Originally posted by ffking the fact that these - and the others on Flickr - are well timed as well as sharp suggests a pretty good strike rate for the AF as well as good timing by the photographer - might soon have to stop telling myself don't need that lens, too ;( - good work!
I think, if you shoot outdoor sports (and especially with a K-1) the DFA 150-450 is a must have. It's near perfect wide open (at least my copy) and has a AF drive that can keep up with almost anything you throw at it.
Originally posted by Paul the Sunman Very nice! I notice you were shooting everything at f/5.6 1/000 s, until the sun went in and then you swapped to 1/640 s. These turned out to be very good choices.
Yup. F5.6 is wide open at the long end, which I usually tried using.
Originally posted by clickclick Excellent! I've been surprised how well I've done hand holding my K1 with the 150-450, but it is heavy fast. Were you using a monopod/tripod or hand holding?
I couldn't handhold the lens for 60+ minutes in a row, so I used a monopod (14,99 EUR Braun 1001; no ballhead at all). This way it works well - for me.
Originally posted by travelswsage Wow, great shots! I hope it's ok to ask - which AF settings did you use -- AF.C? number of AF points?
Basically the settings I described in the horseracing article. SEL 9 (topmost F2.8 point) with hold "Medium" or "low", Priorities Auto/Auto.
Originally posted by Miguel These are nicely captured. I prefer the shots that are taken from a more level perspective. The emotion and intensity comes through.
I began shooting level standing at the fence but after 20 minutes an older person from the audience asked me to "get out of the way" and so I moved backward and up the seating rows. The professional shooter were all on a balcony even higher (but I do not know if they had a choice)
Edit:
And I forgot to turn off SR, so that was on for all images.
All are JPGs ooC (main reason was I had no idea what to expect of this subject and wanted the nearly unlimited buffer depth JPGs provide) just cropped and saturation/clarity added back in (in camera I reduce that strongly for JPGs).