Going into battle

[stephen]

Caught this yesterday as the Danny Green was coming out of the change rooms.Was about the only one i got as i was about 50m back from the ring and the kit lens didnt have enough reach.I am pretty dissapointed with myself that they have all turned out pretty crappy.



Can anyone reccommend the next lens i should be saving up for?.

[leek]

This one's pretty good though... He looks as if he's "In the Zone"...

What were the problems with the longer range shots? Flash wouldn't work at that distance, so you would probably need to bump up the ISO setting...

[stephen]

Leek i had little white/yellow dots in the background of the boxing ring and in the crowd that was in the darkness.I didnt really need the flash and yes as you say it didnt work at that range but a lot seemed to be Blurred if i used anything but auto which is annoying as it is obviously a user fault and not equipment.I tried manual for a few shots and they people (boxing )were white and really bright im guess overexposure?. here is one that was in auto but still is blurred and has a few specks of something in it .

[gstark]

Stephen,

What exposure mode did you have your camera set to?

Understand the nature of the subject that you're trying to shoot: large areas of black, with some very highly illuminated regions.

What you need to do is set yourself up for correct (manual) exposure in the well illuminated region, and away you go.

Observe that your basic lighting is going to be constant - there's no clouds to some and obscure the primary light source, and it's not like a stage show where they will be varying the lighting from one act (song) to the next.

Just play and experiment, using your histogram to guide you further, until you are getting consistant exposures in centre ring, and you can then focus on focus and concentrate on composition!

[leek]

Yep... definitely need a lens with a little bit more reach - the 105mm would probably have been good enough and it's also a little faster than the kit lens, so you could probably have got a slightly faster shutter speed.

From the EXIF, I picked that you were using Matrix Metering... In these circumstances it would probably be better to use centre weighted (or even spot) metering, so that you expose off your subject and not an average of your subject and the dark surroundings... I probably wouldn't have thought about it at the time either though...

From that shot, I'm amazed that the Foxtel cameraman gets so close to the action...

[stephen]

I dont know how to do any metering as yet sorry ,I have been looking for some links to it to read up on.Would the 24/120 vr be a good second lens?,would this have enough reach do you think.I wanted to be where the foxtel guys is but this 200 kilo man with no neck wouldnt let me go there so i decided not to upset the kind gentleman.

[Catcha]

A 24-120 would be good if you were in the middle of the crowd, from where your standing your better off witha 70-200R lens

Wanna know how good the lens is ? check out these pictures taken with the 24-120VR and you can make up your mind, bear in mind it's my first time panning and stuff over the 3 day weekend but at least you get and idea of the lens.

I certainly read some good advice taking this over the standard lens

http://www.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t=6955

http://www.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t=6954

http://www.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t=6934

[leek]

The 24-120VR would be an excellent lens for that environment, but it would almost replace the kit lens in your arsenal... Most people who have bought the 24-120VR seem to end up selling their kit lens (or not taking it out of their camera bag).

The 24-120VR has better glass, so it would perform better in low-light and the VR would allow you to shoot succesfully at lower shutter speeds.

If you do a lot of sport photography, then you may want something with a little more reach - say a 200mm (MWCB has an excellent 80-200mm lens for sale at the moment at a bargain price)

On metering technique, there's probably a few tutorials that other people can think of, but have a look at this thread for starters...

[leek]

Also, have a look at this general tutorial on metering... I think it explains it pretty clearly...

It's not D70 specific, but I'm sure you can put 2 + 2 together...