Very nice images. Thanks for showing them. You say there is a learning curve, is that because of a narrow plane of focus? Or something else?
I need to check the most used focal lengths of my recent events as they were all in the woods and suffer from high ISOs.
Mountain bike racing, looking for a fast lens.
For the few, 79 should of course be 70!
My mtb lens are 79-200 f4, 16-35 f4 and a fisheye, all Nikon. I am wondering about a new fast fixed zoom as in the woods I need all the light I can get, and speed lights are too much trouble. Has anyone got experience of 105 or 135 lens for sports and if so is the AF sufficiently fast for the fast pace of mtb? Many thanks.
I use a macbook pro mid 2014 with an external ssd. I upload up to 4k RAW images in a session on capture one and transfer the ssd to my imac for further editing. If away from home I use the macbook pro to edit and convert to jpg and have no problems. However my screen size is only 13" and a larger screen size would be beneficial.
I shoot between 2-4K photos of amateur sports in RAW. When travelling home I import them to capture one using auto adjustments and a style. So once home I take the ssd external disc to my iMac and cull the imports then convert to jpg. This takes time but I think capture one gives me a very fast processing system.
The 24-120 lens is ok but not great. I now use a 70-200 and 16-35 lens and sometimes a fisheye. If you think you are going to need different lenses don’t get the 24-120.
I have a 80-400 which I have used for winter sports, canoeing and mtb. Its a bit heavy for all day handholding or just carrying in a backpack. I sometimes use a monopod for the more active sports but also find a gimbal really useful for canoeing and sometimes slalom skiing events. I cant comment on comparatives but I do like the image look and the AF is fast enough.
However I tend to go with my 70-200 for most mtb events.
I automatically close the other eye but have found when shooting some sports events that the geography of the place means having both eyes open helps to see a competitor before they enter the frame (usually due to bushes/trees etc) and I shoot a batch, so it gives me an early warning which because of the speed of the athlete is a boon.
I dont have a DAM but use my own file structure usually based on events and date and then use Capture One, DxO or Affinity for processing. My files comprise both personal and hobby activities. I also use Apple photos but only after I have done all the other things to keep a more personal smaller collection of images because I like their memories option! I also have Bridge for file comparisions and metadata review so a DAM would not work for me.
Hi Jaackil,
Thanks for responding. Generally I use zooms because they do allow the options of shooting at various distances which means different berms or jumps are possible in one or two bursts for the same rider. A prime will not allow that but will concentrate on the closest feature for a single burst. Also many trails are in the woods so a fast lens is preferable if not using flash and that is the scenario I was mainly thinking of. Speed of autofocus is also an issue. Your idea of the 80-200 is a good one so many thanks for that. Cheers
Hi Jaackil,
Thanks for responding. Generally I use zooms because they do allow the options of shooting at various distances which means different berms or jumps are possible in one or two bursts for the same rider. A prime will not allow that but will concentrate on the closest feature for a single burst. Also many trails are in the woods so a fast lens is preferable if not using flash and that is the scenario I was mainly thinking of. Speed of autofocus is also an issue. Your idea of the 80-200 is a good one so many thanks for that. Cheers
I shoot mtb using Nikon 70-200 f4 and a 16-35 and sometimes a fisheye zoom with a D750 But have wondered about using a prime lens hopefully for sharper images. I haven’t compared any primes to zooms for third party reports eg DxO mark, but wondering what other sports shooters think from their experience of using zooms and primes. I am not interested in discussion of technique to improve sharpness just comparison of the lenses.
Have you thought about table top and macro shots? Using a tripod and remote shutter release may help. Using flash and other lighting options might be of interest.