1st Basketball shoot with MKIIn

[rrpruett]

Well I just got back from my 1st shot with a new 1D MKIIn at my 13 year old sons basketball game. I got the camera yesterday and read some of the manual last night and charged the battery. Shot today’s game with the 85 f/1.8 in a gym that has poor lighting. Changed ISO a few times during the game just to see what I would get. Used AWB the entire time. I liked the way the MKII handled and it felt very good in my hands. Still a big learning curve going from the 20D with all the controls but for only the first shoot it was not that bad. I did the basic set up today prior to game time and set the CF’s to what I thought would be a good starting point. I still have a lot to learn both for shooting basketball with the 85 f/1.8 and now the MKIIn. The weight of the MK was not as bad as I was expecting about a 1lb or so more then the 20D with grip and 2 batteries.

I did get a lot of soft shots today but that was due to pilot error as I found myself making a lot of mistakes on focus selection and moving when taking the shot. I reviewed all my shots at home with the new ZoomBrowser software package with the show auto focus points selected. I liked this browser a lot for viewing camera settings and focus point selection. I did notice on some pictures that there were no focus points lit up. I do not know the reason for this. If you know why this would be, please let me know. Also I set the cf/20 AI servo tracking sensitivity to 2 (Moderate Slow) I do not know if this is the best option for Basketball but after reading some post here on this subject I thought I would give it a try. If anyone has any recommendations on this setting for Basketball please let me know. I still need to finish reading the manual a few more times to see what all this baby can do. I shot most of the game on Low speed continuous at 3 fps I did put it in overdrive once just to see what it would do “Boy is it fast”. One little push of the shutter and I got a burst that was blazing fast. I need to work on my finger control more for this camera. It is not like the 20D on response time and the force required to actuate the shutter seemed like a lot less.

Here are three shots from the game. All shots are at f/1.8, AWB, 85mm, AE mode. Center focus point.
First shot ISO 1600 1/400
Second shot ISO 1600 1/250
Third shot ISO 640 1/200

Thanks for looking.

[rrpruett]

Last Shot

Third shot ISO 640 1/200

[pyterps]

Man....I can't wait to be in your shoes. I should have my MKII N within a couple of months. I like shots you posted and think the composition is good.

Dave

[rrpruett]

pyterps,

Thanks for the comments. I need to go shoot some more this weekend. We are in a tournament next week so I would like to get better at driving this thing before then.

[cking2]

Hey Rick,
Wish me luck tomorrow I am taking my new camera (M II n also) out to my sons BB game. Its been a real trip trying to learn the controls these last few days. When I first got the thing I couldn't even navigate the menu system. I was so used to the 10D,20D,5D style. I have a little better gym to shoot in....has fairly good light.

Your Photo's capture the action of the game well......just keep shooting.

Rick (also)

[dandan]

ahh, the power of 8fps..

[liza]

God, I want that camera.

[carsanbballs]

God, I want that camera.
The 8.5 FPS makes it worth it, you'll get all the in between shots your now missing.

rrpruett - Did you get in on the "deal"? Are you shooting raw?

[rrpruett]

Yes on the deal and No on the RAW. I may shoot RAW on the next shoot but normally I do not shoot RAW for my sports stuff.

[cking2]

God, I want that camera.

Liza,
I traded off my 5D just to get the Mark II N I couldn't afford to keep both the N & 5D and my wife....so I kept her:). The M2 N is a great camera, but the Menu layout and operation leaves a little to be desired in comparison to the D series<INHO>. Probably get killed for that comment, but the Menu's a really different. I almost took my 20D because of the Menu system and I was at the eye doctor yesterday and found out I need Bi-focal lens in my glasses:evil:

I just got back from shooting my sons Basketball game and I am going to dump the raw stuff into photoshop now.

Rick

[carsanbballs]

Yes on the deal and No on the RAW. I may shoot RAW on the next shoot but normally I do not shoot RAW for my sports stuff.

