Hello. First of all I would like to thank the forum for letting me be a member, and I look forward to doing lots of learning
I will get straight to the point. I am pretty new to the world of DSLR so I could use all the help I can get. The reason I bought a DSLR was to take pictures of weightlifting competitions (although since my purchase, my interest in other aspects of photography has increased as well). This weekend, our town will be hosting a weightlifting competition, and I would love to test out my new camera/lens. My camera is a Nikon D50 and my lens is a Sigma 70-200mm F2.8.
I am starting to believe that weightlifting could be one of the worst possible sports to photograph, I will explain what I have against me. First, I will be taking photos in a school gymnasium so the lighting will be far from perfect. Due to the nature of the sport (split second concentration) I can't use a flash. I won't be too close to the athlete either, so I will be close to full zoom. Finally, my subjects will be moving very fast. The movements of Olympic weightlifting are extremely fast at certain points (arguably the fastest sport in the world), and I would love to be able to capture those moments (think swinging a baseball bat, or the start of a sprint). The one good thing, is that my subjects will be in the same spot, so I don't have to worry about them moving away from me.
I know this is a LONG first post. I was just hoping some people would be able to help me out and give me some advice. Thanks a lot!
Walter