Hiring a lens

[bwana]

Or better, in pp (or is that what you meant?).

Perhaps, perhaps not. Time is short and deadlines loom so most of the sports photographers I work with also shoot JPG so you really want to get WB right in camera.

EDIT - there's a certain forumite who's probably muttering "I told you so" . . .

 

[APoc184]

Of course not, it's also the big expensive bodies!

You know what I meant but after this weekend I also know what you are saying here.

Decent photos though, nothing really to be overly concerned about there.

Thanks. I really struggled to get that crispness that I see from our photographers and from your images. I'm rather disappointed in my body and will be looking to upgrade that before I start investing in more glass.

Pity you stripped off the exif, it would be interesting to see what settings you used.

Yeah, sorry about that. These are linked from our Facebook pages. I will upload the originals to my Flicker account later and you can view all the details there.
For the School match I obviously shot at F4 the whole time. I played around with the ISO settings at the beginning, but in the end stuck to 400 for most of the day. Shutter speed varied the whole day.

It looks like your camera struggled a bit during the bulls match with the WB, next time maybe set it manually?

To say the camera struggled at Loftus is an understatement. Everything was shot at 3200 ISO (My body's highest setting) and that was sometimes not enough to get suitable shutter speeds to freeze the action. Regarding the WB. I'm going to be honest and tell you that I still have to read up and play around with that. I don't understand it good enough at the moment to do it manually. Thus, I shot on Auto WB.

Oh, and get a monopod.

I have one. Helped a lot but even after a while your arms get tired of getting the whole setup into different positions and carrying it around as you try to get different angles.

 

[bwana]

You know what I meant but after this weekend I also know what you are saying here.

People like to say something along the lines of buy bodies and invest in glass but as far as I'm concerned both are equally important. Lenses are a lousy investment anyway. It might have been truer before but they're cramming so much technology in these things now and that stuff breaks down.

Thanks. I really struggled to get that crispness that I see from our photographers and from your images. I'm rather disappointed in my body and will be looking to upgrade that before I start investing in more glass.

I'd buy a decent body which realistically will last longer than most people think and then rent lenses.

For the School match I obviously shot at F4 the whole time. I played around with the ISO settings at the beginning, but in the end stuck to 400 for most of the day. Shutter speed varied the whole day.

During the day I like to control my shutter speed and let ISO and aperture sort itself out automagicially but plenty of my friends prefer setting the aperture. At night though I tend to stick to manual.

To say the camera struggled at Loftus is an understatement. Everything was shot at 3200 ISO (My body's highest setting) and that was sometimes not enough to get suitable shutter speeds to freeze the action. Regarding the WB. I'm going to be honest and tell you that I still have to read up and play around with that. I don't understand it good enough at the moment to do it manually. Thus, I shot on Auto WB.

If you're shooting in RAW then as mentioned by hilton it's really not necessary to worry about WB until PP. I use a large Nan lid for setting mine.

 

[bwana]

BTW - you seem to have picked up on the one all important hint I might have given you all by yourself - when you're shooting in low light photograph the action as its coming towards you (or moving away) and not side-to-side. Line-out pictures are nice but the motion blur on the ball is unavoidable unless you can get the shutterspeed well up there - the fastest aperture of f4 on the 200-400 and the max ISO of your D3100 mean your going to struggle.

 

[APoc184]

Yeah. I actually read about the "shooting the action as it comes towards you" on here somewhere.

But even with the little bit of motion blur on the ball I thought the pic came out rather okay.

Question about the ISO.

I see plenty of noise at the high ISO settings on my camera. I'm assuming the D300s/D3x will handle noise better at the same setting?

 

[bwana]

Question about the ISO.

I see plenty of noise at the high ISO settings on my camera. I'm assuming the D300s/D3x will handle noise better at the same setting?

It should do but people panic too much about noise imo. Face it, you're not blowing up huge prints, you're shooting for a 600px square, right? Downsampling and pp noise reduction will serve you well.

 

[APoc184]

Okey dokey! I shoot Nikon but when this chance came along I could not let it go past.

Got hold of 2 x Canon 7D's for the weekend along with a 100-400mm / F4.5-5.6 and also a 400mm / F2.8

Going to shoot with this gear at the Lions vs Sharks game tomorrow.

One slight problem.
Where I can hire/borrow CF cards from? The guy I'm getting the 7D's from will be using all his CF cards with his 1D's over the weekend so I only have to get CF cards and I'm set. I have mailed ODP but looks like they only give out cards if you hire cameras from them. Tried to ask them nicely. So I hopefully the lady will come back with a positive answer later today. If not, I need a backup.

While we at it. Maybe Bwana can give me a few tips on the Canon gear? It'll be the first time I really shoot with Canon gear. With the Nikon I shoot in Aperture mode the whole time because I am not 100% comfortable with shooting manual yet. Will this also be the best setting for me on the Canon?

Coming back to the ISO. I know the 7D's will handle the "low light" a lot better than my D3100. As I push up the ISO the shutter speed will also increase. What shutter speed should I be aiming to get for the rugby action?

Sorry for all the noob questions again!

 

[bwana]

Honestly, leave the 100-400 home - it's too slow to be of much use.

On the 7D in stadium lights I typically shoot wide open (or close to it), 1/1000th and up, at around ISO 2500+. YMMV. The auto ISO will compensate for any drastic lighting changes.

 

[APoc184]

Honestly, leave the 100-400 home - it's too slow to be of much use.

On the 7D in stadium lights I typically shoot wide open (or close to it), 1/1000th and up, at around ISO 2500+. YMMV. The auto ISO will compensate for any drastic lighting changes.

I was thinking about using the 100-400 when the action gets close and I try to capture a try being scored. The 400 will be cutting off everything from where I will be sitting behind the goal line. But if you say it is too slow I think I will leave it and forget about tries and when the action gets very close. It is also two massive lenses and to carry that around all night will kill me.

I just thought about maybe hiring the 70-200mm F2.8 for my Nikon when you said the 100-400 is to slow. Then I can capture the tries and have a smaller camera at hand for the close up action. And just maybe ODP will also hire me some of their CF Cards then.

 

[bwana]

The 400 f/2.8 and a 70-200 f/2.8 is a great combo. I'm sure you'll be using the 400 on a monopod so that's going to make switching between the two systems interesting. Be careful.

I want the 400 for cricket, but for rugby I'll stick to handholding the 300.

 

[APoc184]

I'm sure I will be missing some great shots while I switch between the two kits. Easy does it.... to put down the monster 400! As you said I need to be careful and even more so because the Canon gear is a good friend's equipment and not mine.

Will take a snapshot with my phone camera of the kit I take along and upload it here later. Should be worth a bit of moola!

 

[SilverNodashi]

If you're in the East Rand / JHB area then checkout http://www.rentalens.co.za as well. It's a friend's company

 

[APoc184]

If you're in the East Rand / JHB area then checkout http://www.rentalens.co.za as well. It's a friend's company

Thanks a lot. Just organised a a 16GB CF card and will pick it up tomorrow on my way to Ellispark.

Thanks also for another Rental option. Their prices are also very good on lenses and bodies. Will definitely look at them as well in future!

 

[APoc184]

Picked up the 70-200mm F2.8 today. Wow! What a lens.

Can't wait to put it to the test tomorrow! Picking up the Canon gear later!

 

[hilton]

Good luck and happy shooting!