1DX & 500mm f/4L IS II Varsity Football

[Richard Lane]

Richard,
           Really great shots. Look to Camera Canada for the best price for either the 400,500 0r 600 Mk 11 best prices.     USA and Canada warranty and thousands cheaper than B&H, Adorama and Amazon. If you are out of country no tax from Canada. Just ordered the 400 mk 11 @ $10,299.00.    The 500 mk 11 is $8899.0 and the 600 mk 11 is $11,389.00         
Keith

 
Thanks for the nice feedback Keith, and I'll keep that in mind about the lenses.

[Richard Lane]

Instaimage,

Nice Action shots!  Your game looked like a very physical one! 

I think you'll do really well this year at night with the 1DX.

[bdunbar79]

Richard,

I have a football game Saturday the 8th, at night of course (damn it!) but I will take my 400 f/2.8 and see if that works much better, with less cropping.  The thing I noticed about the 1DX is that I didn't need to give much AF time.  I could just point the lens and shoot the shot, without a half-press sometimes and bang, it nailed the focus anyways.  I suppose that would have more to do with the lens though too.  My 1D4 was not doing that however, even with the same lens, and I cannot recall any DSLR that I've used that could do that.  Cool camera!

[dave]

These are great. Really like the two final ones. They capture the kind of things that catch your eye during a break in play.

Thanks Dave!  I don't know if you can appreciate it in this small version but on my monitor, in the last image you can see the green football field and white lines in the coaches sunglasses.  I thought that was kind of cool and totally by accident!

I totally agree. There some seems to be so many points of interest  in what is actually a fairly uncluttered shot - you can see the field, the players are there, the assistant is in the background and the coach has got it all covered. The fact that he looks like he is saying something or just about to say something adds to it. It does what a good photo does and helps you to feel like you were there.

[pwp]

Here's a few shots from yesterdays Varsity Scrimmage shot with the 1DX and 500mm f/4L IS II:

How is the AF compared to an f/2.8 lens such as the 400 f/2.8?

-PW

[Richard Lane]

Richard,

I have a football game Saturday the 8th, at night of course (damn it!) but I will take my 400 f/2.8 and see if that works much better, with less cropping.  The thing I noticed about the 1DX is that I didn't need to give much AF time.  I could just point the lens and shoot the shot, without a half-press sometimes and bang, it nailed the focus anyways.  I suppose that would have more to do with the lens though too.  My 1D4 was not doing that however, even with the same lens, and I cannot recall any DSLR that I've used that could do that.  Cool camera!

Yes, it's very impressive, not only is the AF very fast but it's very accurate too!  The 400mm is a good call for that game.  You'll just need to be prepared to back up more and stay ahead of of the drives.  You could still shoot a little loose, but now when you crop it will just be for perfect composition instead of mainly removing dead space.

[Richard Lane]

Here's a few shots from yesterdays Varsity Scrimmage shot with the 1DX and 500mm f/4L IS II:

How is the AF compared to an f/2.8 lens such as the 400 f/2.8?

-PW

I don't own the 400mm f/2.8 but I have demoed it, however I do have a 300mm f/2.8L IS version one.  The AF on the 500mm f/4II feels equally as fast as the 300mm f/2.8 during the day.  I haven't tried the 500mm f/4II at night yet.  The AF of the 500mm f/4II is extremely fast and feels instantaneous, whether in AI Servo or One shot.  When I press the shutter button in One Shot the AF confirmation beep occurs simultaneously with the shutter press.  There is no lag whatsoever, as a matter of fact it does feel "a little" faster than the 300mm f/2.8 and I can't believe I just wrote that (all bets are off for night games).  When I press the shutter button in One Shot with the 300mm f/2.8I, the sensation is shutter-press then an instant beep, with the 500mmII it feels as though the shutter-press is actually causing the beep without any lag.

Now, with the 500mm II in AI Servo when tracking the player, if you loose the player for a second and then have to reacquire him, there is a longer delay with the 500mm f/4L as the glass moves forward and backward to reacquire focus (I have focus search off which is recommended for super-telephotos in order to prevent extreme de-focusing, for extreme de-focusing I reacquire with the Manual Focus ring).  I don't view this as a concern with it's AF ability, as I feel it has more to do with the longer focal range, just taking a little longer to re-lock onto the target.  In other words the de-focused 300mm f/2.8I will move back and forth faster so it re-acquires faster and of course it's also easier to track your subject with a wider FOV angle.

Rich