Settings for Hockey on an F/4 vs F/2.8

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

For anyone who has shot hockey, in the following venue types, with the following lenses, generally speaking, what kind of settings did you have to use? I have a limited budget and I’m looking at a few different 70-200 EF lenses with RF adapter for use on an R6Mk2.

AHL venue, professional lighting standard: F/2.8 & F/4

General Municipal/Local type rink with non-professional lighting standards: F/2.8 & F/4

I’ve found a couple used F/4 Canon L USM lenses for solid prices, I’m just not convinced they’re fast enough for hockey.

 

[Only RF]

Tough call. The R6II is pretty remarkable with high ISO and lower light. Also noise reduction software these days is a lot expensive than a 2.8 lens. Correct exposure is paramount. How dark is the venue? Will that one stop make or break it for you?

20000 ISO with the R7. I used NR AI for this one.

Original

R6II at 5000 ISO using LrC with no Luminance NR. Color at 25.

 

[Only RF]

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

I’m leaning toward saving cash. I did some informal family portraiture last evening with only a reflector at 8000 ISO and used Luminar Neo Noiseless AI on Low and got pretty good results.

Anyone else finding that Topaz Denoise has developed a tendency to be over aggressive? I’m finding Photo AI 2 to produce better results, faster with less tweaking on my part.

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

Reviving this thread. Im at the game just got done getting my settings. 1/1000 to 1/1250, F4, ISO 2000-3200, for the most part. Glad I’m saving the weight because I’m on my feet in the corner with no place to sit. Amazing LED lighting in this arena.

 

[lostnomore]

You're fortunate that you have good lighting! I always shoot f/2.8 at 1/1,000 sec. and still often average ISO 6,400. Out in rural areas like where I live, the arenas often don't have the most modern lighting, i.e. tungsten instead of LED. I just couldn't get away with using a f/4 zoom lens out here!

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

I ended up settling on 1/1600, F4, ISO 3200 for just about +2/3 to +1 EV depending where the action was on the ice.

The R6 Mk2 and similar cameras handle the ISO so well, and denoise software is so abundant, other than artistic reasons, I’m not sure I see a value in lugging around an F2.8 lens for one stop of light. I really wish Canon would expand their F4 line up to include a telecom past 200, maybe out to 400, that wasn’t $10,000.