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Question:

I am an amateur photographer who likes to take pictures at my son's football
games. I use a 35mm with a zoom lens. I have a problem with getting clear
shots. They most of the time are somewhat fuzzy. My question is what is
the right film speed to use and do I need to use my flash at night games when
there are field lights? This is my son's senior year and I would like to get
some good shots of him.

Answer:

You didn't mention how fast your zoom lens is (F2.8 or 3.5, 4 or 5.6) but this is only really a factor at the night games. For the day games you will want a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 sec. at F8, you should be able to achieve this with 200 speed film on bright sunny days, if it is slightly overcast you will want to use 400 speed film. If it heavily overcast then you could still use the 400 speed film and either use less depth of field (using F5.6 instead of F8 or use 1/500 sec as your shutter speed).

For the night games a flash is pretty useless unless the action is closer than 15 ft. (4.5 meters) to you. It is probably best to use 1600 speed film, although the lights look bright to your eye they're really not all that bright. If your zoom lens is F2.8, you could try shooting at this aperture setting and using a slower speed film.

The slower the film speed the colours are better and the grain is less noticeable, which makes for better enlargements.

I hope this information helps, the only other cause for fuzzy pictures would be your focusing or camera movement during the exposure.