Valpo Men's Basketball w/ the 5D Mark II

ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
edited December 16, 2008 in Sports
I don't know if my 40D will come out next game, I guess not. Higher frames per second is fun, but higher ISO that is clean, kicks butt on that any day of the week.

The 5D2 worked like a CHAMP last night at the basketball games I photographed. I shot with it on ISO 4,000 at 1/800 f2.8 w/ my 70-200 f2.8/L IS USM. I put it in center point AI servo for focus, and enabled the AF expansion in custom settings so that the 6 helper points will work during AI server center point focus. See below for examples. PS- since Lightroom won't open the RAW's, I shot RAW + JPG, and the files you see below are from the JPGs which were barely touched at all. For the most part the shots were great straight from the camera!

1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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More are here: http://photos.cathoffman.com/gallery/6803313_pRKBY

Comments and feedback welcomed as usual!

Comments

  • donekdonek Registered Users Posts: 655 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Nicely done. Faces in every shot.
    Sean Martin
    www.seanmartinphoto.com

    __________________________________________________
    it's not the size of the lens that matters... It's how you focus it.

    aaaaa.... who am I kidding!

    whoever dies with the biggest coolest piece of glass, wins!
  • DblDbl Registered Users Posts: 230 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Both your equipment and you have come a long way since last seson. Nice work Shima!:D
    Dan

    Canon Gear
  • TravisTravis Registered Users Posts: 1,472 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    You are kicking booootttaaaayyyyy on the bb shots now. As far as iso.. are we far from being able to capture clean shots in pitch black at 1/2000 sec? rolleyes1.gif
  • johngjohng Registered Users Posts: 1,658 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Dbl wrote:
    Both your equipment and you have come a long way since last seson. Nice work Shima!:D

    I agree. Vast improvement in only one year. Very well done.
  • SwartzySwartzy Registered Users Posts: 3,293 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Yes...nice shots indeed. That camera looks very impressive as well. Nice.
    Swartzy:
    NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
    Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
    www.daveswartz.com
    Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
  • aktseaktse Registered Users Posts: 1,928 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Much improvement over the past year! thumb.gifthumbthumb.gifthumb

    Great photos!
  • zack75144zack75144 Registered Users Posts: 261 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Great job, Cat!thumb.gif
    Zack www.zackjonesphotography.net
    EOS 7D, Zeiss 50mm f/1.4, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, EF 135mm f/2L, EF 200mm f/2.8L II, EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, EF 1.4 Ext II, 430EX, ST-E2, Tamrac Velocity 10X & Expeditioner 7 Bags.
  • ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Travis wrote:
    You are kicking booootttaaaayyyyy on the bb shots now. As far as iso.. are we far from being able to capture clean shots in pitch black at 1/2000 sec? rolleyes1.gif

    Thanks for the feedback everyone!

    I don't know about 1/2000th but I do know about 1/200, and no in pitch dark it won't be clean, but it's still amazing I could actually focus in and take the shot regardless. The shot below was taken during the black out when they only put the spotlight on to announce the starting line up. 1/200 f2.8 ISO 25,600 (the highest the 5D2 will go). Taken from the other side of the court. As you can see, rather noisy, but hey, I got a shot in the dark, cool!

    434696229_4ZSQR-M.jpg
  • darkdragondarkdragon Registered Users Posts: 1,051 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2008
    Those are amazing shots. Do you think you'll sell the 40D sometime soon and get another 5D as backup?

