Shooting cricket with the Sigma 120-300/2.8 (with a 2xTC)

[mickeyjuice]

G'day all.

First point - 600mm on a 1.6 crop camera is seriously hard work. The focus point slips away really easily - I got plenty of beautiful crisp shots of the crowd on the other side of the ground rather than the batsman or the bowler. (Shot at the WACA during the Twenty20 final between WA & the mighty Bushrangers - the WACA is a BIG ground.)

Anyway, here are some of the shots. You can see the rest, and these ones with a long side of 1600 for better pixel-peeping if you're interested at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickeyjuice/sets/72157603740024956/ Includes bails flying, examples of less-than-stellar framing when people get bowled, etc

I think I should have upped my ISO to 200 and used a faster shutter speed. Ah well, live and learn.

The great man - AB 100% crop. Shot without the 2xTC.


The rest are with the Sigma 2xTC.

My favourite shot of the day - Ronchi stumps Blizzard


Ronchi standing up



Voges hits out



Anyway, just thought I'd put up some examples from my first real outing with it.

[big pix]

........ nice work, you have got to love a long lens............ and someone to carry the gear

[xerubus]

All good shots. The second one stands out for me as the DOF works perfectly!

[Travy]

Nice work

the one with the bails off is my pick, just a pity cant see the ball in it but well done

[mickeyjuice]

........ nice work, you have got to love a long lens............ and someone to carry the gear

If only! Actually, the Sigma isn't too heavy. Well, to carry. No fun to hand-hold - needs a monopod.

All good shots. The second one stands out for me as the DOF works perfectly!

Gotta love the long lens - the DOF gets tiny!

Nice work

the one with the bails off is my pick, just a pity cant see the ball in it but well done

That's one of the problems with stumpings - the ball tends to be hidden in the gloves

Thanks guys - I was pretty happy with my first real attempts with it, and also happy with the lens with a a 2xTC on it.

[gstark]

I think I should have upped my ISO to 200 and used a faster shutter speed.

I don't think so; what do you think would have been the differences in the outcomes? How do you think that might have improved what you have here? Images 3 and 4 might have had the ball more "stopped in flight", but I'm almost inclined to suggest that slightly slower shutter speed might have helped capture a better sense of movement.

The great man - AB 100% crop

I think you have oversharpened this by a nudge. A very small nudge. Look at the line between AB's chin and his shirt, immediately to the left of the microphone. That is not how it should be.

What aperture was this shot at? You are either not in the lens's sweet spot (in which case your ISO comments might be correct) or you're showing perhaps some softness in the lens: I think that this is evident around AB's eyes, where I would be expecting to see far more detail and acuity than what is evident here. Now, look down arounf the nose and mouth: there is no real detail there at all. FWIW, I'm guessing around f/8 - certainly not wide open - and I'm leaning towards lens softness here. Given that the Fox logo is sharp, as is the suit, this is not an issue of incorrect focus, nor one of lack of DoF.

Anyway, just thought I'd put up some examples from my first real outing with it.

And I think you should be basically happy with these results.

[Suri]

Good to see someone else attempting the cricket shots.
Interesting to see you are using the 2xTC, with such satisfactory results.
I am into the 2nd half of the season here in Brisbane and have used the same lense but with a 1.4xTC.
This set up gives me 430mm at the long end but still with f4.0, and even then I was only able to obtain fair to OK results up until just before 5.00pm (Qld time). So far I have not been satisfied with anything over 640ISO on the D200 for these pictures.

After having done a number of games at various Brisbane locations, I can report that this lense setup is sweetest at f6.3-5.6 (D200), and in order to stop a ball bowled at pace you need a minimum 1250th second shutter speed.

A D3 with a new 500mm f4.0VR would be my preferred arrangement - but I need the house more!

Website for those interested.
http://www.pbase.com/steven_hight/cricket&page=1

By the way - how are yours selling?

[mickeyjuice]

I think I should have upped my ISO to 200 and used a faster shutter speed.

I don't think so; what do you think would have been the differences in the outcomes? How do you think that might have improved what you have here? Images 3 and 4 might have had the ball more "stopped in flight", but I'm almost inclined to suggest that slightly slower shutter speed might have helped capture a better sense of movement.

Yeah, you're probably right. I had a few shots I trashed because I had blur, but that may well have been the camera, with 600mm on a 1.6 crop body. I was thinking that I should get my shutter speed up to compensate, given that 200ISO on the 40D is more than acceptable.

But I agree, I like the bit of ball blur.

The great man - AB 100% crop

I think you have oversharpened this by a nudge. A very small nudge. Look at the line between AB's chin and his shirt, immediately to the left of the microphone. That is not how it should be.

Yeah, agreed. It didn't look as bad as that when doing it in Lightroom on the 24" screen, but it does on the 800px version.

What aperture was this shot at? You are either not in the lens's sweet spot (in which case your ISO comments might be correct) or you're showing perhaps some softness in the lens

That one was shot at f2.8 - I was pretty much just playing with it, just getting used to the feel of it pre-match. I'd agree this isn't the sweet spot - the others were shot at f5.6.

Anyway, just thought I'd put up some examples from my first real outing with it.

And I think you should be basically happy with these results.

For the first time out, I'm rapt.

[mickeyjuice]

By the way - how are yours selling?

Haven't thought about selling them, TBH - that shoot was the Twenty20 final @ the WACA, so I had snappers from the West, AAP and Getty's all within 50 metres. And it was my first real shot at cricket, so I was really just practicing.

We've got daylight savings and we're a lot further south down here, so you can shoot at 100ISO until about 7:30

I think I took about 1200 shots for the day.

Nice work getting Watto bowled after an innings of that length

[Suri]

Nice work getting Watto bowled after an innings of that length

Thanks for looking Micky.
Yeah - 4 hours in the sun while the man played like he was up for the Aussie Openers spot.
I thought I was going to wear out the delete button.
He only opened up in the last session - but the fireworks was worth the wait though.

Not to mention the sunburn - my ears are still sore.
Don't know about you, but sunscreen and cameras don't mix.
Then there is the back to back cap (Lewton Hewitt style) - at least the neck gets some protection.