Snapped these last weekend while on vacation in Santa Fe w/my family. We had parked around the corner to visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum and noticed this upon return to our car. It is the First Presbyterian Church.

I think that's the crux. I had rented a Tamron 70-200, before my Nikkor purchase, and it was a little clunky AF-wise. I have a cousin who has been shooting for quite some time, and he agrees. Nice glass, but mechanically, not the same. I have accidentally dropped my Nikkor, and it still works. They are solid.

I was able to score a refurbished (9+ condition) Nikkor 2.8 70-200 from B & H for $1600. Check around and see what's out there on the used market.

Thanks very much. It was one of those days (I had been a little late, due to traffic tie up problems) where I thought I was getting skunked. Ended up staying thru 5 merciless innings, where the visitors handed the home team a 32-0 shutout. I just kept shooting as much as I could, though as you say, I've learned to anticipate possible plays at certain areas of the field. Goes back to my umpiring experience, as I was a Colorado HS and college umpire for 8 years back in the 80s and 90s. Here are a couple more shots taken 3/20/18 at a different field and time of day. Tag play at home was 1/4000 4.5 ISO 500 200mm and the collision was 1/4000 4.5 70mm ISO 400. I only stayed for about 3 innings for these, as I felt I had grabbed a couple of keepers. Thank God we shoot w/digital cameras, so we have a pretty good idea of what we have "in the can."

Will keep that in mind.

Thanks. The photo as submitted was taken @ 12:04PM MDT. Today's game starts at 4P, so your suggestion definitely would come into play.

That certainly might get a little more DOF. I often try and "freeze" the baseball and so I shoot @ the higher shutter speeds. Am shooting a game this PM, so I may try your suggestion. Thanks

That is a great deal. I wonder just how "used" it is?

As many of you may know, we get plenty of sun in Colorado, and when coupled with lower cloud cover, it can be pretty bright. Was on assignment the other day, shooting HS baseball, and shot this. Nikon 7200 Nikkor 2.8 70-200 @ 200 mm. Manual format 1/3200 F4.5 to get a little more DOF, 400 ISO (was on auto). I still had to make a few corrections in Lightroom, e.g. -43 whites, as white clothing in the sun really pops, added +26 shadows, -9 red hue to get the visitors' uniforms where they should be (I've noticed my Nikon has a tendency to show them as more orange/red) and +29 overall sharpening. I'm wondering on these kinds of cloudless days, should I go with a polarizer, or just continue make these kinds of adjustments? I like to try and edit "in the can" as we used to say in TV, but with Lightroom, it's amazing what subtle adjustments can be made. Our publisher has a tendency to lighten our shots for newspaper publication, so I also have to keep that in mind, when submitting my photos. BTW, could sure use a 300mm 2.8 lens, but at $3K+, I'm not going there, yet.

Thanks

Thanks for the tips and very nice photos BTW. I might want to do JPEG/RAW. My papers usually like me shooting in the JPEG format.

JPEG Large Fine

Yes, but in addition to pulling my hair out trying to figure out camera settings, I have to pull out my reporter's notebook and ask people their names, ages, hometowns, etc, in order to write captions. Too much to worry about, but it all goes fast. Thanks for your comments.

Took these on assignment for several suburban Denver community newspapers that I freelance for. Was a Daddy/Daughter dance in a darkened gymnasium. Had auto ISO ON and was @ 25,000 for the girls working on crafts. No flash. Was able to reduce the noise in Lightroom, so it works, but had I had it to do over, I'd have turned auto ISO OFF, and gone w/6400, which is what I did for the dancing shot. Flash w/Gary Fong Lightsphere was used for this one, though dialed back -0.3. Now I know what you wedding photogs encounter in darkened receptions. Ugh. Nikon 7200 Sigma 24-70 2.8 Nikon 700 Speedlight.

Thanks Thomas.