This can be continued here

http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=5557

After some good advice on this site, I have finally found a good combination for volleyball ( indoor, fast action, no flash ). I have a D7000 and a Nikon 50mm 1.4G lens (sorry can not afford professional level glass, the D7000 body was a stretch).
I was orginally not very happy with my D7000 focus performance, thinking my focus was out of wack ( which I did have looked at under warrenty, but checked out OK ). Ultimately I feel my two issues holding me back were a) shooting at 1.4 aperature and b) trying to keep low ISO resulting in low shutter speed ( 1/300th or less range ), not good for the level of stop action I was looking for.

Here is what I have found to work very well (for me, mileage may vary for others):
1) Depth of Field at 1.4 is almost useless for action Volleyball. All you get is very soft pictures and out of focus more than not. 2.8 or 2.4 seem to be the lowest aperature with reasonable depth of feild and result in sharp photos.
I had also suspected that the 50mm 1.4G may be slow to focus too, but after the below I do not really see this as an issue for at least what I want.
2) Really need to get shutter speed up to 1/750 or 1/1000 to stop the ball & hitting arm for impressive action shots.
3) Embrace AutoISO, with max set to 3200 or even 6400. JPEG + high intenal noise reduction is acceptable, RAW + external noise reduction very acceptable. As I have seen other say, Noise is acceptable if the rest of the shot is spot on. I see what they mean now.
4) I shoot volleyball mostly at the side of the net, allowing clear view of net action and good view of back row for diggs. From this position, lighting is basically consistance and I can shoot in manual mode to fix aperature at 2.8 (or 2.4) and keep shutter speed at 1/750 or higher. If I move to the back of the court, I will take a few sample shots to evaluate the result and adjust as needed ( 2.4 vs. 2.8 or accept slower shutter speed ). Really not to hard to figure out for each new standing locations. Most games I really do not leave the one spot I am in.
Could this be done in shutter or aperture priority, likely, but I honestly found it easier to just use manual mode.
5) Metering is one notch above spot, not sure what this is called. Maybe it is traditional center weight, sorry not near the camera or manual to confirm.
6) I have not played with exposure compensation much. I would say my shots are slightly on the dark side, but look very close to what you see in the Gym. It is very easy in software to punch up brightness a bit based on taste, but have not have time to find an exact value boost for brightness. May be playing with the exposure compensation may improve things, but I am very happy with the exposure result.
7) Focus is spot, with Continious Focus mode. Shutter relase is focus priority, but I need to play more with shutter release priority.

So now instead of a few picuture in focus ,out of 50 or 100 shots, I have more than I can handle. The noise from the high ISO after post processing is really only noticible if you pixel peep.
I am sure there maybe further improvement to this ( as I am no pro but try to learn from their advice and see what works for my exact situation ) , but just wanted to share this for others.
It looks like my focus issues where operator error type. HaHa, its never the operator...

:-)

Here comes an other one! And the color crimes continious!

This is also one of the long exposure set.

What a month, nearly 700 posts, incredible images, great dialogue!

@spraynpray.......Agree!

Well, May certainly was a vintage month for the PAD - superb shots everybody!

Thanks boemboem and NSXType-R. My copy of the Sigma 120-400 is pretty good. I've considered selling it to finance the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR2 but I know I'd miss the reach of the Sigma, not to mention missing the extra $1500 +.
By the way NSX, your food photos look pretty darned tasty. Think I've put on a pound just by looking at them.

@ Jan F. Rasmussen, interesting portrait of the herder kid. Those tribal marks on his face seem to be consistent with burns, which, I wound't doubt, is probably customary. (I could be wrong, though)

Inspiration central!

Here is a shot that Benjimade some edit recomendations on... Thanks Benji :)

D7000
Long exposure - 1/3 second
f/5.0
18mm
ISO 800

Jan F. Rasmussen said:...
But my first entry disappeared again, so still doing something wrong...

