Help and some tips

Hi all,

My friend told me that there will be some matches in Rugby and asked me if i want to come to photograph, i told him i will think as it will be little far away to my area but i can go there if i try earlier.
Still i am thinking to go or not, as it is a real test in sports and then i have to try my best to get good experience for second time shooting sports.
So my questions are: i have 1Dmk2N best camera for sports, i don't have better glass for sports, will 70-200 f2.8L IS will be good for a try? and what about 100-400L? both are zoom but 100-400 for reach better but slower and maybe IQ is not same as 70-200 or primes like 300 or 400, 70-200 faster but reach is not enough, and to use TC will slower the AF speed and maybe lower IQ as well, just i hope my friend can lending me his 300 f4L IS as he told me he might not attend and he like to use 70-200 more than prime, so if he didn't give me his 300mm then all what i can use is 70-200L or 100-400L.
and what about the best place for shooting? i don't know where my location will be in the stadium an i hope i can be so close to sidelines but i can't wish on that much.
Any tips or recommendations?
about speed i will use high speed as much i can and so i have to use higher ISO as i saw on many sports shots depending on lights conditions, I will take monopod rather than tripod, anything more?

I'll deal with this in 2 parts, equipment and shooting strategy.

Where to stand....there are probably 2 primary positions for this - the first is by the dead ball line at the end of the pitch, about halfway between the posts and the touchline. It gives a good opportunity to cover the action coming towards you, as well as a good view of the tryline so you can capture the try scoring moments. You do need to be a little patient though and resist the urge to shoot things that are too far away though.

The other place to stand, if you can get on the sidelines is on or near the 22 metre line. This allows you to cover a little more of the midfield area too. Either can work - try both if you can and see what you prefer.

Assuming that you are shooting in daylight then equipment wise, I think you would be ok with the 100-400 on the 1d. Ok, it possibly focusses a little more slowly than other lenses (I have no experience of this lens so anyone please feel free to correct me at this point!), however looking at some of the motorsport images that come up on here that are shot with it then I suspect that you will have no problem with the focussing on it. On the 1.3x crop of the 1d it will give you good coverage and mean that you probably can get away with just taking 1 camera body with you.

An alternative would be the 70-200 with the 1.4 tc on it. That would effectively give you around a 100-300 F4 lens. Might not give you as much coverage further away, however will give you a little more speed. Choice is yours, might be worth taking both and seeing which works for you.

Lineouts and scrums are quite good opportunities to get some good images as the action is fairly static and of course and big tackles are always good picture opportunities. One of the favourite images I have seen for a while from rugby is the first one in this post :

http://www.photography​-on-the.net …?t=225296&highl​ight=rugby

Personally for my rugby coverage I will use a 300 2.8 with a 1.4tc on one camera and a 70-200 on another. Gives the best of both worlds. I sit at the end of the pitch on the dead ball line for a large part of the game, however depending on how the team I am shooting are doing, I will sometimes move onto the sidelines and move with the action.This does tend to be when they aren't playing well and are spending prolonged periods of the game in their own half.

Rugby is a fun sport to photograph and I find it the easiest of the sports to follow and predict where the action is going to take place. Then again, I did play rugby for about 18 years until this year so have a better understanding of how a side will play than I do for other sports.

Thank you very much, Paul.
I will carry 70-200 and 100-400 with 2 cameras i have (1D2N & 30D) and i will see what i can do.
i hope my friend will give me his lens if he will not use it, but i don't know if i add 1.4x then the aperture will be 5.6 if it is good for DOF, otherwise i will depend on 100-400 and 70-200+1.4x, i hope to stand in a right place.

Still i am not deciding to go yet, but sure i will remember your recommendations.
I will look on google for the pitch deminsions and i want to see where are those places you told me about as you know i am not that good in English.

Thank you again and please keep guiding me, I am your student now (but still not smart student yet).

The 22 metre line is about a quarter of the way down the pitch from the try line......

Personally if its your first time shooting rugby, stick with the 100-400 - it will give you all the versatility that you need, and the range of focal lengths mean that you will be able to concentrate on the action in front of you, rather than worrying about swapping bodies over. Keep things simple to start with and your pictures will benefit from it.

Tall_Paul_2000 wrote in post #2331482
The 22 metre line is about a quarter of the way down the pitch from the try line......

Personally if its your first time shooting rugby, stick with the 100-400 - it will give you all the versatility that you need, and the range of focal lengths mean that you will be able to concentrate on the action in front of you, rather than worrying about swapping bodies over. Keep things simple to start with and your pictures will benefit from it.

Thank you very much
I was trying my 100-400L on my 1D, seems fast but not sure how much fast for sports, but it is not keep f4.5 when zooming if i need Wider open aperture.
I hope when i higher the ISO it will not be so noisy.
Question: what metering mode should i try? and what mode i should try? Av priority or Tv priority? I love Manual

400mm at 5.6, if you are shooting down the length of a rugby pitch will be enough to give decent blur of the background.

On the 1d version you have you should be able to put the iso to 1600 comfortably and not be overly affected by noise.

Metering mode is personal preference. Most of the time now I am shooting in Manual, so the metering mode is largely irrelevant. However, if lighting gets tricky I will change from manual back to Av and set evaluative metering. I have always got good results from this - although I know some people who swear by partial metering. Again, try both, see which you prefer.

As for mode, manual is the way forward, however since this is your second time shooting sport and your 1st time with rugby, I would shoot in Av mode - this means you can set your lens to be wide open, and you will automatically get the highest possible shutter speed.

Tall_Paul_2000 wrote in post #2331697
400mm at 5.6, if you are shooting down the length of a rugby pitch will be enough to give decent blur of the background.

On the 1d version you have you should be able to put the iso to 1600 comfortably and not be overly affected by noise.

Metering mode is personal preference. Most of the time now I am shooting in Manual, so the metering mode is largely irrelevant. However, if lighting gets tricky I will change from manual back to Av and set evaluative metering. I have always got good results from this - although I know some people who swear by partial metering. Again, try both, see which you prefer.

As for mode, manual is the way forward, however since this is your second time shooting sport and your 1st time with rugby, I would shoot in Av mode - this means you can set your lens to be wide open, and you will automatically get the highest possible shutter speed.

I checked about the schedule of the matches online and i found that website of Dubai Rugby.
See the Image Gallery, i saw some shots taken with ISO 100, so is it necesary to raise my ISO up just to get higher shutter speed?

http://www.dubairugby7​s.com/gallery_action20​05.asp