Currently have a D750 and have been really happy with it.   Our local high school football field is poorly lit AND has natural turf, which seems to soak up the light more than astro turf.   A few of the away games I've been to are a lot easier to shoot, simply because their astro turf seemed to reflect some of the light back.

I've gotten good results (at least for me) with the D750, but a guy has a nice D500 locally for sale, and I'm tempted to throw a number at it, see if the guy would take my offer.   I had a D7500 a couple years ago, and I feel my D750 does better with night time shooting.     And since the D500 is "basically" the same camera, to some extent, not sure if the D500 would be "that" much better than my D750 for low light shooting.

Currently using a Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 lens.


Go get the D500, or, work harder at not shooting shitty pics?    

Lens.

I have a Nikon D500 & D7500,  I shoot photos at my local HS also, but I am a band dad. They have astro-turft at my school. Your D750 is a FX camera and the D500 is a DX, I would probably guess that the FX D750 is probably better in low-light scenarios, so probably the D500 is not going to buy much above your current D750(IMHO), since I don't have a D750.

Personally I choose a DX format camera because of it smaller image circle, the lenses are small & lighter and costs less. BUT the trade-off is low-light performance suffers over that of a FX camera principally because with the larger sensor you  can have larger OD optical diodes. For me I can see more sensor noise at equivalent ISOs in my DX cameras from a friend;s FX camera, but I am willing to endure that aspect.

I have a 750 and a 7500. When I shoot basketball I use the 7500 with a Nikon 70-200 2.8 E FL ED. No problems. If it was me for sports I'd get the D500.

BUT, in your case I'd be tempted to upgrade my lens first.

couple of u guys mentioned lens.    do I need to step away from the 70-200mm lens?     The Tamron according to tests, rates favorably with the Nikon 70-200mm lenses.

which lens would u recommend?    here's a pic of my lens.

As I stated, the D750 is an outstanding camera.   I really have no skills when it comes to creativity pics....... I'm simply a point and shoot guy with a decent camera/lens.    

Think I posted this pic here before, but this is the type of shooting I enjoy doing.   Being down on the sidelines with the team and trying to get the "killer" pic.    More importantly, I try to get pics of EVERYBODY, as all the kids are important.  

The light is still pretty good in this pic.    Still need to try and dial in the white balance.    

One of the few things I don't like about the D750 is the shutter speed limited to 4000 (which isn't a problem for most of my shooting, especially night time) and the buffer fills up fast shooting RAW.

Your Tamron lens is a good model and there's nothing inherently wrong with it. For sports where you're 50yds away from your subject, 200mm (or even 300mm effective after crop factor on field of view with the D500) isn't as much reach as may be desired for the better shots. Try renting a Nikon 200-500mm or Sigma 150-600mm lens with the 1.4x teleconverter and see how that affects your ability to capture images on the field with your D750 (also a fine bit of kit).

Now, if you're right on the sideline and have a play right in front of you, you may want a second body and shorter lens.  

Hear hear about the all the kids. I try to get photos of all the kids too at the marching band competitions. You get an "atta boy" for your efforts!  

The D500 is billed as the DX sports camera. It is also two years newer than the D750.
I don't know enough about the details of the newer Nikon DSLRs since I have not been paying enough attention any more.
If you ask your question over at www.Nikonians.org they will help get the answer you need.
You could also rent a D500 and see if it gets the job done for you.

The 70-200mm f/2.8 will certainly help with the low light, assuming it is long enough to get the desired distances.

If you switch the NEF files to be 12-bit lossy compressed, that will greatly help with the buffer.

thanks for all the technical advice and links.    helps a lot.

got the night off from work, so I'll be able to make the local high school playoff game.    shd be fun.

thanks again!!!

I need to quit making excuses, and focus on learning my current gear AND editing.    The D750 and Tamron lens I currently have are more than capable for amateur shooting that I do.......I guess I just like the idea of buying new stuff.    

Especially need to try RAW editing, as I think that would help too with my pics.    

Our team won last Friday night and would of advanced to the next round, however, the governor shut us down, so thinking we are done for the year.       Too bad, cause this was a fun team to shoot.

Typical spray and pray type of pic for me shot in JPEG.     Still can't get the  white balance dialed in.    I did try the advice from JosephK and adjusted my settings for the RAW card in the camera, which helped my buffer speed.    Gonna try and adjust some of the RAW files from the game........guess I"ll have time to do that now, now that the governor is sending us to the fema camps.  

Thanks again for all the help.  

Raw files will definitely allow much greater editing flexibility. For white balance, my preference is the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Photo. It fits in a shirt pocket (or a lanyard) and has you covered with both a gray card and a color chart that allows creation of custom color profiles for your specific camera. A good secondary option is the WhiBal G7 card. It's a bit smaller, much less expensive, and is dedicated to white balance (versus color profiles). I've used both and they work well for WB. My preference is to take a shot of the gray card in the lighting of the series (whether natural or artificial light). Another option is to set a custom WB in the camera, but I find it much simpler to use a photo of the gray card in post processing rather than spend the time in the field to create a custom WB setting in camera that may not be re-usable. (This math may change if I were a photojournalist with a need to post sports shots within moments of the action.)

