Hello Jens, One thing really surprises me - why would anyone ask for your advice concerning sports photography? I mean really, you don't do it and frankly anyone who would have to ask that advice probably can't shoot worth a darn anyway. They would do poorly with any equipment. Someone who is that good and serious wouldn't be asking a non-sports pro for advice on equipment now, would they?
I guess if someone said, "I want the equipment to do all the work for me and don't really need any skill or knowledge of what I am shooting, so what equipment is best?" For them, then sure, the top end Canon or Nikon is easy to recommend. When people ask me for advice buying a camera, I talk fairly in depth with them to really find out their intentions. If they are asking me about sports photography, it ends up being that they want to shoot their kids and maybe (yeah right), they might go further with it. When they find out how much one good lens costs (doesn't matter the brand), they aren't so serious anymore. -- Best regards, Bruce Friday, February 24, 2006, 10:55:55 PM, you wrote: JB> Ten reasons for recommending the *ist D for action photography: JB> 1: AF is slow, compared to the competition. Focusing in low light will JB> require 2-4 secs (according to dpreview tests). JB> You may use MF, and save time experimenting with AF. Enjoy using old, JB> lovely, smooth MF lenses. JB> 2: Frames pr. second is just 2.5 (competition features 4-8.3 FPS). You may JB> use single shot mode. Make sure to plan each shot carefully and try not to JB> think too much about the athletes moving in a surprising way - you know the JB> sports and can foresee everything that will occur. JB> 3: Write speed is 8 secs for 1 RAW file (36-37 secs for a 5 shot RAW burst, JB> 14 secs for a JPEG burst). This gives you plenty of time for talking to you JB> colleagues and for drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes. JB> 5: Relatively high noise at ISO 1600-3200. This will give you many JB> entertaing hours, using Neat Image and other nice computer applications in JB> the comfort of you home. JB> 6: Availability of new, fast (F:1.4-2.8) lenses is very limited. Use every JB> Monday, checking ebay for discontinued FA F.2.8 lenses. This is really JB> entertaining - much more enjoyable than the actal photographing. JB> 7: Only 6MP leaves very little "space" for after-cropping. Enjoy the art of JB> cropping the images while shooting. JB> 8: Reviewing pix is relatively slow - and must await the rather long writing JB> times. It's more fun taking chances. It's more exiting to check the images JB> at home, later on. JB> 9: No immediate histogram available. Enjoy your ability to judge the JB> exposure in advance, using the +/- settings. JB> 10:No flashing overexposure warning available for fast checking exposure. JB> (Same comment as above). JB> More advantages: JB> The Pentax *ist D is a very nice, well built, high qaulity DSLR camera. JB> Perfect for traveling (small size) and photographing when ever time is NOT JB> an issue - for landscapes and studio portraits. This makes is a good choise JB> for me. That's what I do. JB> For sports photography I don't believe this camera is the first choise of JB> many photographers. I would like to talk to some of the (noumorous) sports JB> photographers, who are successfully using a Pentax *ist D and will actually JB> prefere this to the rather fast working cameras from the otherwise prefered JB> cameras by pro's - Nikons and Canons. Until I do, I can recommend this JB> camera for action photography to anyone who enjoy the exitement of JB> constantly testing you own skills as well as the exitment concerning the art JB> of selling the the images to newspapers and magazines. With a Pentax *ist D JB> at the stadium, there's never really a dull moment. JB> Regards JB> Jens Bladt JB> http://www.jensbladt.dk JB> -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- JB> Fra: graywolf [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] JB> Sendt: 25. februar 2006 00:30 JB> Til: [email protected] JB> Emne: Re: *IST-D / DS & High speed action! JB> Har! Actually that focalplane shutter took a 10th of a second to move JB> the 5 inchs. That is where the idea of those carton cars leaning JB> forwards to indicate speed came from, those old photos. JB> graywolf JB> http://www.graywolfphoto.com JB> http://webpages.charter.net/graywolf JB> "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" JB> ----------------------------------- JB> John Francis wrote: >> Sure was. And 1/30 of a second froze the action much better. >> Mind you, you also had to lug that heavy camera equipment >> around - uphill both ways, of course. >> >> Tell that to the kids of today, and they won't believe you. >> >> >> On Fri, Feb 24, 2006 at 03:44:54PM -0500, graywolf wrote: >> >>>I always wonder how those oldtime racing shots were taken with a Graflex >>>5x7 SLR back around 1910 or so. Maybe 100mph was slower back in those JB> days? >>> >>>graywolf >>>http://www.graywolfphoto.com >>>http://webpages.charter.net/graywolf >>>"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" >>>----------------------------------- >>> >>> >>>John Francis wrote: >>> >>>>On Fri, Feb 24, 2006 at 08:18:24PM +0100, Jens Bladt wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>>A 5 FPS camera from Pentax (Autumn 2006) is a little late, isn't it? >>>>> >>>>>I am speaking from experience, you know. I have shot almost 30.000 JB> frames >>>>>with a *ist D. I believe I know very well, what I'm talking about. >>>>> >>>>>I don't really do action shots. >>>> >>>> >>>>Well, make up your mind. >>>> >>>>If experience matters, then I think my thousands of action shots, >>>>taken with the *ist-D, suggest that perhaps *I* know what I'm >>>>talking about when I say that the D is adequate for all but the >>>>most demanding situations. Not ideal, by any means, but adequate. >>>>And some of the limitations were fixed, some time ago, in the DS; >>>>I've yet to encounter a situation where a D with the write speed >>>>and buffer size of the DS, (plus, on a few occasions, the 4fps >>>>frame rate of the PZ-1p), would have prevented me getting just >>>>the shot I was trying for. >>>> >>>>As, by your admission, you don't do action photography, then your >>>>experience isn't really relevant, no matter how many frames you >>>>have shot. >>>> >>>>As others have pointed out, it's the photographer, far more than >>>>the equipment, that determines how good a shot you can bring home. >>>>I've even managed to get first-class results from a simple Canon >>>>Powershot G1 (an 8x10, from a 3.3MP camera, of a Porsche 911 at >>>>racing speeds) - when I mix it in with my best DSLR and scanned >>>>shots nobody has yet been able to pick it out as the P&S sample. >>>> >>>>If you expect the camera to do everything for you, then of course >>>>you're going to be disappointed. It's best to pre-focus at about >>>>the right distance, so that even if you're using focus tracking >>>>the camera is starting from roughly the right setting. That's >>>>where the *ist-D and siblings are much better than the MZ-S - the >>>>AF logic predicts which way to correct far more often, so you lose >>>>less shots while the AF hunts to the end-stop and back again. >>>>It's also best to select the AF point, rather than letting the >>>>camera choose (this becomes more important at long focal lengths). >>>>This isn't rocket science. In fact if you look carefully at how >>>>most of those full-time professionals with a truckload of Canon >>>>gear work, you'll find that they use their equipment in just >>>>that way - letting their experience guide the camera's automation. >>>> >>>> >> >> >> JB> -- JB> No virus found in this incoming message. JB> Checked by AVG Free Edition. JB> Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.0.0/268 - Release Date: 02/23/2006 JB> -- JB> No virus found in this outgoing message. JB> Checked by AVG Free Edition. JB> Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.0.0/268 - Release Date: 02/23/2006
