took K-5 and DA* 200/2.8 on a Big 12 Women's game...

luke0622 · 02-14-2011, 10:40 PM

Took my K-5 and DA* 200mm/2.8 out to one of my Big 12 Basketball games...

I would say it did decent job, I wish the K-5 have a bigger RAW buffer, glad I had my D3s with me, otherwise I'd miss some shots... oh yeah, the K-5 went freeze on me during the game as well, I had to remove the battery grip and the battery to reset it...

Here are a few pictures I took last night... I converted the RAW files to JPEG with the LR3, don't remember if I did any touch up or not...

Attached Images

jackseh · 02-15-2011, 02:01 AM

Love those shoes. Are those new Nikes?

Kill-K · 02-15-2011, 02:05 AM

Originally posted by jackseh

Love those shoes. Are those new Nikes?

me too...
the color is so good!

the photos are great! Thanks for sharing!

luke0622 · 02-15-2011, 10:03 AM

it's pink all out game to support cancer survivors... it was on EPSN all day on Sunday.

Last edited by luke0622; 02-15-2011 at 10:28 AM.

RonHendriks1966 · 02-15-2011, 10:34 AM

It is great colour, or is it purple fringing all over the frames?

How do you feel about the AF during this game with the K-5? AF-c or AF-s used? I know the buffer and the time taking for emptying it is enourmus when you shoot in RAW.

Great serie, thanks for sharing.

**jbinpg** · 02-15-2011, 11:01 AM

All pro sports/events shooters I have talked to use jpeg only. Many times the object of the exercise is to get the SD/CF card out of the camera and into the hands of the producers as quickly as possible. Often the shooter doesn't even have time to chimp his/her own shots. Mind you, if he/she is a staff shooter with the company paying for the camera, they can't complain too much.

DougLee · 02-15-2011, 11:25 AM

Hi Luke,

Very nice photos! Looks like you had a good vantage point. Where you on the court level?

Since my daughter started playing middle school basketball this year, I've suddenly been getting into sports photography. This helped propt me to upgrade from my K200d to the K-5, a major upgrade for this kind of photography.

Could you comment on how useful the DA*200 is for indoor sports when matched with the K-5, as I am considering buying this lens. Also, I'd be interested to hear what camera settings work for you best when shooting basketball.

With the K200d, I had to use my FA77 almost wide open, f2, to get a 1/350 sec shutter speed at iso 1100 for basketball . This last weekend I used the K-5 for the first time, matched with the D FA 100. I was very pleasantly suprised how quick the auto focus was with this lens and how usable the images are at high ISOs!

Here are two of my shots taken with the K-5 this weekend

K-5 ISO 2000 f3.2 1/320 sec

k-5 ISO 3200 f3.2 1/400 sec

luke0622 · 02-15-2011, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by RonHendriks1966

It is great colour, or is it purple fringing all over the frames?

How do you feel about the AF during this game with the K-5? AF-c or AF-s used? I know the buffer and the time taking for emptying it is enourmus when you shoot in RAW.

Great serie, thanks for sharing.

The AF tracking is fine, it can't compete with D700, I did use AF-C, I took a series of shots on someone driving to the hoop, I believe I missed like 2 shots out of 7 or 8 shots in that series.

luke0622 · 02-15-2011, 01:30 PM

Originally posted by DougLee

Hi Luke,

Very nice photos! Looks like you had a good vantage point. Where you on the court level?

Since my daughter started playing middle school basketball this year, I've suddenly been getting into sports photography. This helped propt me to upgrade from my K200d to the K-5, a major upgrade for this kind of photography.

Could you comment on how useful the DA*200 is for indoor sports when matched with the K-5, as I am considering buying this lens. Also, I'd be interested to hear what camera settings work for you best when shooting basketball.

With the K200d, I had to use my FA77 almost wide open, f2, to get a 1/350 sec shutter speed at iso 1100 for basketball . This last weekend I used the K-5 for the first time, matched with the D FA 100. I was very pleasantly suprised how quick the auto focus was with this lens and how usable the images are at high ISOs!

Here are two of my shots taken with the K-5 this weekend

K-5 ISO 2000 f3.2 1/320 sec

k-5 ISO 3200 f3.2 1/400 sec

I was under the hoops. I am the only Pentax shooter, I also shoot with Nikon. K-5 did turn a few Canon guys' heads...

I personally think the K-5's AF tracking is a whole lot better than any Pentax I had owned before. DA* 200 is working fine for me, I will be going to a men's game at the beginning of March, I'll test out some faster action. My setting was set to AF-C, speed priority, auto WB, f2.8, 1/400 sec...

By the way, I will be selling the DA* 200mm/2.8 at the beginning of the March after the last game of the season. Just let me know.

