Daylight makes a world of difference, even in a dimly lit gymnasium with relatively small windows. Shooting under even a heavily overcast sky is almost always better than shooting indoors; as the saying goes, “you can’t hold a candle to the sun.” Earlier this month, I mentioned what is possibly the worst lit gymnasium in Perth. What does the same venue look like with some daylight added? Dramatically better, as we’d expect.
Under artificial lighting, I’d been shooting at ISO 6400 with an f/2.8 lens, and getting barely decent exposure durations. For the pictures above, I was shooting at ISO 1600 (two stops faster than ISO 6400) and able to capture fast action without any problems. If I’d been using a prime lens, I could probably have shot at ISO 800 comfortably.
In the film era, of course, the typical solution to a shortage of light was to add your own light (e.g., flashguns), but this isn’t always feasible or acceptable in the context of the event. We are very blessed to be able to shoot with high-sensitivity digital sensors today.