I've been shooting ice hockey for years and am keen to setup a remote camera in net.
From what I've seen a pair of pocket wizards seem to be standard practice, however I'm wondering if anybody knows of an encasing that is designed for such purposes that I could find along with a clamp to set it up in net.
I know a lot of hockey shooters use this product or a variation thereof -- or any variety of homemade feats of engineering. http://www.hockeynetcam.com
We used to have some outstatanding photographers on this forum who used net cam at the highest levels. Hope they can chip in here.
About 10 years ago, a friend who loaned me a netcam for some low-level college and high school games. I learned a few things:
1) If you are just doing this casually, you are likely going to need to do a ton of prework and lobbying. Most teams, rink managers and officials (and sometimes goalies) are more than a little dubious about having anything in a net during a game. Don't show up at a game with the kit and hope for the best. I'd say at least 3/4 of the referees I encountered were not having it and it ends right there. It's a nuisance they don't need.
The NCAA and most minor league professional clubs do not allow anything on or in the net, including cameras. Not even GoPros. We've all seen great net cam shots from the NHL -- but you can bet that those setups are highly restricted.
2) It takes more time than you think to set these up properly and you have to do when the net is in place at the rink. Teams aren't always happy to have a net out of commison with a photographer monkeying with it minutes during warmups/pregame.
3) Probably not a great idea to put a first rate camera in the net. Things happen. Use a spare.
4) When you get a great a netcam photo they are really showstoppers! Like any remote it's really hit or miss - with a lot more miss than hit. It's a lot of squeeze for a little juice, as they say.
For me this fell into the "it seemed like a great idea at the time," category. But ended up being a PITA.
PureMichigan wrote:
I know a lot of hockey shooters use this product or a variation thereof -- or any variety of homemade feats of engineering. http://www.hockeynetcam.com
We used to have some outstatanding photographers on this forum who used net cam at the highest levels. Hope they can chip in here.
About 10 years ago, a friend who loaned me a netcam for some low-level college and high school games. I learned a few things:
1) If you are just doing this casually, you are likely going to need to do a ton of prework and lobbying. Most teams, rink managers and officials (and sometimes goalies) are more than a little dubious about having anything in a net during a game. Don't show up at a game with the kit and hope for the best. I'd say at least 3/4 of the referees I encountered were not having it and it ends right there. It's a nuisance they don't need.
The NCAA and most minor league professional clubs do not allow anything on or in the net, including cameras. Not even GoPros. We've all seen great net cam shots from the NHL -- but you can bet that those setups are highly restricted.
2) It takes more time than you think to set these up properly and you have to do when the net is in place at the rink. Teams aren't always happy to have a net out of commison with a photographer monkeying with it minutes during warmups/pregame.
3) Probably not a great idea to put a first rate camera in the net. Things happen. Use a spare.
4) When you get a great a netcam photo they are really showstoppers! Like any remote it's really hit or miss - with a lot more miss than hit. It's a lot of squeeze for a little juice, as they say.
For me this fell into the "it seemed like a great idea at the time," category. But ended up being a PITA.
Will check Netcam out On the prework side, I have one advantage as I am both the official photographer of the club and one of its coaches (I don't coach the pro team but the U11s), so shouldn't be an issue. I would have to ensure though that it doesn't pose any challenge with the league / refs and so can't skate over that one without double checking. I hear what you say about using a 2nd (or 3rd body lol) in the net. I only have two A1 IIs so might think of grabbing something simple 2nd hand to use for this purpose.
I also imagine it takes time to get it right - my plans would be to test out during pro team practice as I'd be able to get in there and even try out with one of the other teams before I start going to the bigger show.
I use one at WHL and U-Sports hockey games. Though I never bought one from hockeynetcam. A season ticket holder with the local WHL team owns a local a plastics company. Myself and a couple friends hooked up with him to get some enclosures made. Cost well under half what hockeynetcams charges. And we can get replacements whenever we need. The rest of the hardware that comes with the hockeynetcam version you can find on B&H and a local hardware store. Oh, and my Mom sewed up some of the covers for us.
Also do recommend a spare camera for the netcam. I use old 1D IV's or 1D X's in mine.
It does take a couple attempts at it to get everything all set up the way you like it, (camera settings, focus, pocket wizards, enclosure mounting angle, etc). Now that I have mine all set the way I like, everything stays set/mounted inside the closure in a separate bag. All I have to do when I arrive at the rink is take it out of the bag, put in a fresh battery, format the cards and clamp it in the net.
So Hockeynetcam seems to be the standard solution, I just need to see if I can get one here in France or ship to my mom in NY and have her ship it to me here.
For a body I'm thinking a Sony A9 along with a fisheye lens, will need to do a bit of research, doesn't need to be AF but good optics.
And finally while many seem to be using Pocket Wizard, these are hard to come by these days, so wonder if anyone has any suggestions for a good alternative
On the prework side, I have one advantage as I am both the official photographer of the club and one of its coaches (I don't coach the pro team but the U11s), so shouldn't be an issue. I would have to ensure though that it doesn't pose any challenge with the league / refs and so can't skate over that one without double checking. I hear what you say about using a 2nd (or 3rd body lol) in the net. I only have two A1 IIs so might think of grabbing something simple 2nd hand to use for this purpose.