Boys of Summer

Scottwdw

Scottwdw

Member
Covered an Under-16 and Under-18 baseball tournament over the weekend. ; These are all-star teams which get scouted by colleges so there is some very good talent to watch. ; Not a student of the game, I learned a lot but still found myself missing plays. The lens I used (Nikon 80-400VR), while capable, does not focus nearly as fast as an AF-S lens. ; Catch that Dennis?

However, I adjusted and came out with some good ones. ; I have A LOT of photos to process and get up for the tournament and parents this week but here are some selects. ; All taken with a borrowed Nikon D700 and my 80-400VR lens. ; Remember, no crop factor. ; :)

Turning the Double Play.
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1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 2500, EV +0.6, 400mm focal length

Sending in the fast ball.
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1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 800, EV +0.6, 260mm focal length

Got the runner at first, too.
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1/2000s, f/6.3, ISO 800, EV +0.3, 400mm focal length

Strike Three!
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1/2000s, f/8, ISO 800, EV +0.3, 300mm focal length

A couple more on my blog today: View 135: The Boys of Summer

I want to thank fotodave for giving me some great tips on how to photograph baseball and base settings to start out with knowing the equipment I had on hand. ; His advice was spot on and, I know, it saved me from a lot of frustration. ; Thanks, Dave!!!!!!!
 
nice job. ; rule #1 of sports photography... ; make sure the ball is in the shot. ; you nailed it.
 
Nice set, Scott. ; And yes, I got the hint. ; There's always the option to do it The Old Way with MF and pre-focus.
 
Good luck with MF. ; I did some pre-focus when I had some idea of where the play was or I was doing a sport portrait. ; The D700 has something called 3D 51-point tracking which I didn't use for the tournament but have in the past. ; Awesome technology.
 
My D300 also has 51-point 3D AF. ; But if the lens can't keep up with it, it's not very useful. ;

MF is always an option. ; It's what I had to use with the 400mm on my film camera in the Good Old Days.
 
"Scottwdw" said:
The D700 has something called 3D 51-point tracking which I didn't use for the tournament but have in the past. ; Awesome technology.
Click to expand...

I tried that at a high school basketball game and wasn't that impressed with it. ; Although with 10 people in close proximity on the court that might not have been a good test of it. ; I guess it works better for sports like baseball where there are less people in the frame.
 
A base runner is caught in a rundown between 1st and 2nd base. ; He played it right as he kept the red team occupied long enough for his teammate to score from 3rd base.


1/1600s, f/7.1, ISO 800, EV +0.3, 230mm focal length.
 
"mSummers" said:
I tried that at a high school basketball game and wasn't that impressed with it. ; Although with 10 people in close proximity on the court that might not have been a good test of it. ; I guess it works better for sports like baseball where there are less people in the frame.
Click to expand...

I used the 3D 51-point tracking focus setting last year for a reining horse show where only one horse is in the ring at a time. ; Worked very well in that situation. ; Since I had not used it for baseball before, I choose not to play with it and went with a 9-point system which worked fine.
 
I've heard differing opinions on multipoing autofocus. ; If you're doing high-speed action, I heard that the fewer active focus points you have, the faster it can pick one. ; On the other hand, if your subject is not centered, the more points, the better.
 
"ddindy" said:
I've heard differing opinions on multipoing autofocus. ; If you're doing high-speed action, I heard that the fewer active focus points you have, the faster it can pick one. ; On the other hand, if your subject is not centered, the more points, the better.
Click to expand...

My impression of the 51 point tracking was that it was plenty fast to shoot a basketball game. ; The problem I was having was that it wasn't always focusing on the player I wanted it to, so I switched back to using a single point. ; Like I mentioned earlier, I think 10 people in close proximity confused it a little. ;
 
Nikon's 3D tracking relies on color tracking. ; So something like a basketball game would give it fits when players group, as they would be wearing the same jersey colors.

A cardinal through trees - very easy. ; So think about what you are shooting and think if the 3D mode is worth it. ; My experience has been if you have a color contrast available compared to the background, you probably won't miss a shot.


Now I noticed that Canon is using color tracking now as well (if I remember what I read about the new AF).
 
Roger, you mentioned the color tracking when I said I had trouble with the 3D tracking at times with the reining horses. ; After you said that, it made sense as to when the AF had trouble.

Here's an HDR image created from one file. ; This is the same photo above ("Strike Three!") but cropped differently.

 
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