I decided to try out the (new to me) 300/4 yesterday. Most were handheld, a few were on my tripod being used as a make shift monopod (note to self: make sure the replacement is in stock before seliing the one you have:redface . And with TC14e: So far, the lens looks like a winner. Sharp, fast to focus and easy to walk around with.
Nice Larry. I've been out trying to catch some hummers with mine today. Nice lens to shoot with. George.
Hello Larry, Thanks for sharing these photos. Your camera/lens combination to me seems to focus very accurately (judging from the "grass" on the 1st photo for example) and to me looks sharp. A faster shutter speed would of course help freeze the action more. Some unusual and interesting compositions there with great timing. I especially like the second one in that way. I recently got an AFS 300 f4 and used it at a few soccer (football?) games so far. I really like it. The lighter weight of the f4 is the main reason I went for it rather than the f 2.8 or Sigma 120-300. Relatively easy to walk around with. Thanks again for sharing.
I think the images are fine, but perhaps could benefit from a very small bit of tweaking to bring out their sharpness. Fast shutter speed is always preferable with sports action shots, but SS has to be balanced with high iso/noise concerns. I recently picked up the Canon 300mm variant (with IS/VR) and am looking forward to using it next week at my 7 year old daughter’ soccer game. Since they play on a short field, I can probably set up camp behind a goal. Hmm, maybe I’ll even bring a chair. :smile:
Thanks for the constructive criticism everyone. I am the first to admit I have lots to learn and my post processing skills are rudimentary at best. This is also only about the second or third time I have ever tried to shoot a soccer game. Yes, I probably should have upped the ISO a notch to keep the shutter speeds up, but was concerned about noise. Not everything was razor sharp (my fault) but I thought the action was more interesting in these shots than some of the others. I was very impressed by the lens however, particlualry by the fact that it appears just as sharp when used with the TC.
