D80 How to shoot polo (equine)

[polomum]

Hi guys....hoped a few months ago to buy a D300 but sadly didn't happen....Have a 2nd hand ebay D80 and am ready to start.....didn't realise how different this is to the old SLRs!!!!!
Am going to a polo game in Melbourne Australia on the weekend and am going to give the camera a go.....cloudy conditions are most likely (it is Melbourne after all:D)...have seen how to shoot sport comments with the D300 but not the D80......so for a total newbie can anyone spell out fairly clearly what my best options are please? Shooting with either an old Niko0n ED AF Nikkor 80-200mm 1:2.8 or the kit lens that the camera came with 18-200 AFS VR G ED 1:3.5-5.6....
Thanks

[K1W1]

.cloudy conditions are most likely (it is Melbourne after all:D)..

Not a good way to request assistance. :D:D

Use shutter priority somewhere around 1/500 sec to start with but you may need to a bit faster if the horses are moving quickly. 1/500 will be fine for when they are cornering or whatever they call it when the bloke on top gets the horse to turn whilst whacking the defenceless puck with a mallet.
If it is cloudy (and the weather forecast isn't good) up the ISO to 400 or even 800 to maintain the shutter speed. Look at auto ISO, I think the D80 allows you to limit the maximum ISO in which case I would set that to 800.
Don't worry too much is the shots look a bit under exposed if it's really cloudy you can get a surprising amount of detail back with software but I assume that you will be at Werribee so it's pretty light there.
Set the camera to AF-C so that it will continuously focus as the ponys move around and just keep the action in the centre of the screen. You can always be a bit creative with cropping later as long as you have something to crop in the first place.
Take way too many shots and you will get some keepers at least. You do have a couple of GB worth of SD cards don't you?

BTW: At 1/500 sec following the action the VR on the kit lens isn't really going to be much help so don't worry about it.

[K1W1]

Here (click) (http://www.flickr.com/groups/polo/) is a link to a Flickr group with around 1400 Polo photos.
Spend some time looking through them and looking at the properties of the individual photos. That will give you an idea of what other people do.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I'd use the 80-200 F/2.8 myself rather than the 18-200VR. Do you have monopod or something to rest the camera on?

[polomum]

K1W1.....thanks for your replys......have just spent an hour looking at the flickr group you suggested......great pics from all round the world.....and some tips as well.......sounds like you know VIC......won't be Werribee this weekend but not too far from there......my son said he couldn't see the goals for the fog this morning and no improvement for the weekend.....

[polomum]

Dread Pirate .....will probably have to lean on hubbys shoulder at this stage.....the old lense is heavy but really sharp so will go with that.....Can let you know when polo matches happen in SA if you're interested in fast action shots.....tournaments are usually only Jan to March here....Sunny QLD has games almost all year round.....hoping to move up there before winter hits here next year !!

[Rooz]

good idea. the sooner you get out of melbourne the better. you know the saying...."if you hang around with dogs too long you get nothing but fleas."

[K1W1]

good idea. the sooner you get out of melbourne the better. you know the saying...."if you hang around with dogs too long you get nothing but fleas."

You'll keep.

[polomum]

Okay....long time no see.......didn't have the cash for the D300 sadly......bought a 2nd hand ebay D80 (don't flame me - spoke to the guy on the phone extensively and seemed very honest before I bought)
Bought this - Nikon D80 camera body, - 8GB SD memory card included (it will hold 500+ photos in RAW format) - AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED Nikkor lenses (has image stabilization) + UV filter to protect the lenses, - MB-D80 multi power battery pack (two batteries included), - Kenko PRO 1 D wideband C-PL (W) polarizing filter, - remote control, tripod and a camera bag. The camera has not been used much and is in great condition (no scratches). Mail delivery and local pick-up possible.
Haven't used my original lens yet - not clever enough........took some pics at a polo tournament over 2 weekends in Melbourne - stuffed up a setting somewhere and ended up with green tinged pics on one day.......deleted pics off the camera n didn't shoot RAW......just wondered if I can change the colour of the pics or not.......they weren't brilliant shots but a couple ok.......??????

