I've never claimed to be the smartest dude to swing a camera around... but tonight I coulda re-invented dumb when I went way out of town to shoot youth hockey and accidentally confused my 300mm f4 with my 70-200 f2.8. As anyone who shoots amateur hockey will tell you, f4 ain't gonna cut it too often, and 300mm is a bit long for rinkside access for my tastes, but the two stinking cases are identical (only person almost as dumb as me is the inventor of same cases ) Lesson learned... always re-check your gear I guess.
Thank Gawd for today's cameras that perform well at ISO3200 and up... I was pleasantly surprised to see I survived and the end results weren't so bad even at f4-f4.5 and ISO3200+. Something about close-ups of 10-year-olds and their expressions playing sport can hide even my minor-league skills and even more minor-league packing routine.
C&C welcome as always, keeping in mind I was handicapped not only by my lens but my brain.
These are great, dj...every one of them. Something special about #1. That must have been one hell of a bad feeling when you realized what you'd done. But you pulled it off. Congrats!
these are great, a testament that a photographers greatest asset is not his gear but adapting to what he has
In the future get some cheap luggage tags and mark them with the lens, or if you plan on keeping the lenses forever write on the case with a sharpie the name of the lens.
Dj these look great. I normally shoot with the 300 2.8 for youth hockey on a crop sensor, your D700 performed great. I have been contemplating a FF for indoors, and night stuff. We will see eventually, my D300 is good but not as great as the D700/D3.
Russ Isabella wrote:
These are great, dj...every one of them. Something special about #1. That must have been one hell of a bad feeling when you realized what you'd done. But you pulled it off. Congrats!
Many thanks Russ... I liked the feel of #1 too. I find the 300/f4 tends to have a warmer feel to it and it works well in baseball with faces, so some of these are nice that way too despite the cycling lighting. And yeah, I opened up the case and what a helpless feeling. I don't make a whole lot of money at this, but even still you want to have your best images for the teams... argh.
Nathan Hobbs wrote:
these are great, a testament that a photographers greatest asset is not his gear but adapting to what he has
In the future get some cheap luggage tags and mark them with the lens, or if you plan on keeping the lenses forever write on the case with a sharpie the name of the lens.
Great ideas with the luggage tag, and that's going to be my next step... thanks for that (and for checking them out!)
Geoffrey Bolte wrote:
Dj these look great. I normally shoot with the 300 2.8 for youth hockey on a crop sensor, your D700 performed great. I have been contemplating a FF for indoors, and night stuff. We will see eventually, my D300 is good but not as great as the D700/D3.
Hey thanks Geoffrey... appreciate the comments.
A 300 f2.8 would be a better fit for ambient for sure, but yeah I gotta say I was a little relieved when I saw how the f4 / D700 turned out. A couple of these might actually be with the D300 - although once I figured out my lens issue I did shoot both bodies a little. I'm still trying to get a handle on it, but yeah the D700 seems to be around a stop better once you get past ISO800. No NR on these, but I had in-cam NR on low. Nice thing is the handling and feel of the two cams is pretty much identical which makes 2-body shooting a breeze. Thanks again.
Nice job DJ, especially with the equipment mix-up. They are all good, but #1 is by far the best of the bunch. Since I'm not shooting hockey anymore, I'm looking forward to seeing lots more from you this hockey season.
These are great. I shoot night time football with the Canon mark3 and I have put away the 70-200 2.8 and now I only take the 300 f/4 and the 135 f/2.0. The 300 performs great at 4.0 in between the 20's. I switch to the 30D and 135 inside the 20's. The end zone at most high schools loose a lot of the stadium lightening around here(Tennessee).
DJ... you are the master of youth hockey. I always have a hard time getting good face exposure while maintaining the details in the ice. These look great.
) Lesson learned... always re-check your gear I guess.
Joe