Track and field on my new EF300 f/2.8 (Headly RITCA meet)

SirGeorge

Here are a few shots taken at the Headley RITCA high school girls track and field meet. I was trying out my new EF300 f/2.8 ( on an EOS 7D) while shooting the meet commercially - testing it in anger. Lighting forced me to shoot at ISO6400, with a few shots at 5000. The IQ is excellent.

I own 4 other L series lenses including the 70mm-200mm f/2.8 but the 300mm is simply in a world of its own ( I know it is expensive which is why it has taken me so long to belly up to the bar and buy one) . The shallow DOF and rapid focus allows you to do some really cool stuff, in bulk!

These images have not been cropped but have been batch PP to remove noise via Neat Image - batch them up, hit return and go to bed

rainbow

Looks like a dynamite combination of lens and body! Worth every penny... (or thousand ).

Looks like the focus is nailed with beautiful bokeh. And your experience/skills shows you know where to take the shots from.

Thanks for posting.

Erbeman

The only thing I would do differently is give them some color in PP. They're a bit flat looking. I'm sure NN was a bit to blame for that.

SirGeorge

Just no light to begin with!
Thax.

The problem is that this was a very dull gym with no light, hence ISO6400 and I shot thousands of images and for these meets it is simply not cost effective to put too much PP into the project. NI greatly improves overall IQ. I am sure I could had touch these to improve them but they are simply part of a very large batch.

this is a dilemma that I face but given that no parent can get any results with their camera gear because it is such a dark gym, my shots are viewed favorably but if anyone has any ideas how to batch process these to perk them up without having to put anytime into checking each image...I'm all ears.

I shoot any wheter between 1500 to 6000 shots per event so ideas of effectively batch processing beyond what I currently do ( Droplet action from lightroom to remove noise, adjust leves and USM) would be welcomed.

George.

Erbeman wrote:

The only thing I would do differently is give them some color in PP. They're a bit flat looking. I'm sure NN was a bit to blame for that.

Erbeman

SirGeorge wrote:

Thax.

The problem is that this was a very dull gym with no light, hence ISO6400 and I shot thousands of images and for these meets it is simply not cost effective to put too much PP into the project. NI greatly improves overall IQ. I am sure I could had touch these to improve them but they are simply part of a very large batch.

this is a dilemma that I face but given that no parent can get any results with their camera gear because it is such a dark gym, my shots are viewed favorably but if anyone has any ideas how to batch process these to perk them up without having to put anytime into checking each image...I'm all ears.

I shoot any wheter between 1500 to 6000 shots per event so ideas of effectively batch processing beyond what I currently do ( Droplet action from lightroom to remove noise, adjust leves and USM) would be welcomed.

George.

You could easily create a photoshop action to bump saturation and whatever else you would like to do to your pics then ran a batch process to the whole folder. My laptop is sitting next to me right now doing a batch process on 700 keepers that I have from An arenacross that I shot this weekend. It takes about 2 seconds per image to do. Do you know how to do that? If so, you should give it a try. If not, I'll teach you.

Ann McRae

How are you liking the focus modes on the 7D? It has taken me quite a while to sort out how to get good focus indoors (soccer - 70-200f2.8IS or 135f2), including the realization that bumping ISO alot helps alot.

Have found a focus method that is giving me the nice sharp shots I had hoped for but I still end up with missed focus, usually on the player or wall behind.

If you are willing, I would love to know what settings you find success with.

ann

SirGeorge

Thank you
Thanks for the offer, it's very kind of you but I have a photo restoration business and live on photoshop - I simply do not like making color adjustments en masse, especially as there are significant lighting variations in the gym.

Erbeman wrote:

You could easily create a photoshop action to bump saturation and whatever else you would like to do to your pics then ran a batch process to the whole folder. My laptop is sitting next to me right now doing a batch process on 700 keepers that I have from An arenacross that I shot this weekend. It takes about 2 seconds per image to do. Do you know how to do that? If so, you should give it a try. If not, I'll teach you.

SirGeorge

Fine tuning an EOS 7D
Hi Ann,
I was not very happy with the performance of my camera with both the lenses you list during my first couple of outings shooting in the ISO3200 to 5,000 range. Then I shot a meet in a cave, at ISO12,800 using the 70-200mm f/2.8 and had much better luck when I switched to expanded AF mode, and the shots in this post used expanded AF.. I am still trying to find the optimum settings because the camera does not seem to be able to hold razor sharp focus on continuous shooting.

It appears that this camera needs to be fine tuned (which is nuts)

What are your C.FNIII settings?

George.

Ann McRae wrote:

How are you liking the focus modes on the 7D? It has taken me quite a while to sort out how to get good focus indoors (soccer - 70-200f2.8IS or 135f2), including the realization that bumping ISO alot helps alot.

Have found a focus method that is giving me the nice sharp shots I had hoped for but I still end up with missed focus, usually on the player or wall behind.

If you are willing, I would love to know what settings you find success with.

ann

Ann McRae

Hi

CFn 3 1: mid way between the middle and high
Cfn 3 6 set to enable 3 of the 6 settings
CFn 3 9 set to enable


All others set to 0 at the moment

The big change I made was to choose zone auto focus, rather than the full 19 pts. As well, using low speed burst instead of high speed seems to make a difference.

Thanks for any tips,

ann

PS - do you have Lightroom? Batch edits in no time flat!

SirGeorge wrote:

Hi Ann,
I was not very happy with the performance of my camera with both the lenses you list during my first couple of outings shooting in the ISO3200 to 5,000 range. Then I shot a meet in a cave, at ISO12,800 using the 70-200mm f/2.8 and had much better luck when I switched to expanded AF mode, and the shots in this post used expanded AF.. I am still trying to find the optimum settings because the camera does not seem to be able to hold razor sharp focus on continuous shooting.

It appears that this camera needs to be fine tuned (which is nuts)

What are your C.FNIII settings?

George.

ian408

That 300 is a great lens. The combination seems to be working for you.

I'm with Russ on the flat look. A little bump would really help #2--love the intensity on the athletes face.

SirGeorge

C.FNIII settings for EOS 7D
HI Ann,
The major difference in the C.FNIII 3 setting - I have mine set to continuous mode (Setting 1).

I have the tracking speed set to high but I am playing with that.

Also, I use expanded AF - it performs much better that any o=f the zone settings.


Check out this tutorial video http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ChristopherKblog#p/u/14/iBExH5wgoVY

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi

CFn 3 1: mid way between the middle and high
Cfn 3 6 set to enable 3 of the 6 settings
CFn 3 9 set to enable


All others set to 0 at the moment

The big change I made was to choose zone auto focus, rather than the full 19 pts. As well, using low speed burst instead of high speed seems to make a difference.

Thanks for any tips,

ann

PS - do you have Lightroom? Batch edits in no time flat!

Ann McRae

Thanks - brilliant video. Really helpful!

SirGeorge wrote:

HI Ann,
The major difference in the C.FNIII 3 setting - I have mine set to continuous mode (Setting 1).

I have the tracking speed set to high but I am playing with that.

Also, I use expanded AF - it performs much better that any o=f the zone settings.


Check out this tutorial video http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ChristopherKblog#p/u/14/iBExH5wgoVY