I shoot alot of outdoor sports, but of late I've been asked to shoot in gyms a bit. That is one of the most challenging sports environment I've had to work in.
Lighting ranges from bad to very bad, and you have light that not only throw funny colors, but cycle giving you different illumination/colors depending on where in the cycle your shutter releases.
All this while trying to keep your shutter speed high enough to capture the action.
First try I used my old 1D 2N and 70-200 2.8 and maxed out the ISO at 3200. Lots of grain but if I minded my angles, I could work things out in PP.
Next I borrowed a 7D with it's better ISO performance. Still not happy with the results.
Most recently I rented a 7DII and at ISO 6400, I can keep the shutter at 1/500 without too much of a noise toll,I get 10 fps and it has a new feature to delay the shutter release a microsecond to catch the light in the same point in the cycle!
FWIW, my friend that shoots lots of indoor sports uses the 85mm 1.4 on a full frame body and crops to get in tight. He says he had to get used to losing more shots because of the unforgiving depth of field. The 85mm 1.8 is much cheaper and I would hope a little more forgiving. Can't speak to the autofocus speed on the 1.8, but anticipating the action and prefocusing can help offset a slow autofocus.
Last edited by ChrisF; 01/28/15.
