Gear - everything changes - part II - Lenses

What gives?

My photos weren't looking like the shots you see in the magazines. Not sharp.
I was using a monopod and working at being steadier. Besides, with a fast shutter speed, surely camera shake wasn't the problem?

I had the fast camera and what I thought was a fast lens (Nikon 80-200 2.8), so what gives?
Back to the books.
I looked through Peter Reed Miller's photos. I *analyzed* his photos.
Charted out the lens, shutter speed, focal length, ISO.

There were two things he was doing that
I see that he was shooting with a prime (non-zoom) lens.
This means that your camera only has small changes to make to focus, it isn't zooming in and out to find something to focus on.
He shoots with 300mm, 400mm and 600mm lenses.
Worth a try.
How do I lay my hands on one? No one I know has anything like this to borrow.
I end up renting one from LensRentals.com, just to try it out.
What a difference!
Sharp, thank goodness, but it's a challenge shooting with this.
You can see at the other end of the field, but nothing up close.
Do you change your shooting style? What do you do with this?

The rental period ends so I go down to Service Photo in Baltimore to see what these cost.
Actually, I've done my homework online,
I know what they cost, way beyond anything I can afford, but one can hope, right?

The Nikon lens, new, costs in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. Used is little different.
However, they had a Sigma prime lens, used, for the $1,500 range.
That's more than my D200 cost new!

Anyway, done. I walked out with this and haven't looked back. Well worth the price.

This process is one that I will use again. That is, if I hear about some whiz-bang lens, I'll rent it first, check it (and me) out and then look for it new, used, online, in stores, on Craigslist. 

In another post I'll talk about what else Peter Read Miller does that I don't do.
Later!

Gear - everything changes - part I - Camera bodies

Ca plus change...

My equipment is a hodge-podge of stuff that I've accumulated over the years, not all of it suited to sports photography.

Basically, I shoot Nikon bodies and lenses which is the topic of today's post.

My go-camera body was a Nikon D200 - a very nice camera, has served me well.
This is what I started shooting with.

A colleague at work offered me a Nikon D2H on indefinite loan, to see if it was better for sports shooting.
And so it proved to be. It has a far greater burst speed (frames per second) than the D200, so it ended up as my primary camera.

I was shooting with a Nikon 80-200 2.8 lens (maybe ten years old) - internal focusing, unlike its contemporary cousin the Nikon 70-200 2.8 lens.

I put this on the D2H.

I used my general utility lens 18-200 3.5 lens on my D200, but I wasn't really using this camera for sports.

Phase 2

Remember the indefinite loan on the D2H?

Well, the loan got called in. Someone else needed it.
Fair enough, I had it way past any reasonable loan period.

However, there was a scramble to replace it. I had gotten dependent on it.
Off to the usual sources to find a replacements, stores, online, friends.
First idea was to find the latest-and-greatest. Why not upgrade while I was at it?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The Nikon D5 had just come out. $$$$$$$$$

OK, can't afford it.

What about the D4? it is now obsolete.$$$$$$$$$$

Apparently no one told the vendors that they were carrying stale merchandise, because the price was practically the same.
D4, used? $$$$$$$$$ i.e. $4,000 or more.

OK, go down one generation to the D3
This is better, in the $2,000-$3,000 range. 

Its still money that I didn't have.

OK, back to the original idea - the D2 series -  D2H (known) or its upgrade, the D2X.

I found lots of them on eBay, at prices that I can afford. Now we're talking!
The lower priced items had been heavily used - 250,000 clicks or more.
The work horse of some studio, now to be retired in some hobbyist's home.

Didn't want something worn out or with replacement parts (shutters, in particular)

I found a couple of items that I liked. Was outbid on one, got the second one.

Until the first seller told me that the other bidder reneged so it was now mine.
This was just fine with me, except for the $$$$, since I could use two fast bodies and retire the D200.

So that's how it stands today.

I use two cameras for shooting games

Nikon D2H with prime lens (Sigma 300mm 2.8) - for long, cross field shots

Nikon D2X with 70-200 mm 2.8 lens for closer action (wings running right at me)

Turns out that D200 isn't retired after all.

I use that for my establishing shots - fans, pictures of players with parents, refs, color shots of players entering the field, etc.

To come - discussion of lenses, shooting modes, software change.

Later!