Sports photog goes manual focus

[iamzip]

Really it's both. Granted I don't have high end dSLR gear, but neither my bodies nor my lenses are geared towards manual focus. I do have the Voightlander 40mm Ultron for Canon, which is manual focus, but I still have a hard time focusing with the crummy focusing screen I have.

Its not really the lenses that make manual focus difficult its the focusing screens which make everything appear in focus, I changed the screen on my 5d for that very reason. Also if you have the camera setup up for back button focusing you can tweak the focus at anytime helpful if you are shooting through glass or a fence etc.

 

[alienmeatsack]

I've always envied those who photographed sports for a living. As a photographer, I know how much work is involved in keeping up with the action, tracking the motion, keeping your focus just so, using the right depth of field to create the look and feel you are going for and so on.

I remember watching a video online about a US football photographer who used a monopod and some HUGE moster body and lens combo and his movements and actions just seemed effortless. He made managing a monster of a camera and capturing these fast paced unpredictable sporting events seem like it was nothing.

I still struggle with motion and movement as I am a very slow focuser. I tend to close the aperture down a bit for more zone focus and get focus approximate and just shoot and even then it's tough.

 

[newsgrunt]

THE BEST sports photographers can follow focus like it's no big thing. It's another lost skill/art. Again, maybe it's because the photographer's never shot in such conditions before that they felt compelled to blog about it (fine I guess)…I know most wouldn't as it would just be another day at the office. ymmv

and afaik, most lenses have clutches so you can just go manual whenever you feel like it. You CAN flip the switch to manual but you can also just grab that collar and turn it…

 

[shadowfox]

Good photographers are thinking photographers.

Continuously thinking, that is.

 

[Nokton48]

I photograph sports (and birds) with my 400mm F5.6 Apo MD Rokkor-X. And also a Hasselblad 500C/M with a 350mm F5.6 Tele-Tessar.

It's a challenge, but it's do-able.

 

[DominikDUK]

The photographs on his blog are some of the most beautiful sport pictures I've seen in a long time.

The space shuttle comment might be a little over the top but as he said he has never used the MF function before so it probably was a little scary for him thoughts along the line of will I get the shot, can I focus fast enough, will the shots be in focus , ran trough his head and caused stress. Just like a space shuttle pilot (who trained manual flying in a modified Gulfstream) who has never done any manual flying will think about the possible problems that might arise by handflying the flying brick. Both are under stress so the analogy is not that wrong one might lose his life the other his livelihood.

 

[rwintle]

I have a great deal of respect for anyone who follows fast-moving, unpredictable sports with manual focus. But as everyone else has noted, this is nothing new. I never shoot field sports but do photograph a ton of race cars... often through trackside foliage and occasionally in the rain. MF is a must under those conditions too. Cars admittedly usually move much more predictably than humans playing field sports.

Never shot racing in the snow yet. I need to get to some rallies, or maybe ice racing. 🙂

His football photos really are stunning - which is all that really counts in the end.

 

[Pioneer]

He did a great job. Those are some very nice pictures.

That is what counts.

 

[Nokton48]

The photographs on his blog are some of the most beautiful sport pictures I've seen in a long time.

I agree! 😀