Shooting Hockey indoors with a nx5u

[David Eaks]

Can you ask the people at the darker rinks to turn up the lights? Try setting the auto gain correction to a lower number, or avoiding full auto mode

[John Lenihan]

Hi Jerry,

Here is what I have discovered about shooting hockey.
1. The puck is fast and small.
2. The lights are terrible, usually high pressure sodium arc.
3. The most coveted clip is full body shot of the player slapping the stick against the puck and the camera follows the puck into the net, bulging against the back of the net, then dropping, all played back in slow motion.

There are conflicting camera requirements, and I have experimented a lot. In order to see the puck while it moves, you want to have a high shutter speed, like say 1/400 of a second.

In order to work in the dimly lit rink, you want to have a slow shutter speed. In order to get a close shot, you want to zoom in. In order to make sure your player with the puck is in focus, you want a narrow apperture for larger depth of field.

What I do is the following:
Set the shutter speed to a manual 1/180 of a second. The lights actually turn on and off 60 times a second, and if you are not on a muliple of that, you will see the lights go bright, then dim on the video over a 4 second cycle.

Then I make aperature, focus automatic. Make sure the nd filters are off.

Then I tighten in on a “white” section of ice before the zamboni clears it from the previous game. I press the button to memorize that setting as white in the white balance. Since the overhead lights range from yellow to green, this makes them look fairly the same whiteness.

Next I set the AE or AS, that is automatic exposure adjustment, to be plus 2. This is because the camera light sensor sees all the white relections from the ice and the boards, and actually makes the tries to optimize on them, making the players and puck too dark. Alternatively, sometimes I will actually watch the settings in the camera following a player tightly during warm up, and just put the aperature into manual at that setting. This again is because the interest is the player and puck, not the white boards or ice.

If you need more information on what I do, let me know.

JOhn Lenihan

John Lenihan

LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com

[Jerry Greene]

John, picking up a your answer here at work, would like to run to rink right now to try out your suggestions. Will run up there tonight and put the nx5u thru its paces using your suggestions.
will let you know what i learn.. thanks !

[Jerry Greene]

John, hey thanks so much, Hockey day here in Mn. this weekend and shot 3 games all with some of the suggestions You made. the best was to open up the AS setting +2 to +4 All turned out better than before as i run thru them now. Thanks again, posting some highlights on youtube tonight. Will send link once it loads over night. THanks again!

[Jerry Greene]

John, here is link, i guess i should have posted what the settings look like “before” but i will say they are much brighter with very little burn out. All other settings on full auto. Thanks again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Mc4rinUow&list=UUI4mwmjNICFHl-_b_pXaMXA&index=1&feature=plcp

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[John Lenihan]

Thanks for your thanks.

Congratulations.

John

PS. The other settings I gave you, ie the white balance, are so you could get the colors consistent if you do a highlight of a team in different rinks. The shutter speed is to make slow motion, or to grab a picture off the video better.

John

John Lenihan

LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com