Hockey Images from last weekend

[RichNY]

Here is my first attempt at


MORE SHOTS FROM THE GAME (http://web.mac.com/rjverlaque/iWeb/Hockey/Hockey.html) shot with a Nikon D300 and 200 f/2.
PP: Crop, CS3 Auto levels, Unsharp Mask


Critique encouraged.

[ghost]

Great picture! very little noise, if any! great moment too. hopefully you got some more great pictures of the game! good shooting! If you want a critique, it could be framed a little better.

[RichNY]

Great picture! very little noise, if any! great moment too. hopefully you got some more great pictures of the game! good shooting! If you want a critique, it could be framed a little better.

I reworded the link above; there are about 40 shots when you click on it.

[24Peter]

Good work Rich. These are nice shots. What ISO / SS speed were you using?

Kids are very cute in their gear, mixing it up like that!

So that's quite a nice Nikon kit you got there... (you're talking about this lens? http://www.canogacamera.com/detail.aspx?ID=7118 )

How does the D300 stack up against your Canon MkIIN?

[RichNY]

Peter- Most of the shots I took that day were ISO 1600 and 1/320-1/640... a few at 1/800.
I also played around with some of the exposures at ISO 1000 and they came out fine.
* This was also the best lit rink that I shot at during the past year. I had the better light, faster glass, and clean high ISO all going in my favor.

Yes, that is the lens I have.

The MkIIN has a better build but the D300 has a much better build than my 30D. The AF blows away the MkIIN, the entire user interface just feels like it was designed by photographers rather than engineers, the flash system is amazing, the LCD is really amazing. There are just so many little things that you surprisingly find as you learn the system that just seem like someone was thinking about the design. Personally I would much rather own a D300 than a 1DMarkIII. As nice as the D3 is I'm finding that the D300 is meeting all my current needs.

I also really like the fact that the 50 and 85 f/1.4 are so much smaller and lighter than Canons and the fact that I was able to purchase an amazing 105 f/2.5 manual focus lens for only $170 in mint condition from a dealer. The 85 f/1.4 has bokeh as nice as the Canon 85 f/1.2 but I was able to buy one used for only $800 shipped and it focuses much faster than the Canon f/1.2.

The biggest thing that is missing from the Nikon glass lineup is a 70-200 f/4. You can pick up used 80-200 f/2.8 glass for about $600 though. I also wish that the 17-55 had image stabilization.

When you get out here I'll let you take the D300 and some glass for the weekend and you'll be converted ;)

[24Peter]

The fact that the AF on the D300 "blows away" the MkIIN says something I think. I'm already bumping up against the limitations of the AF on my 40D. I like to use the extreme focus points for portrait/people shots (rather than recompose). But I've been finding that in less than perfect light I have been pretty disappointed. Many, many shots where the camera focused on the object closest to the camera, rather than under the selected focus point. But... center point seems to be quite good, so I'm going to try to use it and recompose on my next shoot.

That lens looks like it would be an awesome outdoor portrait lens.

[RichNY]

Peter- I just sent you an email with some of my favorite shots I've seen with this as a portrait lens. They were taken from this thread that was the inspiration to purchase this lens. I found myself glued to all 18 pages looking at the images.
http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=61674

Sorry to hear you are hitting limitations on the 40D. I hit the same with the 30D for shooting low light hockey and that's why I ended up going to the MkIIN. I haven't been using AF point selection for anything other than testing yet but having 51 to choose from is nice and the camera locks on to whatever you have selected. Do you use MF with any of your shoots? I never did with the Canon but I've played around on the Nikkor primes and find it is quicker to use MF than to select a focus point. Check out these images all shot MF with a Zeiss 105 http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showpost.php?p=1662911&postcount=8

[24Peter]

Peter- I just sent you an email with some of my favorite shots I've seen with this as a portrait lens. They were taken from this thread that was the inspiration to purchase this lens. I found myself glued to all 18 pages looking at the images.
http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=61674



Not much to say but "Wow". It's a great lens. Good luck with yours!