Shutter Speed too slow on indoor sports for Nikon D60

That depends on the sport, the location, and what you want the pictures to say to the viewer. You won't necessarily shoot a daytime football game outdoors the same way as a basketball game indoors.

In general you're going to want a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. To get the fastest shutter speed possible, use the Aperture Priority mode by turning the mode dial to "A" then select the largest aperture by using cursor-up/down to get the smallest f/number.

Having said that, sometimes you might want a slower shutter speed to convey a sense of motion. Select Shutter Priority by turning the mode dial to "S" and use cursor-up/down to select the desired shutter speed.

Glad to have been of help.

The pictures are blurry due to camera shake, which in itself is caused by the slow shutter speed. Try using shake reduction setting. To increase the shutter speed, raise the ISO rating.

A few basic checks Are you in full auto mode or some other shooting mode? Try different modes and see if any work. Does the shutter speed seem slow - like you can hear it cl - ick. When photographers want a blurry effect, slowing down the shutter is often used. Change mode or set a faster shutter speed. If none of these lead you anywhere, the imaging system that scans the imaging chip may be faulty. that's not a home repair.

Personally, I'd go with Manual on the camera so as to have complete control over both aperture and shutter speed, and iTTL on the flash. Bear in mind that a single SB-900 isn't going to light up an entire basketball court or wherever you might be photographing. If the pics are too dark, it's most likely that the subjects are too far away.

If you take a picture of a chair in the middle of your living room, does that come out too dark?

The main difference between the two shooting conditions is the amount of light you have to work with. For the indoor action shots, set the ISO setting to the highest available through the menu (1600 ISO) to maximize the ability of the camera to work with the diminished light. The other (but more expensive) way to achieve better indoor shots is with the use of a "faster" lens, ie one with a lower maximum f stop number (f2.8 is faster than f3.5, for instance). Also ensure you are shooting with your lens at its widest f stop setting (lowest number).

More than likely, your exposure- specifically your shutter speed settings- are too low. When you have fast action, you must have a higher shutter speed (Higher, meaning that the DURATION of the exposure is less. So, an exposure of 1/250th of a second is more desirable than an exposure of 1/30th of a second when shooting indoor sports. (This difference equates to about 400% more exposure, duration-wise). When shooting sports indoors, a "Fast" lens, meaning that the front of the lens is bigger, which allows more light into the camera at one time. (This normally equates to "F-Stop" settings. So, a 50mm F1.4 lens will be a "faster" lens than a 50mm F2 lens. The lower the F number, the "faster" the lens. This also equates to higher prices...) Another consideration for shooting stop-action sports photography indoors is using higher ISO settings. When you double the ISO number, you cut the amount of light required to make a good exposure in half. So, ISO 200 requires half the light of ISO100, and 400 requires half the light of 200 and so on. Typically, I use a setting of ISO 800 or higher for indoor sports (Which, BTW is my speciality...). The trade-off for using higher ISO settings is that it introduces more noise into the image, which many people find less desirable. I also wrote a few articles for POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING about shooting sports. The "football" article will more than likely be the most help to you. Basically, ALL sports photography is shot the same way, and if you use these techniques, your work will greatly improve. Here is a link to those, and hope they help!

http://www.popphoto.com/Blogs/Sports-Photography

http://www.popphoto.com/Features/Shooting-Talladega-Superspeedway

http://www.popphoto.com/Features/How-to-Photograph-Football

Your're probably using a flash with TTL disabled. So 1/200 is the highest sync possible with that kind of flash. Did you try removing the flash off the body and setting faster shutter speeds?

The D40 will not take great photos of an indoor event without blurring or noise. You need a fast lens and a high ISO using the popup flash or on camera flash would be ideal but some of these events you can not use flash. All these images I shot with a Nikon D40. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#/pages/Keller-TX/Raving-Design/78762448229?v=photos&ref=ts Learn to use the camera for ur events. Experiment it's all about trial and error. Ray

Yes. The question is how good they'll turn out.

You're right that it's because it's darker indoors. You can compensate for this at least in part by raising the ISO. This runs the risk of increased noise, but given the choice between a noisy pic and no pic...

A fast lens may get you a stop or two, but they're expen$ive.

A third option is to increase the amount of light. Multiple flashes around the basket, for example. Or floodlights mounted on the roof...