World Juniors Hockey from the Toronto ACC

Decided last minute to take my son to see Sweden vs Russia last night at the 2014 World Juniors Hockey tournament in Toronto at the Air Canada Center (home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors). As you may know, you cannot enter as a non-pro with anything looking like a pro setup - I tried and made it through with a non-gripped 7D2 and a 135L without a lens hood.

We got the seats last minute and they were very good - unfortunately they were too good (row 7 at center ice) and that meant that I was shooting almost always through the top edge of the glass right in the middle of the pictures with a glass divider often getting in the middle of a picture (note to self - row 12-15 would have been perfect).

What a difference good light makes versus my usual horrible arenas were my son plays.

Settings were:
- 7D2
- ISO 1000
- 1/1600 SS
- wide open @ F 2 (135L)
- WB = Kelvin 3750

It was a great game - but the special treat was the star player for Sweden (#21 Nylander) is the Toronto Maples Leafs' 1st round draft pick from last year and everyone in the filled to capacity stadium (17,000) knew who he was and he played a great game - pretty crazy to be 18yrs old, travel to a foreign country, and play in the city that drafted you and everyone is cheering for you - he set up the last two goals and went end to end for the game winner getting an assist.

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Great shots. I am a full time hockey dad as well. I just got my 7D mii and have not got to try it out at a game yet. One question with all the focus talk/issues what were your settings related to focus? Thanks for sharing.

good looking shots...

MAYBE, 1/2 to 1 stop over exposed even. i dont have a calibrated anything so take that with a grain of salt...

Interesting comment as I added 0.75 of a stop in exposure but dramatically took down the highlights in LR to keep the ice from blowing out (playing moving the dials god). Starting to think my Macbook Pro may not be giving me an image that others aren't seeing.

I do like the brighter look at an arena but the comments are starting to add up that 'maybe' my monitor is out or I just like a very different look than others on ice.

Thanks.

They look good. Surprised that a 135mm is long enough.

kenwood33 wrote in post #17358269
They look good. Surprised that a 135mm is long enough.

All the pictures are cropped to some extent.

Because we were so close to the ice, literally behind the bench at center, a 135mm on a Crop 7D2 is about the perfect lens. I have a lot of experience as a coach on a bench this year with a camera and if you are mid rink, and rink side, that is about the longest lens you can use because it is almost / it is / too long when players are mid ice and maybe you can use more when they are 100 feet away (half a rink) but not much - it is different on a full frame for sure.

I also have the 200 F2.8 that I was thinking about taking and / or the 1.4x but as I have experience with a camera on a bench I knew it would be too much - if I was higher or in a corner I might have either brought the 200 f2.8 or the 100 f2.8 (and just tired to shoot in one end).

These black primes (100, 135 & 200s) are great hidden pro sports lens (especially with no hoods) - and I think the 135 @F2, also slightly shorter than the 200, basically is perfect as it is only the red ring that kind of raises a flag but most normal people don't know what it is.

On the above note, this is why I have started using my 5D3 again when I got the new 100-400L II as it is too long on the Cropped 7D2 (ring side) - the 70-200 works much better on the 7D2.

Big Jake wrote in post #17358188
Great shots. I am a full time hockey dad as well. I just got my 7D mii and have not got to try it out at a game yet. One question with all the focus talk/issues what were your settings related to focus? Thanks for sharing.

I have set up the camera as follows for hockey:

1) AI Servo with Case 2 - modified (tracking -2, accel 1, auto switching 0) - this means 1 less on tracking, 1 more on accel
2) Back Button Focus enabled with front disabled
3) Either Spot or Expanded 4 Point
4) 1st and 2nd Shot Focus Priority

Since I try and fill the lens, almost always with the 70-200 II, I'm mostly on expanded 4pt and I find the player who I want - and then grab focus whenever another player is NOT around so I make sure I have them (pre focus whenever possible and again if they move) and then fire a mini burst when the action hits.

If the play is coming right at me and fast (lets say out of the corner towards the bench), you will get about 70% hit rate with your thumb constantly on back button focus and a 1/1000 shutter speed at F2.8 and @ 70mm. If I was only doing this crazy coming right at me stuff (which is very unusual as I am semi hanging over the boards) then I would almost certainly increase accel to 2.

Most of my pictures when I'm on the bench seem to be from 50 to 130 feet - and at F2.8 between 70 and 140mm on the 7D2 - this gives plenty of DoF to not just grab the player but any player that enters the field of view.

Finally, I think you really have to be using Back Button focus to increase your hit rate - and then little things like pre focusing.

A lot of times I forget and just leave the camera on AWB and then change it if required in Lightroom - but using Kelvin and figuring it out before the game begins is a good idea.

If the light is brutal, and it is in many hockey arenas, I would suggest not trying to stop the action with pro-level shutter speeds (1/1000 - 1/1600) and lowering the shutter to 1/640 and try and go for shots that don't involve trying to stop the puck mid air from a slap shot.

My basic programmed C1 default setting are (1/1000, ISO 3200, F2.8, Highspeed Shutter, Raw + Raw, AWB). During the warmup a fire a few to see what I have. With all the white out there, it should show up at least 1 full stop over exposed / maybe 1.5 - I often then add another 1/2 stop in Lightroom.

I have begun to take down the highlights (often significantly) in Lightroom after raising the exposure to try and keep 'some' definition in the ice.

At 3200 ISO, or 4000 to 6400 if required, you need to use NR, Sharpening and Masking to clean up the image.

If you care about the spectators behind the glass, I have found that Contrast can have a significant effect on the transparency of the glass - you have to be careful here as it starts to have a dramatic effect on the overall image - I use it when I have a parent from the team in the scene that helps 'make' the image.

If you need more hockey stuff send me a PM.


Paul

Thank you very much for all the info and the offer to share. Have a great New Year

Big Jake wrote in post #17358918
Thank you very much for all the info and the offer to share. Have a great New Year

anytime

Paul

wallstreetoneil wrote in post #17358759
...literally behind the bench at center, a 135mm on a Crop 7D2 is about the perfect lens...

when i shot hockey with my 7D and 70-200 i found that most of my shots were indeed made at 130-135mm focal length unless i wanted some shots of one specific person or expression...

its nice having the .6 additional "reach"...