Another speed tip is to use SD cards with the fastest write speed you can afford. The Sony SF-G series is hard to beat with a write speed of 299MB/sec, but that speed comes with a hefty price. (Consider yourself warned. ) Another good option is the ProGrade Digital V90 at a "mere" 250MB/sec for ~$130. These write speeds combined with the size of the D750 files (especially using the smaller 12-bit raws) will mean nearly limitless shooting bursts. I found out the hard way with my D750 years ago that slow cards can definitely result in missed shots.

Wait, so you're saying my 80/mbs cards are garbage??!!!    

That really is one of the few things that bug me about the D750, the buffer size.    I'll check into faster cards.

Thank u with the help on the white balance stuff.   Really helps.

vmax84

I shoot more BB than I do FB. Usually with the 70-200 Nikkor and go back and forth between a D750 and D7500. I almost never use RAW when shooting basketball, once I get the white balance locked in I'm good to go shooting jpg.

For BB with the crop body on the under the basket action is more difficult to get onto because you've just got a little too much lens on. I end up jumping back and forth, one week with the 750 the next with the 7500.

As for the glass I've mostly had Nikon over the years with a couple of Tamrons. The current 70-200 I have replaces the prior generation which was good but pales in comparison to this model in terms of AF speed. Nikon glass always has good contrast and sharpness. I do have a Tamron 150-600 I use for wildlife because I can't afford a Nikon 500 f4. It's a good lens but it's not a Nikon. That said if this is a hobby, use the Tamron, Nikon glass is expensive.

If you really know the game you shouldn't have to spray and pray. I generally set my camera to use the single point in the middle to focus and follow the action. Depending on the team's style and situation on the field, I'll adjust which point I use accordingly. I actuate the shutter like I'm shooting a machinegun, which helps to not fill up the buffer. 3-4 round bursts should get you through a play. As the other guys mentioned, a fast card will make the most of your buffer.

RAW is the only way to go. If you shoot FB at poorly lit fields like I do, you'll need every extra bit of info to play with.

I can't tell how much you've cropped that photo, but I'll say that knowing the game so you can compose your shot as tightly as possible is key to minimizing the grain. You'll have to mess with the settings for your lighting conditions, but I generally shoot wide open at 1/320 and adjust the ISO to get decent exposure. Fill the frame, and that'll be the best your body can do at that point. A faster shutter speed would be great, but my old Canon 70D isn't up for the higher ISO necessary to make that happen.

When possible, hammer the games at the beginning of the season when the light is best. You have an advantage being in MI, as the sun is up later in the evening for you guys than it is for me. If there are Saturday playoff games, I'm in hog heaven.

In regard to the WB, I find that with the fields I shoot, the images need to be treated individually for this. Between the mismatched color temp lights aimed at different parts of the field falling off to the ambient light toward the sidelines, it's less than ideal. I also notice that I can get a flicker similar to fluorescent and LED bulbs at some fields. Long story short, if you're not at a really nice field with good lighting, you're going to struggle with setting white balance in the camera, and even using a card to do it later.

D500 is made for sport and wild life with the high speed focus system and frame rate, plus you have the free "zoom" from the cropped sensor.

D750 is a budget full frame with everything much slower and consumer grade component. Great picture quality for landscape and portrait but for shooting sport, the D500 will smoke it.

When dealing with sports, no one expects the white balance to be perfect. Good enough is a wonderful thing. For my indoor volleyball shots, before the match I will place a sheet of paper on the court and photograph it for a full 1 second burst using the auto-WB setting. This will show me what white looks like under that lighting and if the lights are flickering. It is easy to adjust in post processing since I am shooting NEF files.

With Nikon's DSLRs, as long as there is a white object in the frame, Nikon's auto-WB usually does a good job. (During daylight hours I use the WB presets for sunny/cloudy/shady, and adjust in post as needed.)

Faster SD cards can be helpful for buffering problems. However, be mindful of how long your are running your bursts for. "Spray and pray" is not a good thing.

Pay attention to the focus modes you are using. Since you are shooting moving targets, you obviously want to be using AF-Continuous mode. Ideally you are using as few of focus points as possible. I am a big fan of the dynamic-9 mode, floating to single-point or d-21 as needed.

You want a constant aperture lens.  They cost more, but for sports photography they're really nice to have.

70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens is the bee's knees.

Around $1800

thanks again for all the great advice.   I think I'm pretty dialed in with what I'm doing, for the most part.    Decent camera body and a pretty fast good lens.    

I only "spray and pray" when one of the running backs is out in the open field with a long run (the team this year had a few running backs that could absolutely get out and fly) and I'm hammering away with the long run..........the "machine gun" technique is good advice, as is this entire thread.

I need to work on my technique, keep reading, and learn how to work with RAW files.  

This is a RAW file I messed with.    Have or had no idea what I was doing, however, I think it turned out decent.    Thanks again.