Being winter here in Brisbane, the grass is sparser and not very green like you see in the Northern Hemisphere.

Shadows on this field at 8am and fluoro bibs (the K20D with matrix metering overexposes by about 1 stop when these bibs are sunlit) were the main difficulties this time.

The K20D does not really have good enough noise performance in the shadows to allow the use of a -1 EVcomp setting in this situation.

The voice in my head, saying "Get a K-5", is becoming more persistent. I'm sure its better metering, better shadow noise, and probably better AF, would help here.

My son, Kaiea, in the red & white boots, was still recovering from a cold, but wanted to play anyway, so "Action Man" was more subdued than normal.

U9 Soccer
Sunnybank Saints Cyclones (in the fluro bibs) vs
Sunnybank Saints Vortex.
Score: 3-0

Our team, Cyclones, is the top of ladder of the Queensland Christian Soccer Association, South Division U9, with one game to go:

Queensland Christian Soccer Association

Then we get into the preliminaries, semi-finals & finals!

Next match is at a different field at 10am so I'm hoping for better lighting. No bibs next time.




























Dan.

[Bob Harris]

Great action shots, you really did a great job capturing the action. You must of been very close to get such photos, all clear and crisp, great photos and Good Luck. Bob

[dosdan]

Thanks Bob for commenting. The shots were taken from the centre-sideline position used as the measuring point in this article:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/photography-articles/143778-subject-heigh...-position.html

There is a fair amount of cropping involved and this lens seem to handle it better than the DA 55-300/F4 I used to use. Here are frame height percentages of these 8 shots compared to original frame height to give you an idea of the amount of cropping used.

1. 50% - 250mm FL. Directly across from me. The chalk marking at their feet looks like the far edge of the centre circle. (Between "E" & "D" on the diagram in the article.) That puts it at a distance of about 46m. (I'm about 3m from the edge of the field behind a spectator fence.)

2. 58% - 220mm FL.

3. 76% - 250mm FL. The chalk marking at their feet looks like it could be the near edge of the centre circle. (Between "E" & "F" on the diagram in the article.) That puts it at a distance of about 23m.

4. 43% - 250mm FL.

5. 58% - 220mm FL

6. 58% - 220mm FL. The white mark behind the rear player is the far edge of the centre circle, but at an angle. I therefore estimate the distance to the foreground players at about 37m.

7. 64% - 180mm FL.

8. 42% - 250mm FL. This is just left (goal side) of the far corner. (Position "C" in the article.) The white pole in the far size of the road is the bus stop pole whose top you can see on the very left of the Position "C" photo. That puts the player at about 75m-80m.

Dan.

[Bob Harris]

Dan, I would say that the lens and camera are preforming way up the chart, now if the team can do as well. Thanks for the added information, very interesting. The team seem to be of good size for U9, I coached for 8 years, but I think with better diets we are growing and becoming stronger. Looking forward to your next series. Enjoyed all the photos. Tell Kaiea, good luck from the USA. Bob

[dosdan]

Bob, eligibility for the U9s is determined by their age on either 31 Dec 2010 or 1 Jan 2011 (not sure which date). Kaiea was 9 in Feb 2011. Don't know if it's the same in the US competitions.

Dan.

[andre-mz5]

That is a nice serie of shots Dan. You can see those kids are enjoying the game which at those age should be prio number one.
That 60-250 should give you better and sharper shots than the 55-33 which is no slouch either. It will be easy to crop from those 14 Mp once you have a nice shot.
The big advantage when upgrading to a K5 will be that it is much easier to use high ISO and thus use faster shutter speeds. Due to the excellent DR it is also much easier with a K5 RAW file to save a picture in case it is under or over exposed.
Went to an U-18 tournament and will post pictures soon.