Yesterday I received a private email from someone who sometimes frequents the list via the archives or the digest. He seems to know sports photography pretty well, at least baseball. He said, and I quote:
"The guys in the camera bay who shoot baseball for a living, to a man, would all be quite happy if they were still allowed to use their F3s (which they used with 1600 ISO film and a 600mm f4, but digital allows 'em to bring a slightly smaller, faster lens). They frequently moan about how often they buy new DSLRs, because they wear out so fast. Autofocus speed is not an issue, because they are picking their spots, anticipating the next play, and pre-focusing. Sure, they use AF, but not on-the-fly. Only amateurs shoot sports that way. In addition, there were only rare occasions where I have heard the clack-clack-clack of someone holding down the shutter continuously. Usually it's a burst of two or three, followed by another." FWIW .... Shel > [Original Message] > From: William Robb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Date: 2/24/2006 10:08:37 AM > Subject: Re: *IST-D / DS & High speed action! > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jens Bladt" > Subject: RE: *IST-D / DS & High speed action! > > > > Yes, you can. If you have enough time. Pre focusing at the point where you > > GUESS the athelete will be in 10 secs. > > But when the action actually happends, using a 2.5 FPS camera is like > > going > > to Las Vegas with just 10 USD in your pocket. It just doesn't cut it. > > I've shot sports with 7FPS Nikons, but didn't get much that was usable > because I didn't know the sport. > I've shot sports with non motorized Spotmatics, and did a lot better because > I knew the sport I was shooting. > > Much comes down to what you know, not what your equipment can do. > > William Robb >
