- Messages
- 861
- Name
- Tom
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I’m not a sports photographer, but have on occasion shot football and ice hockey for friends and enjoyed it immensely, so said yes when my local grass roots outfit asked if I could do a few things for them on a voluntary basis including cover a few matches. They have a Saturday and Sunday team and I was also due to photograph my local ladies team on Sunday afternoon too, so given I’d be doing 3 matches in 2 days I decided it would be worthwhile renting a lens. Due to a) inexperience and b) wanting to move around and cover a few different angles, I opted for a zoom – the new Sigma 120-300/2.8 Sport – what a beauty.
Body wise I have a D3s and that was my first natural choice being tailor made for fast sports, but decided I’d give my new D750 a whirl to start with. The outcome of that was I didn’t give the D3s a sniff all weekend. 6.5fps seemed more than enough, the AF fast and accurate and I didn’t machine gun enough to kill the buffer. 24mp files vs 12mp gave me some great cropping ability for web size files, which is all the club wanted off me really, as a bonus too.
I initially struggled to get used to the zoom direction, being the Canon way and the opposite to Nikon, and missed a few potentially cracking shots fumbling around, but started to get used to it after 3 games in 2 days. The lens is sharp and fast focusing as well as very well built and most importantly, good looking J. It also struck me this would be a great candidate for a 1.4x making it a great alternative to the £4.9k 200-400/4 @ 168-420/4 for a little over £3k (inc. the new Sigma 1.4). Two lenses in one for nearly £2k less if you like.
I don’t have the Sigma lens dock so left everything on the lens as it came – no customisation for AF speed vs accuracy (which you can do with the dock I understand) and I left the VR function off as I had the lens on a monopod – A bit too heavy to handhold all day. AF range was set to full. This can be set to near to 10m max, 10m and beyond or full range.
Position wise after the 2 days I came to favour behind each goal by the corner flag, shooting into the box and down the wings into oncoming players - or up the wing about level with the 18 yard line – again shooting into the area to get some goal frame in shot and in and around the middle of the pitch for any contested headers from goal kicks and general tackles etc. I generally found myself shooting in all directions though, even right up to the opposite end of the pitch at 300mm. I’d be interested to hear from seasoned football photographers in particular: given just a 120-300 range and the crop-ability of a 24mp file – where would you plonk yourselves for best results and given the freedom of choice and movement?
Here are a few of my shots from the weekend.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Body wise I have a D3s and that was my first natural choice being tailor made for fast sports, but decided I’d give my new D750 a whirl to start with. The outcome of that was I didn’t give the D3s a sniff all weekend. 6.5fps seemed more than enough, the AF fast and accurate and I didn’t machine gun enough to kill the buffer. 24mp files vs 12mp gave me some great cropping ability for web size files, which is all the club wanted off me really, as a bonus too.
I initially struggled to get used to the zoom direction, being the Canon way and the opposite to Nikon, and missed a few potentially cracking shots fumbling around, but started to get used to it after 3 games in 2 days. The lens is sharp and fast focusing as well as very well built and most importantly, good looking J. It also struck me this would be a great candidate for a 1.4x making it a great alternative to the £4.9k 200-400/4 @ 168-420/4 for a little over £3k (inc. the new Sigma 1.4). Two lenses in one for nearly £2k less if you like.
I don’t have the Sigma lens dock so left everything on the lens as it came – no customisation for AF speed vs accuracy (which you can do with the dock I understand) and I left the VR function off as I had the lens on a monopod – A bit too heavy to handhold all day. AF range was set to full. This can be set to near to 10m max, 10m and beyond or full range.
Position wise after the 2 days I came to favour behind each goal by the corner flag, shooting into the box and down the wings into oncoming players - or up the wing about level with the 18 yard line – again shooting into the area to get some goal frame in shot and in and around the middle of the pitch for any contested headers from goal kicks and general tackles etc. I generally found myself shooting in all directions though, even right up to the opposite end of the pitch at 300mm. I’d be interested to hear from seasoned football photographers in particular: given just a 120-300 range and the crop-ability of a 24mp file – where would you plonk yourselves for best results and given the freedom of choice and movement?
Here are a few of my shots from the weekend.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.