The Jazz wore out the ailing Rockets in what became a block-and-dunk fest. Fun game for the crowd. Shot near court with a 24-70 for much of the second half (Jazz coming at me in ). I like the wide perspective, but it poses a few challenges as well. Here are 12 shots--comments welcome.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Nice series. #3 is my fav.

Great work, Russ! AF speed on your 24-70 seems to be just fine.

bb

Challenges - is one of them overcoming the fear that they are really close and coming at you? These look great.

Thanks, shad0w19.

Bob: Yeah, the 24-70 keeps up pretty well. Generally speaking, any AF problems are my own. thanks.

Dan: Yes! It's so different from football, where the super-tele brings the action closer than it actually is and I'm outa there at the first sign of trouble. With basketball, especially with the wider lens, they're right on top of me and that's just fine. Of course, I couldn't move if I wanted to, but thankfully these guys are incredibly agile and most often find their way around the photogs. Even so, I know my day will come. Thanks for your comment.

Russ, all of them (but 1, 2 and 5) look a little warm on my screen...but only just a little. They look really good. I find it hard to give C&C to somebody who is shooting NBA...I mean, not very many people ever get to that place

Great set Russ!
1.3 and 11 are my fav

Most of these are beyond reproach IMO. I like the swirling geometry of #11. #10 is terrific and has a wry & subtle humor. The white spot in #2 is the only nit I can pick and I'm reaching for that. You, sir, had a very good night.

Hey Russ,

Really like the set, it provides a good feel of the game. Question for ya, is this a two body setup or are you changing lenses?

Matt

Love the #3 Lin shot.

Great series !

Thanks for sharing Russ,

Bryan

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

enuf said

Jeff: I hear ya. And I know you're right about the WB. I can't quite nail it in camera so it's a matter of eyeballing it for each image. Unfortunately, the temperature of the arena lighting isn't consistent (nor is the overall output!), so I don't know that I'll ever get it right consistently. Thanks for your comments.

Hey skogis, thanks! #3 is a favorite of mine as well.

rrxjon: Thanks for your eloquent feedback. I'm sure you can see what I was going for with #2. It's the guy in the suit who just happens to be spotlighted in the background that irks me. This would have been an almost perfect capture of what I was going for without that piece of bad luck (those spots are swirling around the arena so it's a crap shoot. Of course, the other shots in the sequence have video guys and cheerleaders exposed, so I guess I should consider myself lucky on this one.)

Thanks, Matt. Definitely a 2-body set-up. I usually have a 300 f/2.8 on one body and 70-200 f/2.8 on the other. For a good part of this game, I swapped the 70-200 for the 24-70.

Bryan: Yeah, Lin provides some entertainment and I'm amazed at the angle of his body and how little of his foot that whole LittleEngineThatCould is balanced on. Thanks, man.

Rick:

good series

Great stuff Russ, Jeremy Lin seems to be settling in well...

Chris

Hey Russ,
That whole set looks just fine to me, except that I didn't shoot it! I'm with you about the whole "sitting duck" thing on the baseline, but the pros are much more adept at jumping over you or running around you and missing, but you never know...

The 300 for down court coverage is great, and I have been using the fairly new Nikkor 24-120 on the baseline and love it. I looked at what I was shooting around the lane and hardly ever went past about 120mm on my 70-200 unless I wanted to shoot some guard play on the perimeter, so when I switched it worked great, the extra length from 70 to 120mm is nice to have, even though the 28-70 is awesome (I don't have the 24-70) and f/2.8, the switch to f/4 doesn't matter that much when focused so close in. I've gone to using the 28-70 on the second body as a floor remote for wide action shots.

Great set! Great feel of the game. Hard to pick a favorite...

Is that the new 24-70 or the old one?

Paul

Russ you've come a long way from just shooting your Daughter's HS soccer games, congrats and nice job!

CW and Chris: Thanks! Chris, yeah, I suspect Jeremy will make his mark with Houtson.

Steve: Thanks for your comments. I'm sure the 24-120 would be great, but f/4 would come at some cost for me. Ror far court, I'm using my 200 f/1.8 with an extender so I can take advantage of the extra 1/3 stop and shoot at 2.5!

Thanks, Paul. It's the 'old' 24-70, which I've always been happy with, though I'm sure the new one would be nice....

Hey John, you're right, it's been a bit of a trek! The only thing I haven't been able to do is keep up with you and the new equipment! Thanks, man. I hope you are well.

hahahahahahahahaha I am jealous

With all the comments I just wanted to stop in and say dang, once again! Clean crisp and variety! Using this thread as motivation for BB this Friday at the High School level.