If it disappears, it means that the picture your link points to either got deleted, renamed, has moved or the server hosting it prevents access or is unavailable or unaccessible from here.

New England Aquarium's tank :)

Lunch at home I had the other day with my parents.

Double self-portrait, on top of some tower in Reykjavik

D7000 - AF-S 16-35mm f/4G VR - 16mm - f/8 - ISO 100 - 1/80sec

I got nothing - on a grey, dull day.

Passed these rhododendrons in the park - brand new flowers! And with more to come!

Nikon D300S | Nikkor 16-85mm @31mm | ISO 800 | 1/125s | f/9

Woodabee herder boy, Diffa, Niger, 2006

But my first entry disappeared again, so still doing something wrong...

Not sure, but I think it is time for my cat Grace to set her feet on PAD. Great work on PAD as always.... handholding at WHAT..., El_Pick?

Ahhh... but this is the D90 at ISO 1600. 135mm f/2.0 Nikkor, 1/125 @ f/2.8

@cyclekraft: Perfect photo! Shame the parents in the right upper corner aren't walking faster ;-)
@Correlli: Allmost mystical light :)
@scoobysmak like SnP said!
@Rx4Photo: Very nice colors, ans allmost like macro photography :D

Very nice pictures to eveyone again, had to go through 3 pages and I was only 2 days not logged in.

Here a long exposure picture last night under a train bridge.

Exposure 12, Aperture f/4.5, Focal Length 18mm, ISO Speed 800

Stephenson Bridge in Leeuwarden (Holland)

I'm back to a kid in a candy store on PAD again this month - great shots everybody!

Scooby - no need for self deprecation - your shot is good enough to be here too. I like the blackness. Nice.

Well might not be the quality that everyone else has but I need to get back to posting again and learning software.

Thx Jürgen, no it is natural light this one, though I do quite often usethe R1C1 for macro shots.

Pierre said:
Are you sure you are human EL? If I was you, I would try to find my true origins

Not entirely sure, but it makes sense to get pretty slow shutter speeds... 24mm effective focal length, 4 stops of VR -> 1/24sec -> 1/12sec -> 1/6 sec -> 1/3 sec -> 2/3 sec handheld. Add that with shooting on continuous, or taking a knee for a more stable shooting position, and you can get pretty slow shutter speeds. I love this lens primarily for keeping the shutter at f/8 or smaller, and the ISO at 100 or 200 when lighting is not optimal, without the hassle of a tripod.

Wheelmanbmf- That park looks like a really nice place to visit. I can almost smell the flowers!

Rx4- Really nice shot- that Sigma lens looks real sharp. Their wide primes seem to be mixed in sharpness, but their macro lenses look quite good.

I need to try some on camera flash, I'm planning to get a SB700 next. Should balance really terribly on top of a D40 with a 105mm macro. :D

Juergen- I always like it when the performance is period correct- it's odd seeing vintage cars with drivers wearing modern helmets. Sure it's safer, but it's an anachronism.

Squamish- Always liked your landscapes.

Cole- Welcome to the forums! And I get uncomfortable with shots like that, looks like you got your camera quite wet.

Abhinav- Looks good! Like others have said, like the old with the new.

Correlli- Awesome bokeh! And great capture!

Postman- I also like your landscape.

I agree with what others are saying- the shots on these pages are very good stuff.

My dinner tonight- burgers that were air mailed in! We got to try some burgers from a company called Omaha Steaks, they grow their own fancy beef or something like that. So I pan fried some bacon first, fried the burgers in that and then caramelized some onions and mushrooms in the oil too. Add some tomato and lettuce and it was pretty good stuff. Very moist.

It would have been nice to have some fries though.

El_Pickerel said:
...handheld exposures of up to 2 seconds

Are you sure you are human EL? If I was you, I would try to find my true origins 8*>

Stunning photos, I am almost ashamed to post now.