p.1 #1 · Lens choice for Montréal Worlds and possible meet up?
I am going to be attending the UCI World Championships for road cycling in Montréal September 26-27. Cross posting to the Sony Forum.
If you are attending, please LMK - it would be great to meet other FM members in real life!
If you have meaningful experience shooting cycling, I would love your take on lens choice. I will bring two bodies and two lenses to shoot the event.
I want to find a good balance of shooting the race and spectating it, which means I don't want to shoot every group of cyclists that comes by. I felt I achieved that in the 2015 Richmond Worlds, when all I had was a single A6000 where I swapped between the 16-70ZA and 55-210 zooms.
Although I've shot hundreds of field sports games between high school soccer and high level (young adult women) ultimate frisbee, I have limited cycling photography experience as follows:
Richmond Worlds 2015
Mont Sainte Anne Worlds 2019
One (just one!) local cyclocross race
A few Mt. Washington hill climbs
A handful of our local cycling club's privateer century rides in the New Hampshire White Mountains
I will be shooting with two bodies: A9iii and A1ii. At the 2015 Worlds, I could get very close to the riders, as I recently confirmed by reviewing the EXIFs. 10-11FPS with the relatively primitive A6000 AF seemed to be fast enough then and 30FPS and 60FPS was overkill for Mt. Washington. Even shooting the new course record holder, I only needed 10-15FPS. I will not be buying tickets to be in the stands - just walking the course.
My current thinking is to use the following two lenses:
20G on A1ii
35-150 on A9iii
The other option might be:
24GM on A1ii
50-150GM on A9iii
Either way, I will holster with a Moneymaker to have both bodies in easy reach. I will NOT do lens swaps (see spectating...)
Some other options on the table - please weigh in. I can conveniently rent locally, so renting is not a "con".
70-200GMii (with or without 1.4TC) - own
- pros: more reach; faster FPS than the Tamron
- cons: lose the "normal" range provided by the Tamron
24-70 Sigma OG - own
- pros: more flexibility at the wide end of the range
- cons: weight; slowish focusing; not as wide as 20G; zoom turns the "wrong direction" compared to Tamron and Sony zooms
24-70GMii - rent
- pros - more flexibility at the wide end of the range; focuses fast
- cons: still a lot bigger than the 20G; not as wide
24GM - own
- pros: love the look / rendering; potentially better for environmental shots than the 20G
- cons: not as wide as the 20G; overlap with the Tamron in APS-C mode at the wide end
35GM - own
- pros: I love shooting 35 primes
- cons: doesn't add width compared to the Tamron
Not considered:
200-600 - own
100-400GM f/4.5 - rent
I don't believe I need the reach and don't want the bulk of either lens, as I will be walking 8-12 miles Saturday and the same amount (or more) on Sunday.
FYI - I own the 14GM, but think it will be too wide.
Thanks in advance for your insight and again, it would be great to meet up with fellow FM members if you are attending.