Ubuntu_user · 02-15-2011, 01:36 PM

Originally posted by luke0622

The AF tracking is fine, it can't compete with D700, I did use AF-C, I took a series of shots on someone driving to the hoop, I believe I missed like 2 shots out of 7 or 8 shots in that series.

Wish I could get that from my K7...

jake14mw · 02-17-2011, 08:03 AM

Thank you both for sharing your shots. Luke, what ISO were you at? I'd be interested in hearing from you both and others about one thing. Given how high you can go now with the K-5 ISO, have you been tempted to go to f 3.2 or 4.0 with a 2.8 or faster lens to try to deepen your DOF, so that you have less OOF shots?

In theory, you'd like to use 2.8 to get that great subject isolation, but with the older Pentax bodies, the AF was not quick enough, so too many shots were OOF. Given the AF is quicker now, are you less worried about that? Where are you settling on this subject?

Lastly, are you using center point focus, or something else?

RonHendriks1966 · 02-17-2011, 09:12 AM

Originally posted by jake14mw

Thank you both for sharing your shots. Luke, what ISO were you at? I'd be interested in hearing from you both and others about one thing. Given how high you can go now with the K-5 ISO, have you been tempted to go to f 3.2 or 4.0 with a 2.8 or faster lens to try to deepen your DOF, so that you have less OOF shots?

In theory, you'd like to use 2.8 to get that great subject isolation, but with the older Pentax bodies, the AF was not quick enough, so too many shots were OOF. Given the AF is quicker now, are you less worried about that? Where are you settling on this subject?

Lastly, are you using center point focus, or something else?

Well that is my next thing to do. But i still need a good lens for sports. I have 50-135mm as max for indoor but not yet used it for that.

This one is taken with K-7 and 85mm/f2.5 but still to much background visable.

I sometime use pre-focus and change the focus point quit often during shooting, just with the selectiewheal. For K-7 I stopped at iso1250, but for K-5 I already used iso6400

This one is with K-5 and iso6400, but 21mm/f5

Urkeldaedalus · 02-17-2011, 11:09 AM

Nice shots, Luke. Is Iowa State going to the tournament this year?

Some comments on this thread:

I've found that the DA*200 has good enough autofocus for basketball, but 300 mm (on a crop camera) is a little bit long focal length wise when I'm under the basket, meanwhile the FA77 is about perfect (at least for when the team you're shooting is on your side) in focal length, but as it's clearly not designed for this task its focus is a little dodgier than the DA*200. As a compromise I usually use the FA77 in the first half and get action photos in context and then in the second half I add close ups and defense shots with the DA*200. On a positive note, the DA*200 worked great for me for football and I think would be good for other outdoor sports like soccer where you can choose your shooting location a little more.

I've done sports shots successfully at f/2.5, but I think if you wider than that you're really pushing it with any camera. It's hard to get people in perfect focus with f/1.8 even when they're standing still.

Personally I think with the K-5, Pentax has achieved autofocus that isn't the best of the best, but it's certainly good enough for most sports photography situations. Where I think they're still lacking is not having a true sports zoom. Even if they just rereleased a fast 50-135 f/2.8 for sports use I think this would help out a lot. (I know Sigma has some options, too, but I haven't tried those, yet)

The good news is that I don't think AF is the problem anymore (although this can always be improved). I think the major problem is lens selection in this particular area of use.

RonHendriks1966 · 02-17-2011, 01:18 PM

Originally posted by Urkeldaedalus

I've done sports shots successfully at f/2.5, but I think if you wider than that you're really pushing it with any camera. It's hard to get people in perfect focus with f/1.8 even when they're standing still.

absolutely true, going wider then f2.5 is pushing it and you end up with just a limited number of good pictures. I use f2.0 some of the time and even f1.4 but that is more kind of buying a lottery ticket.

Here is one with FA*85mm at f2.0 also with K-7

Then again, when you win the lottery, you'r always a happy men.

Smeggypants · 02-17-2011, 01:20 PM

Originally posted by luke0622

Took my K-5 and DA* 200mm/2.8 out to one of my Big 12 Basketball games...

I would say it did decent job, I wish the K-5 have a bigger RAW buffer, glad I had my D3s with me, otherwise I'd miss some shots... oh yeah, the K-5 went freeze on me during the game as well, I had to remove the battery grip and the battery to reset it...

Here are a few pictures I took last night... I converted the RAW files to JPEG with the LR3, don't remember if I did any touch up or not...

Love the first shot. She looks about 12 feet tall as well as having almighty shorts!!!