[polomum]

Ummmm.....meant to start a new thread (above)....dumb bunny......anyhow.....I have photoshop CS3 but haven't loaded it onto laptop yet (my hubby had this for work - we have mac computers here) n bought the book 2nd hand Photoshop cs Down & Dirty Tricks as well cos know I'll need plenty of help......Will that be able to help me with the green pics???
Next question.....need a monopod now.....do I still get the 2340C and 676B digi monopod as suggested earlier??? Hope those model nos are correct. My OHs in Singapore/Malaysia till Sunday - are prices any better over there at the moment with the world economy as it is? I would really like the 50mm 1.4 as well but haven't asked him about that yet!!!

[polomum]

Ummmm.....meant to start a new thread (above)....dumb bunny :rolleyes: ......anyhow.....I have photoshop CS3 but haven't loaded it onto laptop yet (my hubby had this for work - we have mac computers here) n bought the book 2nd hand Photoshop cs Down & Dirty Tricks as well cos know I'll need plenty of help......Will that be able to help me with the green pics???

Next question.....need a monopod now.....do I still get the 2340C and 676B digi monopod as suggested earlier??? Hope those model nos are correct. My OHs in Singapore/Malaysia till Sunday - are prices any better over there at the moment with the world economy as it is? I would really like the 50mm 1.4 as well but haven't asked him about that yet. :cool:

[K1W1]

Okay....long time no see.......didn't have the cash for the D300 sadly......bought a 2nd hand ebay D80 (don't flame me - spoke to the guy on the phone extensively and seemed very honest before I bought)

Nothing wrong with ebay if it's used correctly.



Bought this - Nikon D80 camera body, - 8GB SD memory card included (it will hold 500+ photos in RAW format) - AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED Nikkor lenses (has image stabilization) + UV filter to protect the lenses, - MB-D80 multi power battery pack (two batteries included), - Kenko PRO 1 D wideband C-PL (W) polarizing filter, - remote control, tripod and a camera bag. The camera has not been used much and is in great condition (no scratches). Mail delivery and local pick-up possible.

Looks like a good starter kit to me. As long it's as described and you are happy about the price then you should get plenty of pleasure from using it.



Haven't used my original lens yet - not clever enough........took some pics at a polo tournament over 2 weekends in Melbourne - stuffed up a setting somewhere and ended up with green tinged pics on one day.......deleted pics off the camera n didn't shoot RAW......just wondered if I can change the colour of the pics or not.......they weren't brilliant shots but a couple ok.......??????

You probably have the white balance set incorrectly in the camera. Go into the menu system and make sure it's set to Auto until you have the hang of how everything works. Auto white balance on Nikons works fine 99.9999% of the time anyway.
The pictures probably can be rescued in Photoshop or other similar software. You could always download the free Nikon View software from Nikons web site. From memory that has white balance correction in it. Even Irfanview has a "Auto adjust colours" menu option that may well work for you. Just remember that you have jpegs so before you start playing make a copy of the original out of the camera images in a safe place just in case you completely stuff something and want to go back to the start. Some jpeg editing software is destructive that means there is no going back to teh start after you apply changes.

[K1W1]

Next question.....need a monopod now.....do I still get the 2340C and 676B digi monopod as suggested earlier???

I think that you mean the 234RC and the 676B.
They are a pretty standard monopod / head combination and work well.

[polomum]

Yes I definitely fiddled too much......but have just found on iphoto on my laptop a WB corrector and pics look alot better now.........So if I go to the D300 and a bit better heavier lens would that mono/head combination still be ok???

[K1W1]

That monopod will work with any camera body / lens combination that you are likely to be able to afford and even plenty that none of us are likely to be able to afford.