[awa355]

I received a email today from the lady who will be managing the local team in the regional football (soccer) premiership competition this coming season. She has asked me to be the team photographer this year. It means following the team at home and away games.

I am of two minds 1; it feels good to be asked to be involved as a photographer 2; I feel like I would have to step up my performance as a photographer.

One reason for not following a soccer team,,, I find soccer mostly boring,,, to watch, and to photograph. I did follow the woman's team last year and enjoyed that. Lots of laughter and giggles and at a slower pace.

Last winter I also attended a number of home games at a local country rugby club and really enjoyed that. With rugby, you get the ball in hand, the physical contests at lineouts and mauls, the facial expressions, the mud, and when a try is scored the player is usually grasping the ball, and diving for the line.

Has anyone here followed a sport through its' season?

[pixelsaurus]

Santa got me this for Xmas. Came with a Sigma 18-125mm, table tripod,and camera bag. There were some SD cards but don't know if they were courtesy of my wife. All up, I am really pleased with everything.

TVSN all up price $999. There was also a 52mm UV filter, 16Gb and 32Gb SD card, and an A4 pack of Ilford Galerie paper.

[GUB]

Has anyone here followed a sport through its' season?

That would be quite a commitment! Is your lifestyle up to it?
But what a great opportunity to be getting involved and developing in a co-operating environment. I can just see myself turning up at a ladies game with camera in hand and getting escorted off by the boys in blue!

[Kiwizinho]

We brought the GH5 for professional video work, and it is a good tool for that application. If you are only looking for occasional video you would never buy a GH5.

I think it is just a case of picking the right tool for you for your uses. That will also be guided by budget.

The thing is I do sometimes shoot video, and I might do more if I had better equipment, although the big issue I find with video is the amount of time to do a good edit can be pretty huge. Since my daughter was born I've done very little video editing, and it's not for lack of interest, but more lack of time. If I were doing paid work, that would be different as it would fit within work time.

Here's a fairly long video I made a few years back about 9 months before my daughter was born:

You Tube

You Tube

I have a couple of ageing Canon HV-30 mini-DV tape based camcorders. At the time I paid a bit over $1000 each, and they were great for their portability and decent run time on a battery charge. The HV-30s were at the top of the pro-sumer range in their day, but their dynamic range compared to even the K-50 is miserable when I compare, although of course they support proper AF and smooth zoom.

I've wondered about getting something like a Go-Pro as something lightweight that I can take into remote locations, but I think I'd miss having a zoom, and personally, I like a viewfinder for composition. I don't know if I'd get another dedicated camcorder, as good ones tend to cost a bit, even if not as much as a GH5, and then they only serve one purpose, and I'd rather have a single camera to carry for stills and video.

[Arpe]

...

Has anyone here followed a sport through its' season?

Every winter. I do rugby mainly, but also try to do soccer, and done a little hockey.
Soccer is more difficult than rugby as the contact with the ball is way more fleeting and the ball goes faster than someone running with it.
I set my camera to 7fps for rugby, but 10fps for soccer. Fast Af is a bonus so you can get the person kicking it, then the person receiving. Yeah girls soccer is quite a bit slower with way less headers.

As you will be putting wear and tear on your gear make sure you're compensated somehow. I sell my pics to the players (tho' bugger-all), but let the club I follow have them for nothing, as a way of supporting them, they also give me a few free beers in the clubroom. They don't use that many anyway.

[Kiwi645hauler]

Has anyone here followed a sport through its' season?

I follow hockey most winters mainly because i play, and also as my clubs photographer. Field hockey is super fast, and with the modern game and player skill levels allowing the ball to be played in the air it is now very much a 3D sport. Like football a lot of the on ball moments can be fleeting, but with a much smaller ball travelling a lot faster having a higher FPS definitely helps. Here are a few of my hockey images over the years...
Close in

Scramble

Shootout

Celebration

[awa355]

Every winter. I do rugby mainly, but also try to do soccer, and done a little hockey.
Soccer is more difficult than rugby as the contact with the ball is way more fleeting and the ball goes faster than someone running with it.
I set my camera to 7fps for rugby, but 10fps for soccer. Fast Af is a bonus so you can get the person kicking it, then the person receiving. Yeah girls soccer is quite a bit slower with way less headers.

As you will be putting wear and tear on your gear make sure you're compensated somehow. I sell my pics to the players (tho' bugger-all), but let the club I follow have them for nothing, as a way of supporting them, they also give me a few free beers in the clubroom. They don't use that many anyway.

Your website is amazing. You have done your homework there. I do not have the equipment or the finances to set myself up as a semi-pro sports photographer. The wear and tear on gear is something others don't see, even I forget about the shutter activation's climbing up each weekend. 64,440 as of this morning's cycle ride. It was 13,800 when I bought the K50 14 months ago. I find that I have cut down the 'machine gunning' an awful lot, although when the action gets serious, I tend to hit the 'fast' button.
When a club is run on volunteer labour and they struggle for funds and sponsorship each year it is hard to expect them to front up with my needs.

[richandfleur]

The thing is I do sometimes shoot video, and I might do more if I had better equipment, although the big issue I find with video is the amount of time to do a good edit can be pretty huge. Since my daughter was born I've done very little video editing, and it's not for lack of interest, but more lack of time. If I were doing paid work, that would be different as it would fit within work time.

