p.1 #1 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
Yesterday, I went to the Australian Open Tennis again (see earlier post from 2013 tournament in this forum).
I splurged on centre court tickets this time and was able to watch three matches: Cibulkova beat Sharapova; Azarenka beat Stevens; Nadal vs Nishikori - plus saw Djokovich and Murray out on the practice courts. So it was a good day to have rented the Canon 200mm F2.0 lens once again.
Photos are below - most are substantial crops because we only ordered the tickets the evening before, so were higher up in the Rod Laver Arena. It was also quite overcast yesterday, so had to boost the ISO settings to keep up very high framerates.
p.1 #6 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
CW100 - the second set includes shots taken out on the practice courts which are more well-lit than the cavernous center-court which has high grandstands and, on the day, only a partially-retracted roof. The cloud cover was variable during the day - often completely overcast whilst on occasion large patches of blue sky. You can see that difference by examining the relative distinctiveness of the shadows cast by the players. Some shadows are hard and dark whilst others are so diffuse as to almost be invisible.
Anakha
CW100 wrote:
the second set looks a little sharper - better light?
The Williams sisters are out
p.1 #7 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
Maybe the old eyes here... many of the frames appear to be a bit soft. Since the shutter speed was sufficient I'm wondering if its the 2x-TC. Most of these are notorious for softening effects. It would be an interesting comparison, if you have the opportunity, to use the 200mm with the 1.4x and crop a bit more.
p.1 #8 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
Matt,
I did not have time to micro-adjust the focus on the camera for this lens. These shots are of targets that are moving very rapidly in 3D space and taken hand-held whilst sitting in a cramped space. The shooting position is certainly not conducive to getting the sharpest photos and I have the sore neck to show for it.
It could be the 2x-III TC adding softness. I could also increase the sharpness in post-processing, but I don't have time to do that at the moment.
If you compare the sharpness of the shots of Djokovic / Murray with those of the others, you can see the impact of a change in the shooting position. I was standing up and had a lot more space and better light whilst taking photos on the practice court. I was also much closer to the players (less than half the distance) than my shooting position on centre-court.
Oh how I would love to get a press-pass so that I could bring in my monopod and stand on the side of the court to take photos without the need for the teleconverter.
I find the challenge of trying to get shots of the ball on the strings of the players racquets to be quite fun. Counter-intuitively, it is next to impossible to achieve those shots when shooting in high-speed mode. I found that the only way is to use single-shot mode and time my shutter button presses in accordance with the player's swing speed - allowing for the latency of my nervous system / muscles in depressing the shutter and the camera's internal lag. If you look at most of the action photos in the newspaper from this event, they usually do not feature the ball on the strings of the racquet. Even a 1DX struggles to achieve this. At 6fps on the 5D3, the camera records Nadal preparing to serve and having finished his serve, with nothing in-between.
Anakha
schlotz wrote:
Maybe the old eyes here... many of the frames appear to be a bit soft. Since the shutter speed was sufficient I'm wondering if its the 2x-TC. Most of these are notorious for softening effects. It would be an interesting comparison, if you have the opportunity, to use the 200mm with the 1.4x and crop a bit more.
p.1 #9 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
It is truly amazing just how fast the human body can be. I shoot soccer with the 1DX and still miss certain things. With pro serves (Nadal for example) being well over 100 mph, I can understand the counter-intuitive single shot approach with the 5D3. Saw the difference based upon shooting location in your post and it does have a positive effect. Didn't know you were using the 2x-III TC, was assuming something else. You might be right regarding the need to micro-adjust the AF with it and will bet you get sharper results afterwards. Would suggest you try the Dot-Tune method. I've had very good results and the process is very easy Just get the distance to target right 200mm x 2 x 50 = 20,000mm = 20 meters of 65.6 feet.
p.1 #10 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
Matt,
As I rent the $7000 lens on the morning of the day I shoot at the tennis, there is usually no time to MAAF it before I have to get across town to the tennis. It becomes a very hectic day and I get a great upper body workout lifting ~7kg up and down over 800 times in a day ;-)
In a perfect world, I'd own the lens, have time to MAAF it in advance and have a press-pass which would entitle me to sit court-side, using my monopod (the use of which is banned for the public at the event) and get perfectly sharp, up-close photos without the need for a TC. In the real world, I live with the constraints imposed by time, money, etc.
One good thing in photographing tennis is that each point starts in one of four positions on the court. Consequently, I get a lot of chances to practice and to get used to a particular player's faster or slower swing speed over the course of a match (especially a 5-setter). This is very different to the soccer/football that you shoot which is much more dynamic in its style of play (i.e. except for penalty shots).
Anakha
schlotz wrote:
It is truly amazing just how fast the human body can be. I shoot soccer with the 1DX and still miss certain things. With pro serves (Nadal for example) being well over 100 mph, I can understand the counter-intuitive single shot approach with the 5D3. Saw the difference based upon shooting location in your post and it does have a positive effect. Didn't know you were using the 2x-III TC, was assuming something else. You might be right regarding the need to micro-adjust the AF with it and will bet you get sharper results afterwards. Would suggest you try the Dot-Tune method. I've had very good results and the process is very easy Just get the distance to target right 200mm x 2 x 50 = 20,000mm = 20 meters of 65.6 feet.
p.1 #11 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
That lens, body and converter should be producing sharper images than what you have posted here. There is something else going on. I assume you were shooting in servo and not one shot, but what case mode were you using here? I shoot that lens on a dx with a 1.4 series 2 and in much lower light at 800th/2.8 and 8k on the iso and have sharper results. There are many examples of the 5d3 shooting sports with great results.
I would like to hear more about your settings and experience with the 5d and sports and see some other examples with that body. Do you thumb focus with * or the shutter? Was IS on or off? Were these hand held?
p.1 #12 · Australian Open Tennis 2014 - Center Court Shots
Andy,
I was shooting in AI Servo focus mode with case 2 - tennis selected. I was not shooting on hi-speed mode though - only one frame at a time. I was not permitted to use a monopod or tripod, so these are all hand-held in an uncomfortable, contorted position in the grandstands. I use the shutter button half-pressed to focus. IS was on.
I could, perhaps, have used the NikFX pre-sharpener and sharpener rather than Lightroom standard screen sharpener.
Anakha
ifxbonz wrote:
That lens, body and converter should be producing sharper images than what you have posted here. There is something else going on. I assume you were shooting in servo and not one shot, but what case mode were you using here? I shoot that lens on a dx with a 1.4 series 2 and in much lower light at 800th/2.8 and 8k on the iso and have sharper results. There are many examples of the 5d3 shooting sports with great results.
I would like to hear more about your settings and experience with the 5d and sports and see some other examples with that body. Do you thumb focus with * or the shutter? Was IS on or off? Were these hand held?
Just get the distance to target right 200mm x 2 x 50 = 20,000mm = 20 meters of 65.6 feet.