    All the shots are really impressive and even that last one you posted would look good in a newpaper in b/w and I bet Nobody else there was able to anything in that lighting. thumb.gif
    ~ Lisa
  • dbaker1221dbaker1221 Registered Users Posts: 4,482 Major grins
    edited December 14, 2008
    awsome set..clap.gifclap.gif
    **If I keep shooting, I'm bound to hit something**
    Dave
  • clemensphoto'sclemensphoto's Registered Users Posts: 647 Major grins
    edited December 14, 2008
    Great seriesclap.gifclapclap.gif
    Ryan Clemens
    www.clemensphotography.us
    Canon 7D w/BG-E7 Vertical Grip, Canon 50D w/ BG-E2N Vertical Grip, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L USM, Canon 18-55mm, Canon 580EX II Flash and other goodies.
    Ignorance is no excuss, so lets DGrin!
  • tjstridertjstrider Registered Users Posts: 172 Major grins
    edited December 15, 2008
    I was jealous the whole game, as I was sitting next to her.

    It is funny because last year at this time

    She was shooting with XTi and a 70-200 F/4
    and I was an XT and 70-200 F/4

    We come back from december break she has the Sigma 2.8 70-200 and I had gone 70-200 F/2.8L IS

    She was excited to show me her new Sigma and then realized that I had upgraded... It was a funny moment.

    I come to this basketball game (where the pictures are) and she has the Mark 2 ... I was VERY jealous haha!

    I suggested she should post these up here to make people who shoot primarily non-sports but sometimes sports be confident the 5d2's AF would keep up. She was getting LOTS of in-focus % shots... I am using the 30D and it is funny to see the difference. makes me want some Full Frame action on the 70-200...

    yep.. good times
    5D2 + 50D | Canon EF-s 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM | 70-200mm f/2.8L | 50mm 1.8, 580EXII
    http://stridephoto.carbonmade.com
  • wmstummewmstumme Registered Users Posts: 466 Major grins
    edited December 15, 2008
    Really nice work. Interesting thread--as I thought the 5D wasn't really geared for sports. Seems like Cat knows how to make it work!
    Regards

    Will
    ________________________
    www.willspix.smugmug.com
  • ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
    edited December 15, 2008
    darkdragon wrote:
    Those are amazing shots. Do you think you'll sell the 40D sometime soon and get another 5D as backup?

    All the shots are really impressive and even that last one you posted would look good in a newpaper in b/w and I bet Nobody else there was able to anything in that lighting. thumb.gif

    Haven't decided yet, for now I like the idea of having the extra 1.6x reach on the other body... and the possibility of faster FPS if needed... but we'll see where reality takes me. Plus I have no idea if the original 5D focuses this nicely or not in this type of setting. Granted my primary source of photography income in weddings, not sports, so that will likely rule my ultimate decisions. For now though I'm quite happy where I'm at and both are under accidental warranties for like 3-4 years so I can keep both the 40D and 5D2 in good working order no matter what may come.
    wmstumme wrote:
    Really nice work. Interesting thread--as I thought the 5D wasn't really geared for sports. Seems like Cat knows how to make it work!
    That was more or less the point of this exercise. 1) Test the 5D2 out and see if holds up and 2) if it holds up, show other people that yes, it can do sports! (since many have not called it a sports camera).
    tjstrider wrote:
    I suggested she should post these up here to make people who shoot primarily non-sports but sometimes sports be confident the 5d2's AF would keep up. She was getting LOTS of in-focus % shots

    And hence the post :)

    This camera just continues to surprise me with what it's capable of and so I eagerly keep shooting at every opportunity to push it to it's limits!
  • Ann McRaeAnn McRae Registered Users Posts: 4,584 Major grins
    edited December 16, 2008
    Great shots!

    A colleague and I have been discussing the merits of fps vs. clean high iso...... and I don't know what would win!

    I want a 1dMkIIN with the clean high ISO of this 5dMkII. How long do you think I'll have to wait?

    ann
  • ShimaShima Registered Users Posts: 2,547 Major grins
    edited December 16, 2008
    Ann McRae wrote:
    Great shots!

    A colleague and I have been discussing the merits of fps vs. clean high iso...... and I don't know what would win!

    I want a 1dMkIIN with the clean high ISO of this 5dMkII. How long do you think I'll have to wait?

    ann

    I imagine whenever a 1D Mark IV comes out it will have the amazingness that everyone wants... but that no one can afford.
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