Here's a fairly long video I made a few years back about 9 months before my daughter was born: Lake Alexander and Tummil River - YouTube

I have a couple of ageing Canon HV-30 mini-DV tape based camcorders. At the time I paid a bit over $1000 each, and they were great for their portability and decent run time on a battery charge. The HV-30s were at the top of the pro-sumer range in their day, but their dynamic range compared to even the K-50 is miserable when I compare, although of course they support proper AF and smooth zoom.

I've wondered about getting something like a Go-Pro as something lightweight that I can take into remote locations, but I think I'd miss having a zoom, and personally, I like a viewfinder for composition. I don't know if I'd get another dedicated camcorder, as good ones tend to cost a bit, even if not as much as a GH5, and then they only serve one purpose, and I'd rather have a single camera to carry for stills and video.

That video was cool, thanks for making and sharing.

Yes, a DSLR comes with all the optics and IQ of stills into video, which makes them (and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras also) ideal for video work. The comparison for a video handicam is a point and shoot stills camera, not a DSLR.

You can noticeably tell the difference between the first shots on an iPhone in this video, and the later shots when I decided to get the DSLR out.

You Tube

You Tube

I have a GoPro Hero 6, which now has zoom on it, when shooting at resolutions below 4k, and must be zoomed in before you start shooting. It's not a handicam type video camera replacement at all, but I'm super stoked with this. I do a lot of gopro stuff and the new version has answered 95% of what I was complaining out previously. Voice control, high frame rates, amazing stabilisation, linear mode, waterproof directly without a case, before audio, easier to connect to the iphone app etc.

Most of this was a GoPro Hero 4 Silver:

You Tube

You Tube

[Transit]

@Transit: the Good Mrs Micro and myself are arriving in NZ for a six-week holiday at the beginning of February; three weeks each on North and South islands. The weather will be very different to the UK in February! I'm looking to give the K-3II and pixel shift a good work-out.

How's the planning going Mate ? ☺

[zkarj]

If you are only looking for occasional video you would never buy a GH5.

The corollary to "Ross's Law" is if you're looking to do frequent video you would never buy a Pentax.

Here are a few of my hockey images over the years...

Magic shots. I love the levitating goalie in "Scramble", but my favourite is the defender in the goal in "Celebration".

[NZ_Ross]

The corollary to "Ross's Law" is if you're looking to do frequent video you would never buy a Pentax.

Sadly that is probably true

[Kiwi645hauler]

Magic shots. I love the levitating goalie in "Scramble", but my favourite is the defender in the goal in "Celebration".

Cheers, it was a really tough/tight game being a grand final, the red team had won the comp the previous 3 years running and were looking to make it a 4th in 5 years, and that was the blue teams go ahead goal with little time remaining. The goal keeper was chirping at the umpire about a possible infringement before the ball went in the net, they guy lying on the ground had come from way back and put a big dive in to try and stop the ball but slid past the ball on the line, and the other defender, well lets just say he wasn't happy at his team because they had just completely blown a 2 goal lead in 5 minutes.

[awa355]

I wrote to the Northern Districts Cricket body with this query,
' Am I allowed to bring my dslr camera into Seddon park? It has a video function (as do all cell phones) but I never use it. . The photos are for my own use and this is just a hobby.'

Their reply is ' As stated on the Seddon Park website, commercial cameras are not permitted into the ground. As it is a commercial camera, but is used for personal use, I am unsure if it will be allowed. Your best bet is to bring it and if you are not allowed, security will say so.'

The conditions mentions video recording devices, not being allowed, nothing about commercial or any other form of photography.
Would it be worth me trying to take it in?

Re video as above posts, I don't think I have ever used the video mode on my K50.

[Kiwi645hauler]

I wrote to the Northern Districts Cricket body with this query,
' Am I allowed to bring my dslr camera into Seddon park? It has a video function (as do all cell phones) but I never use it. . The photos are for my own use and this is just a hobby.'

Their reply is ' As stated on the Seddon Park website, commercial cameras are not permitted into the ground. As it is a commercial camera, but is used for personal use, I am unsure if it will be allowed. Your best bet is to bring it and if you are not allowed, security will say so.'

The conditions mentions video recording devices, not being allowed, nothing about commercial or any other form of photography.
Would it be worth me trying to take it in?

Thats tough, with commercial camera being such a broad term, especially now with some journalists using smartphones for their imaging, any imaging device could technically be called a commercial camera. I know here in Dunedin ive taken my Olympus, Previous Sony and Canon cameras into Uni Oval & also into Molyneux park in Alexandra with no problems before, as long as you are open with security that its a camera they normally have no issues. Unless the camera is something like a Canon 1 series or Nikon Dx series with big 500mm style lenses most security don't really care. The issue is with the big gear, it can be dangerous with people running around the embankments not paying attention to where they are going, especially with the current Tui promotion underway

[awa355]

I had no problems with taking the K50 into Rugby park for a super rugby game. It was a miserable night, and I had slung the camera under my raincoat (remember them?). And if owning a dslr means I am a commercial photographer WHERE'S MY MONEY???