02-14-2011, 10:40 PM	#1
luke0622 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Ankeny, Iowa Photos: Gallery Posts: 388	*took K-5 and DA 200/2.8 on a Big 12 Women's game...** Took my K-5 and DA* 200mm/2.8 out to one of my Big 12 Basketball games... I would say it did decent job, I wish the K-5 have a bigger RAW buffer, glad I had my D3s with me, otherwise I'd miss some shots... oh yeah, the K-5 went freeze on me during the game as well, I had to remove the battery grip and the battery to reset it... Here are a few pictures I took last night... I converted the RAW files to JPEG with the LR3, don't remember if I did any touch up or not... Attached Images

02-15-2011, 01:22 PM	#8
luke0622 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Ankeny, Iowa Photos: Gallery Posts: 388 Original Poster	color, I think lol Originally posted by RonHendriks1966 It is great colour, or is it purple fringing all over the frames? How do you feel about the AF during this game with the K-5? AF-c or AF-s used? I know the buffer and the time taking for emptying it is enourmus when you shoot in RAW. Great serie, thanks for sharing. The AF tracking is fine, it can't compete with D700, I did use AF-C, I took a series of shots on someone driving to the hoop, I believe I missed like 2 shots out of 7 or 8 shots in that series.

02-15-2011, 01:30 PM	#9
luke0622 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Ankeny, Iowa Photos: Gallery Posts: 388 Original Poster	*DA 200 is pretty decent for indoor sports...** Originally posted by DougLee Hi Luke, Very nice photos! Looks like you had a good vantage point. Where you on the court level? Since my daughter started playing middle school basketball this year, I've suddenly been getting into sports photography. This helped propt me to upgrade from my K200d to the K-5, a major upgrade for this kind of photography. Could you comment on how useful the DA200 is for indoor sports when matched with the K-5, as I am considering buying this lens. Also, I'd be interested to hear what camera settings work for you best when shooting basketball. With the K200d, I had to use my FA77 almost wide open, f2, to get a 1/350 sec shutter speed at iso 1100 for basketball . This last weekend I used the K-5 for the first time, matched with the D FA 100. I was very pleasantly suprised how quick the auto focus was with this lens and how usable the images are at high ISOs! Here are two of my shots taken with the K-5 this weekend K-5 ISO 2000 f3.2 1/320 sec k-5 ISO 3200 f3.2 1/400 sec I was under the hoops. I am the only Pentax shooter, I also shoot with Nikon. K-5 did turn a few Canon guys' heads... I personally think the K-5's AF tracking is a whole lot better than any Pentax I had owned before. DA 200 is working fine for me, I will be going to a men's game at the beginning of March, I'll test out some faster action. My setting was set to AF-C, speed priority, auto WB, f2.8, 1/400 sec... By the way, I will be selling the DA* 200mm/2.8 at the beginning of the March after the last game of the season. Just let me know. Last edited by luke0622; 02-15-2011 at 01:40 PM.

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02-15-2011, 02:01 AM	#2
jackseh Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 118	Love those shoes. Are those new Nikes?

02-15-2011, 02:05 AM	#3
Kill-K New Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 13	Originally posted by jackseh Love those shoes. Are those new Nikes? me too... the color is so good! the photos are great! Thanks for sharing!

02-15-2011, 10:03 AM	#4
luke0622 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Ankeny, Iowa Photos: Gallery Posts: 388 Original Poster	it's pink all out game to support cancer survivors... it was on EPSN all day on Sunday. Last edited by luke0622; 02-15-2011 at 10:28 AM.

02-15-2011, 10:34 AM	#5
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	It is great colour, or is it purple fringing all over the frames? How do you feel about the AF during this game with the K-5? AF-c or AF-s used? I know the buffer and the time taking for emptying it is enourmus when you shoot in RAW. Great serie, thanks for sharing.

02-15-2011, 11:01 AM	#6
jbinpg Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Prince George, BC Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,546	All pro sports/events shooters I have talked to use jpeg only. Many times the object of the exercise is to get the SD/CF card out of the camera and into the hands of the producers as quickly as possible. Often the shooter doesn't even have time to chimp his/her own shots. Mind you, if he/she is a staff shooter with the company paying for the camera, they can't complain too much.

02-15-2011, 11:25 AM	#7
DougLee Inactive Account Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Bar Harbor, Maine Posts: 110	Hi Luke, Very nice photos! Looks like you had a good vantage point. Where you on the court level? Since my daughter started playing middle school basketball this year, I've suddenly been getting into sports photography. This helped propt me to upgrade from my K200d to the K-5, a major upgrade for this kind of photography. Could you comment on how useful the DA*200 is for indoor sports when matched with the K-5, as I am considering buying this lens. Also, I'd be interested to hear what camera settings work for you best when shooting basketball. With the K200d, I had to use my FA77 almost wide open, f2, to get a 1/350 sec shutter speed at iso 1100 for basketball . This last weekend I used the K-5 for the first time, matched with the D FA 100. I was very pleasantly suprised how quick the auto focus was with this lens and how usable the images are at high ISOs! Here are two of my shots taken with the K-5 this weekend K-5 ISO 2000 f3.2 1/320 sec k-5 ISO 3200 f3.2 1/400 sec

02-15-2011, 01:36 PM	#10
Ubuntu_user Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,545	Originally posted by luke0622 The AF tracking is fine, it can't compete with D700, I did use AF-C, I took a series of shots on someone driving to the hoop, I believe I missed like 2 shots out of 7 or 8 shots in that series. Wish I could get that from my K7...

