p.1 #1Lens 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.
p.1 #2Lens choice for Montréal Worlds and possible meet up?
I'm not really a cycling photographer, but I do tend to visit some races each year and bring my camera. I often opt for my 24-70 and 70-200 , but may also bring something wider like 15-35.
Usage depends on where I can sit/ stand and how crowded it is. When it is really crowded people tend to hang over barriers and stretch their arms with there mobile phones in them. Those block you view easily. A wider angle gives you more opportunity to shoot straight forward in case many are standing to your sides. A longer focal length (like 200 on my 70-200) gives me an opportunity to get a shot with riders a bit further away before most people start to hang over.
In case it rains and people bring umbrellas you field of view will be limited even further than is the case with people just hanging over.
It also depends on the type of course you are watching. For a time trial the riders pass by one by one giving you plenty options to shoot and experiment a bit. With riders passing by in the 'bunch' with maybe a getaway group apart from them, chances to get a shot are more limited. If they ride a circuit and pass by several times, you have chances to experiment a bit of try to get different angles.
A low height wide angle shot can be a nice alternative and some panning shots when a rider passes by can be nice as well.
Given the option you mentioned I think I would opt for the 20G on the A1ii and the 35-150 on the A9iii.
The 20 for the occasional wide shot and the 35-150 for flexibility, although depending on the width of the road and your position it may not be wide enough for riders passing by in front of you.
Some general remarks, which may be quite obvious but I mention them nonetheless:
- If it's a circuit, try to get nice shots early on, since it often gets more crowded towards the final lap and other spectators will be more active towards the final lap (meaning get more in your way/ field of view)
- Try to find a map of the course and see if there are any turns or bends in the area where you will go to watch. With a turn or a bend you often can get a wider field of view, without other spectators hanging in front of your lens. Get to 'your' spot early as places near turns or bends are often popular since you have the best view on riders.
- If you are visiting with friends without cameras, have them stand on the side from where the riders are approaching. You can ask them not to hang over when riders pass by and keep a little extra control over your potential field of view.
- There may be spots that are further away from areas where people can easily park or further away from entry points like a train station. At those spots it will likely be less crowded giving you more room to find your favorite angles. The disadvantage is, it will also take more effort from yourself to get to those spots.
p.1 #3Lens choice for Montréal Worlds and possible meet up?
So I just finished a weekend with the local cycling club shooting our privately run century in the white mountains. I used the Tamron 35-150 as the primary lens on an a9iii. Even for relatively small, slow, moving cyclists, I was noticing my hit rate was only around 70 to 80%. With the 70-200GMii it was more like 95%+ and the misses were mostly user error. So for critical sports work, I just don’t think that the 35-150 works. This was a casual event, and no one will know the difference. However, for shooting worlds, I’ll still shoot at 15 frames per second, but I just don’t want to miss shots. Also, I was not using the wide end of the Tamron nearly as as much as I thought I would.
p.1 #4Lens choice for Montréal Worlds and possible meet up?
I shot UCI worlds in Gelong, Aus with a 500 f4.5. To get the max happiness with shooting and spectating I'd go with the 24-70 and 70-200. Big glass is most needed on the finish line and for some quirky stuff, but for the most part the long zoomer should get you where you want to be. The widey is nice for sense of place. Depending on where you move about to for watching the race something crazy wide like a 16 or 14 might be useful
p.1 #5Lens choice for Montréal Worlds and possible meet up?
cocodrillo wrote:
I shot UCI worlds in Gelong, Aus with a 500 f4.5. To get the max happiness with shooting and spectating I'd go with the 24-70 and 70-200. Big glass is most needed on the finish line and for some quirky stuff, but for the most part the long zoomer should get you where you want to be. The widey is nice for sense of place. Depending on where you move about to for watching the race something crazy wide like a 16 or 14 might be useful
Yep - that gels with my experience - thanks for weighing in! I remember asking the pros in 2015 what they were shooting with at the finish line in Richmond and they were using 600 f/4s. Since that's not my jam or (physical) place, I ruled out bringing anything longer right away. The vast majority of my action shots this weekend were 70-150 and the shorter focal lengths I hit quite sparingly.
I also took my 24GM and i35 (for indoor pre-ride get together shots) for this tripand I was reminded of why I like the 24GM so much. I will be able to hit 24 and 35 since I'll have it mounted on the A1ii and I'm just not gonna worry about shots at 50mm. It will be a fun race to watch and I am looking forward to experiencing it.
p.1 #7Lens choice for Montréal Worlds and possible meet up?
mogul wrote:
I would go with a 35 or 50 prime and the 70/200 f4...nice and light.
I don't own the 70-200Gii and I wouldn't acquire it for this trip. I have the Tamron 28-200 and 100GM so that is how I typically cover my longer focal length for travel and macro needs.
There is something about the 24GM that is magical, which came out in my photos from this weekend that I want to bring with me to Montréal. Punched in on the A1ii, I'll have a 35 f/2. That will do. I struggle to shoot 50, so not covering that range will be fine for me. I can always step back with the 70-200GMii or forward with the 24GM 😉
To me this is part of what is lovely about having a broad ecosystem - both the f/2.8 and f/4 zooms work for this event and there are so many good chiuces for all prime shooters!