10 FPS at the Yankee Game

[RobNYC]

I do have to say that, testing my new 1DmkIII at the Yankee game, I was thoroughly impressed with the 10 fps speed. Here is a single series from the Yankee game last night... keep in mind I was shooting through the backstop.

http://images42.fotki.com/v1320/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080723-vi.jpg

http://images41.fotki.com/v1306/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080724-vi.jpg

http://images38.fotki.com/v1271/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080725-vi.jpg

http://images38.fotki.com/v1272/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080726-vi.jpg

http://images38.fotki.com/v1277/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080727-vi.jpg

http://images39.fotki.com/v1287/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080728-vi.jpg

http://images43.fotki.com/v1328/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080729-vi.jpg

http://images40.fotki.com/v1302/photos/1/1362510/6695179/YankeesvsDevilRays913080730-vi.jpg

[RDHPhotography]

Very cool.

Love how you can see the movement of the ball throughout the pitch.

[Peter Ho]

Cool. All the action at the press of a button.

[curzio]

Thats a great series of pics. I watched that guy pitch. I'm always fascinated by those side arm pitchers. Their drop their arms so much throughout their motion - it amazes me they can still deliver the ball so accurately.
Nice shots!

[RobNYC]

Agreed Curzio. When you look at the pics and how low this guy gets it makes you wonder how he doesn't fall straight over lol

[disneydork06]

wow

[vreeke]

analysing movements is a special kind of photographing, i like it, so all interesting movements about people or anymals are about 2 seconds, like this example
i do not understand the need for so much burst capacity, by 10 fps is 20/30 burst max quality RAW all we need

[nicksan]

I like it. Looks like the MKIII came through in spades!

[Livinthalife]

Looks like a slow ball, but we all know it's because of a terribly fast camera! lol

[mike ca]

great series of compositions Its hard shooting through the net! nice work! This year is killing me they just can't hit.... Thanks for sharing

[RobNYC]

+1 on the net and the hitting. The seats were unbelievable and I got all the lenses in... the net was a real killer though!

[dekalbSTEEL]

http://gickr.com/results4/anim_e215d580-26ad-15c4-5178-d912f9a6583e.gif

[RobNYC]

Wicked! lol

[JasonW]

Nice tail.... pitty it was outside...

[ceriltheblade]

nice!
i would have loved to have seen a puff of "smoke" come out of the catchers mit! :D
weird biodynamics on the side arm pitch. I wonder if they have different shoulder problems.....

[canonnoob]

I just dont likethat you werent focused on the pitcher... but other than that it was good!

[nicksan]

Hey, give him a break. Derek Jeter was the batter!:D;)

I just dont likethat you werent focused on the pitcher... but other than that it was good!

[canonnoob]

lol.... you would say that.... lol

[RobNYC]

But it is true. Derek Jeter was the focus here. :)
I put up the whole series just to highlight the speed.

[dmwierz]

Since we're having a discussion, here's my opinion, FWIW: burst sequences like this are kinda neat, and make people go "Oooh, that camera takes a lot of shots very fast!", but beyond that, entire bursts of 3,4 or even TEN shots rarely work for me. If you want to shoot video, shoot video.

And, I get no feeling for the speed of the pitch from this series - sorry, but I don't. There is no time reference whatsoever, so I have no idea how long it took for the sequence to transpire. All I see is somebody throwing a ball at a batter, with most of the action out of focus, and the batter not doing anything other than leaning over to take the pitch. How does that convey speed?

IMO, a much better image would be a well-timed, well-focused shot of Bradford as he just releases the ball. Again, IMO, even the batter/catcher/ump shouldn't be in the frame as they aren't DOING anything other than watching the ball. In fact, Jeter didn't even swing at the pitch in this series so he and the ump and the catcher are not involved in this sequence other than the catcher receiving the pitch (which is blocked, of course, by his body).

Go here to see what is, IMO, a better shot of Bradford highlighting his unique delivery, and focusing, literally, on him:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3578138

And here's a shot of him taken while he was pitching for the O's by a guy I know (who wishes he had been behind the plate on this shot so he could have gotten Bradford's face in the image):
http://www.pbase.com/image/103305748.jpg
Focal Length 400 mm
Exposure Time 1/4000 sec
Aperture f/4
ISO Equivalent 400

The objective of shooting action image in sports is to capture peak action, and in the course of a pitcher delivering the ball to home, this is usually at the moment of ball release - or in Bradford's case, when his hand is closest to the ground since this is the "WOW!" moment. Like many things, burst shooting the pitch sequence rarely catches this very brief instant - timing is what gets it.

[tmcman]

Fascinating.
Thanks for sharing.

[RobNYC]

DM... notice the name of the original post and the point of the message though. I was simply showing what the mkIII was capable of capturing. It was not the speed of the pitch it was the speed of the camera. I never intended this series to be or to convey anything amazing other than that. I took around 800 shots at the game and many of the other shots are focused on the pitcher, particularly when it was Joba or Mariano. I was quite satisfied with the other shots.

Aside from that, it was my first day shooting with the mkIII and I was shooting through the backstop. Shooting through the backstop plays havoc on the AF so I had to manual focus. And I had to do all this very delicately so that the extended 100-400L didn't knock out the person sitting in front of me. :)