Don't use on camera flash. It doesn't look natural and can temporarily distract the athletes. Raise the ISO. Shoot on manual or shutter priority. If you're trying to shoot with one of those do everything zoom lenses, you probably should look into purchasing a faster 2.8 zoom or fast single focal length lens. I remember shooting ISO 320 at 1/250 second at f2.8 when I used to shoot indoor sports at major colisiums like Madison Square Garden. The universal rule is nothing slower than 1/250 second to stop action.

I've shot a fair number of sports including indoor college sports with Olympus DSLRs and completely agree with Larry. He is too polite to note that these cameras aren't just ideal for sports, but they can do a very good job. There are many terrific lens choices and even the kit tele (40-150) is moderately fast. I really like the 50-200mm which is plenty fast enough; the very fast ones are really heavy and expensive. I also like the 1.4 teleconverter which works well with the 50mm f/2 and the 50-200.
The main problem is that with the higher ISO (needed both for a fairly high shutter speed and for stopping down the lens a bit so you have some leeway for the focus) you'll need to turn noise reduction on, which severely limits the extent to which you can use the burst mode. You have to be a bit more careful about picking your time to shoot. But you can get very good shots.
I might add that the Olympus DSLRs to date aren't at the top of the heap for fast focusing, but here again they by and large do fine provided you remember where it's trying to focus.

You might try zone focusing manually rather than leave the camera in AF mode.

Zone focusing is a good idea if you can pre-determine where the athletes will be when you take the shot. Therefore, a batter, a high jumper at the peak of the jump, an archer, for example, would probably work. A hockey goalie probably tes, probably not a soccer keeper outdoors. The problem is that zone focusing is most likely to work when there is a fairly large depth of field, and everything else equal you won't be getting that with telephotos or for that matter with the sorts of apertures likely needed indoors.
There is a piece on the Pop Photo site about the limitations of current Oly DSLRs for pro level sports shots, despite pro level telephotos. The overdue but forthcoming E-2 will presumably (hopefully) rectify that. But as I noted, you can get high quality shots; you will need a bit more patience than the folks with the highest end Canon or Nikon cameras, some of which are designed for fast action.

Realize that even the greatest sports shooters in the world cull MOST of their shots. In a SuperBowl game a couple of years ago, Sports Illustrated had 11 of the world's best sports shooters on the ground, and together they shot over 16,000 shots. Of those, only a handful actually made it into the magazine.

Anyone shooting sports simply has to come to terms with this. One shoots a lot of shots just to get a handful of keepers. This is not about failure - you have no control of the subject matter. You simply shoot until something good happens. When covering major league baseball, was always delighted if I got a single image that made it onto the page.

Grain and noise is part of low light sports photography. Something else to come to terms with, and it can be moderated somewhat in processing. A dim gym is a very challenging place to shoot, but it can be done. Set the ISO as high as it will go, and shoot with the aperture wide open. Lighting does not vary significantly in a gym, so find the best shutter speed using test shots, replay and the histogram to confirm it, and shoot on manual. I see zone focusing has been well covered.

Shutter lag is not a problem, except for those who have had no experience in shooting sports. Half a century back, sports was shot with Graflex "Big Berthas" that made the exposure of the slowest digital camera seem like instantaneous. The burst rate was about a shot a minute. None the less, the shooters of the time did as well as we do with cameras optimized for sports. The secret is developing a sense of how much ahead of the action you must press the shutter to capture the key moment. Every camera has lag and every camera requires the photographer to develop timing to compensate. Once you get the feeling for it, even the slowest camera is just fine for sports. With practice it becomes second nature, and you will not even be aware of it.

Anticipation is the key. If you wait to see - and decide - if it will be a great picture before you shoot, you have already missed it. At that moment, it is in the past and no camera can reverse time. No matter how responsive the camera, one always shoots ahead of the action.

Realize that most sports shots will be pretty boring. Therefore shoot everything that might possibly be good action, then cull like crazy. The otherwise splendid Nikon CP5000 has substantial lag, but none the less, I was able to get a lot of fine shots of volleyball in a dim gym here.

Vollyball Shots

These were shot at shutter speeds no greater than 1/125th of a second. There is blur in some, since the players were in motion. In some cases, it actually enhances the image - it says "motion". In fact, blur is often used intentionally. When covering NASCAR auto racing, I generally used slow shutter speeds, panning with the cars. If not, it just looks like a bunch of race-cars parked on the track. The same technique can be used effectively with runners. Pan so the face is steady in the viewfinder and squeeze off a few shots. It really says "ACTION".

Work off a monopod. It restricts camera movement to the horizontal plane, and makes panning easy. If you watch sports on TV you will see the sidelines filled with a forest of monopods. A ball head makes finding the most comfortable position easy.

Don't neglect the sidelines. Loads of emotion on the bench and with the coaches. Even the crowd can yield good shots. One incredibly dull baseball game during spring training, I glanced over my shoulder during the seventh inning stretch. The whole crowd was reaching skyward with the exception of one bored spectator who was stretched over four or five seats, sleeping in the Florida sun. That was the shot, and it was published in papers around the world. It was quite funny, and totally described the level of excitement of the game.

It is said that an amateur is discouraged when there is a poor picture in the batch and a pro is delighted when there is a good one. Since you are shooting digitally, there is no cost of film and processing. Carry a big card or two and fill them. Shoot whenever there is the slightest possibility of a good peak moment. The more you practice the better your timing will become, but it DOEStake practice. No one was ever born a sports shooter.

I would like to get further, detailed info on this subject of Sports photography.

Let me begin by saying that I am a "novice' photographer and am looking for specific settings for an E500 using the 40-150 (f3.5-4.5) lens for indoor (basketball) shots. I found one site that had this suggestion... ISO 800, Av f/6.3, 1/800.

With all the experience out there, does anyone have any other specific suggestions for best (or best guess) settings? I am weak on depth of field and am still learning which aperture works best with which shutter speed and I am really "raw" when it comes to white balance, so very specific details are GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you.

Brewman

You do realize the depth of field (aperture) is proportional to shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed (needed to stop action) the wider the aperture needs to be. Because you're using a variable zoom lens, shooting at the wide end of the zoom will give you a wider aperture which will enable a faster shutter speed.

Also, you need to shoot at 1/250 second minimum to stop action. You do have an advantage in that by shooting digitally, you can verify exposure on the LCD after taking a test shot. And if you use an LCD magnifier like the Xtend-a-View, you'll be able to check focus also. As you've read elsewhere, you'll have to boost the ISO to get all the factors you need to come together. The disadvantage of high ISO is more digital noise.

If it were me shooting, I'd go with nothing slower than f2.8 and try to do it with either my 35mm or 85mm f2.0 lenses.

Best guess setting is what I've already stated. Shoot wide open at the wide end of the zoom so you can get a slightly faster shutter speed which is needed to stop action. Keep boosing the ISO until you get an image that's well exposed and stops action.

Thanks Larry, I really appreciate the info and advice.

I see I have alot of experimenting to do, but you gave me a great place to start.

Brewman

I'm also a newbie with DSLR's and at taking sports pics. I agree, basketball is difficult. I currently have the same setup as Joe, but I do use an FL-36 flash. I've spoke with players and they rarely, if ever, notice the flash...but I rarely have a "face on shot", typically I'm 45-90 degree's from subject (or worse).
http://mshs-sports.spaces.live.com/
AF burns me alot!! Most of these are ISO 200-400, F3.5-4, 1/160, 40-50mm ...I have the 50mm F2 on order and am anxious to experiment w/o flash as mentioned in this thread.

Stretch