02-17-2011, 08:03 AM	#11
jake14mw Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 977	Thank you both for sharing your shots. Luke, what ISO were you at? I'd be interested in hearing from you both and others about one thing. Given how high you can go now with the K-5 ISO, have you been tempted to go to f 3.2 or 4.0 with a 2.8 or faster lens to try to deepen your DOF, so that you have less OOF shots? In theory, you'd like to use 2.8 to get that great subject isolation, but with the older Pentax bodies, the AF was not quick enough, so too many shots were OOF. Given the AF is quicker now, are you less worried about that? Where are you settling on this subject? Lastly, are you using center point focus, or something else?

02-17-2011, 09:12 AM	#12
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	Originally posted by jake14mw Thank you both for sharing your shots. Luke, what ISO were you at? I'd be interested in hearing from you both and others about one thing. Given how high you can go now with the K-5 ISO, have you been tempted to go to f 3.2 or 4.0 with a 2.8 or faster lens to try to deepen your DOF, so that you have less OOF shots? In theory, you'd like to use 2.8 to get that great subject isolation, but with the older Pentax bodies, the AF was not quick enough, so too many shots were OOF. Given the AF is quicker now, are you less worried about that? Where are you settling on this subject? Lastly, are you using center point focus, or something else? Well that is my next thing to do. But i still need a good lens for sports. I have 50-135mm as max for indoor but not yet used it for that. This one is taken with K-7 and 85mm/f2.5 but still to much background visable. I sometime use pre-focus and change the focus point quit often during shooting, just with the selectiewheal. For K-7 I stopped at iso1250, but for K-5 I already used iso6400 This one is with K-5 and iso6400, but 21mm/f5

02-17-2011, 11:09 AM	#13
Urkeldaedalus Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Iowa Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,369	Nice shots, Luke. Is Iowa State going to the tournament this year? Some comments on this thread: I've found that the DA200 has good enough autofocus for basketball, but 300 mm (on a crop camera) is a little bit long focal length wise when I'm under the basket, meanwhile the FA77 is about perfect (at least for when the team you're shooting is on your side) in focal length, but as it's clearly not designed for this task its focus is a little dodgier than the DA200. As a compromise I usually use the FA77 in the first half and get action photos in context and then in the second half I add close ups and defense shots with the DA200. On a positive note, the DA200 worked great for me for football and I think would be good for other outdoor sports like soccer where you can choose your shooting location a little more. I've done sports shots successfully at f/2.5, but I think if you wider than that you're really pushing it with any camera. It's hard to get people in perfect focus with f/1.8 even when they're standing still. Personally I think with the K-5, Pentax has achieved autofocus that isn't the best of the best, but it's certainly good enough for most sports photography situations. Where I think they're still lacking is not having a true sports zoom. Even if they just rereleased a fast 50-135 f/2.8 for sports use I think this would help out a lot. (I know Sigma has some options, too, but I haven't tried those, yet) The good news is that I don't think AF is the problem anymore (although this can always be improved). I think the major problem is lens selection in this particular area of use.

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02-17-2011, 01:18 PM	#14
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	Originally posted by Urkeldaedalus I've done sports shots successfully at f/2.5, but I think if you wider than that you're really pushing it with any camera. It's hard to get people in perfect focus with f/1.8 even when they're standing still. absolutely true, going wider then f2.5 is pushing it and you end up with just a limited number of good pictures. I use f2.0 some of the time and even f1.4 but that is more kind of buying a lottery ticket. Here is one with FA*85mm at f2.0 also with K-7 Then again, when you win the lottery, you'r always a happy men.

02-17-2011, 01:20 PM	#15
Smeggypants Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 1,536	Originally posted by luke0622 Took my K-5 and DA* 200mm/2.8 out to one of my Big 12 Basketball games... I would say it did decent job, I wish the K-5 have a bigger RAW buffer, glad I had my D3s with me, otherwise I'd miss some shots... oh yeah, the K-5 went freeze on me during the game as well, I had to remove the battery grip and the battery to reset it... Here are a few pictures I took last night... I converted the RAW files to JPEG with the LR3, don't remember if I did any touch up or not... Love the first shot. She looks about 12 feet tall as well as having almighty shorts!!!