I never shot raw until I took the D-65 workshop, now that's all I shoot.
If I was shooting for a deadline I might shoot raw and jpg's at the same time.
Having been able to recover useable shots in raw is the reason I use it 100% of the time. I also always (when not using a flash) shoot in Highspeed continuous mode, once you get use to using it you'll be able to shoot single or 22 frames by feel. A friend mine just got his "N" and I'm sure he sleeps with it. LOL

[rrpruett]

I will shoot RAW next weekend since I just got a new 1GB SD card to go along with the 1GB CF card in the 1D. I thought I read that you could put the RAW files on one card and the JPEG in another but I reread the manual last night and I did not see an option to put the files in different places. I seen where you could do a back-up to another card but not sort by JPEG and RAW. Am I missing something?

[carsanbballs]

<snip> I thought I read that you could put the RAW files on one card and the JPEG in another but I reread the manual last night and I did not see an option to put the files in different places. I seen where you could do a back-up to another card but not sort by JPEG and RAW.<snip>

Page 73 and top of page 74 of the manual.

[rrpruett]

Thanks for the info. I looked it up and that is what I needed. I do not know why I did not see this before I must be on MKII brain overload.

I have been reading stuff all weekend on the focus system and other info on some different sites. Lots of options and settings on the AF system.

[Exit]

Hmm...keep practicing.

[rrpruett]

I shot another Basketball game tonight (High School) and things went a lot better. After reading a lot of the recommendations both here and on some other forums. I also found some great articles by Chuck Westfall and others on the subject, I now have a better understanding of what is going on. Notice I said a better understanding not a full understanding, because there is a LOT going on in the AF system. Anyway I got a lot more in focus shots and had a lot more fun.

There are a lot of options as compared to my 20D. I took along the 20D and shot with the 70-200 and used the MKII with an 85mm f/1.8. I also found it a lot easier to shoot with the 85mm on the MKII due to the 1.3X vs. the 1.6X crop factor. When I shot with the 85mm on the 20D I had a lot of problems getting far enough away from the action to frame the shot. With the MKII it is a lot easier.

Here are a four shots from tonight with the 85mm.

[rrpruett]

2 more.

Thanks for looking.

[Diminished29]

You did get a lot better in my opinion, the #2 and #4 look nice and sharp. You also look like you got a handle at shooting the action better, looks like this time you we're able to spend more time shooting the game instead of adjusting your camera.

Great job keep on shooting! Now if only I had the money right now for that 20D I've been wanting, oh well, I guess I'm lucky to have a camera at all right now seeing as my A610 saw the wrong side of the floor last night and I got an E18 error from it, but hey, nothing a few whacks couldn't take care of. :lol:

[carsanbballs]

Shot #4 is outstanding (IMHO) the ball, the basket, two faces and both numbers in a sharp action shot!
How did Highland do against Garces?
Do get to shoot many High School games in the Valley?

http://www.corvettefan.net/web4copy.jpg
I might of cropped out some of the background.

[liza]

Oh, these are much better! You did a great job, and your timing is quite good.

[rrpruett]

Thanks for the comments.
Carsandbbals: Garces lost but it was a good game. Had a chance to come back but Highland was too tuff.
I have not bee shooting a lot of Basketball but shot football every firday night through out the entire season. My son goes to Garces so I do most of my shooting there.
thanks

[rrpruett]

One other comment: After posting these last night I downloaded my 20D that I shot with the 70-200. 98% of the shots were in focus and turned out great. I dont know if it was the camera or the lens that made the difference but the in focus shots were a greater %. I am curious if anyone else has seen this with the 85 vs the 70-200. I did not change the 70-200 over to the MKII and check to see if this made a difference but I will this weekend. It may be that I mainly used the 70-200 to shoot the other end of the floor and not everything was close up. Any comments on this would be appreciated.