an ISO rating of upto 1,600. The ISO setting essentially changes the sensitivity of the sensor in your camera, so it becomes more sensitive to light. A disadvantage of increasing the ISO however is that it produces more noise in your images. The great thing about digital SLR cameras is that they have bigger sensors, resulting in less noise at higher ISOs compared to digital compacts. For example, my XTi exhibits less noise in images taken at ISO 800 compared to ISO 200 on my Canon S3-IS. Therefore dSLRs are great cameras for low-light photography.

So just to recap in indoor shooting techniques, you will want to use a mode like Tv (shutter-priority), set the shutter speed high enough (such as 1/60 sec) to get blur-free shots. This will naturally force a large aperture (small F number) due to the lack of light. Hence recall back to what I said earlier about the benefits of having a 'fast' lens.. as this allows you to use a smaller F number than usual lenses, which allows you to use a higher shutter speed. If there is still not enough light to make a non-dark picture (the numbers on the LCD and the viewfinder will generally flash, indicating this to you), then increase the ISO setting.

For example, a typical camera setting for an indoor shot for blur-free, good exposed photograph on a 50mm prime lens would be:
1/60 sec shutter speed, f2 aperture and ISO 800.

Hope this helped.

Answer 2

Agree with Ara57. You should have the understanding on how the camera really works first. The Rebel XTi is a good camera but for indoor action, what you need is not a "bigger" lens. You need a "faster" telephoto lens.

The zoom range will be depending on what kind of indoor sport event it is and how far you want to zoom in and how far you'll be sitting from the action. Normally speaking, a 70-200mm should be good enough given you are not sitting way too high up.

When I said "faster" lens, what it really means is how large the aperture can open (F-stop). The larger the apertrue open, the more light will go into the camera and the less time the shutter will need to stay open for correct exposure. F/2.8 wil consider a fast lens vs F/5.6 is a slow one.

For a budget lens, I will recommand Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L or Canon EF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 IS lens. They cost around mid $500 and should have the zoom range that you need. Both of these lens are not very "fast" but both are good lens for its price. You'll still need to turn up the ISO speed so the picture won't come out too dark.

If you are not ready to spend the money for a telephoto lens, consider a cheap under a hundred dollars Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 lens. You don't get the zoom range but its way faster than the kit lens that came with your camera.

Regradless you are getting any lens or not. For indoor sport, you will want to set your camera to Av mode. Set the F number as low as possible. You also need to turn up the ISO to something like 800 or more depending on the lighting condition. Don't bother using the flash since you are too far from the flash effective range.

Answer 3

Short answer: Depending on the lighting available at the venue, it may be impossible to get a good picture using your current equipment.
My suggestion: Get a good beginner's book on photography and learn about shutter speed, aperture, and lighting. Understanding Exposure is a good one to start.
Taking action pictures inside is one of the hardest scenarios to capture good images. You probably need more help than Yahoo answers can give you
Good luck.

Answer 4

use aperture priority + ISO 1600 - no flash (!)

check few of my test shot with Rebel XTi - indoor: http://picasaweb.google.com/dand370/CanonXTiDSLR

Answer 5

you need to adjust your shutter speed and I would suggest getting a bigger lens. I work at a photographer for a company and the bigger the lens the better, depending oh how serious you are about getting good pictures, it can cost more than a thousand dollars to actually get good action pictures indoors. just something to think about. =] have fun!

Answer 6

Don't use "P" mode unless you unleash the flash. Auto or green square will fire flash.