Yesterday something funny happened.

My girlfriend got two tickets for a German Basketball League-Game (Bamberg-Paderborn) via her company. Actually we thought, we are supposed to sit far away from the field.
i was sure i would have been able to test my DA* 300mm at a sports venue in an indoor stadium.

But when we picked up the tickets at the counter there was "chair row" written on it. So we found ourselves sitting in the first row directly at the court. A lot of professional CaNikons sitting next to me fighting for got pictures.

i am pretty sure you already realized, that i could not use the 300mm for that.
Luckily i always bring the 43mm, which was better that nothing...

Here are some shots:


1/160, f2.2, iso 400



1/250, f1.9, iso 400



1/250, f2.5, iso 400



1/250, f2.5, iso 400

[Sirfishalot]

Deimo,
Nice job on these especially considering the equipment used, but both the ISO and the shutter speeds look really slow to capture the fast action on the court. I would expect to see settings of at least ISO 1600 and 1/800th/sec.
It is tough to get these settings without really good arena lighting or the use of strobes and usually lenses 2.8 and faster are the norm. I doubt if the DA*300/4 would work very well in this settting. I wonder how the K-7 or even the (K-x for high ISO) and a fast lens like the FA 50/1.4 would fare in these evironments.
Looks you are doing a good job with your white balance and keeping the ball in the frame with the players. Horizions look pretty good with the exception of the first shot, but it does't look like you can correct that without cropping the ball out of the frame.

JayT

[Deimo]

Deimo,
Nice job on these especially considering the equipment used, but both the ISO and the shutter speeds look really slow to capture the fast action on the court. I would expect to see settings of at least ISO 1600 and 1/800th/sec.
It is tough to get these settings without really good arena lighting or the use of strobes and usually lenses 2.8 and faster are the norm. I doubt if the DA*300/4 would work very well in this settting. I wonder how the K-7 or even the (K-x for high ISO) and a fast lens like the FA 50/1.4 would fare in these evironments.
Looks you are doing a good job with your white balance and keeping the ball in the frame with the players. Horizions look pretty good with the exception of the first shot, but it does't look like you can correct that without cropping the ball out of the frame.

JayT

Thx for the feedback fishalot.

my 300mm was a few days old and i was interessted in the results with it from war away. i also think they would have been very different/disappointing compared to those fotos shown above.

Now that my SR-switch is broke, i really need a new camera to try these with my 50mm/1.2 But i don't want to spend the money for the K7 (appr. 1.400 USD here) and i really need two small wheels and a focus-indicator ;-) .. so maybe i buy a K20D

[justinr]

I would find it hard to agree that a faster shutter speed would have helped here as the blurring is just about right to suggest the pace of movement without losing the clarity of the picture. Just because high shutter speeds are possible doesn't mean to say that they are always necessary, technical perfection can often result in soulless pictures.

Picture No 4 is an absolute gem of a tense moment captured although it seems to me that the tall fellow (3rd from left) has become detached from his feet.

Justin.

[nulla]

we were about 2m from the field.

# 1 and 2 are cropped a bit.
# 3 and 4 are not cropped

To get an idea:
This is a photo with action under the basket without any cropping:

1/320, f2.5, iso 800

Love this shot.... should be posted in the FA limited thread mate.

The 43 is in a class of its own.


Cheers

Neil

[Deimo]

Picture No 4 is an absolute gem of a tense moment captured although it seems to me that the tall fellow (3rd from left) has become detached from his feet.

Justin.

true about the tall guy! i ve analysed very accurately.

Love this shot.... should be posted in the FA limited thread mate.

The 43 is in a class of its own.

Thx Neil,
maybe you can put in a good word for me to the Pentax Picture Gallery. After a few mails i don't even get a reply and of course no Artist Code :-(