Since you A) shoot sports professionally and B) have been very vocal about wanting a high megapixel R1, I'm curious about the following:
1) What would your clients do with 80mp files? (Not just end use, but do they have sufficient processing power to review, edit and store a couple thousand 80mp files on deadline?)
A. We've spoken to Canon after the Olympics. The camera will
not preclude you from changing your file size.
B. Our firm provides media for game day and after. Everything from billboards, bus wraps, building wraps, in-store displays, high-gloss magazines, stills for broadcast, digital signage, digital publishers,
C. During game day we have multiple photographers, shooting from multiple locations all with IP Based Intercom's so the truck/NOC/director/client/producers can direct. When tethered, (an) editor(s) is going through everything on each feed.
2) How would you transfer 80mp files to them? (LAN?)
It would depend on the venue. Tethered to the truck we have gigabit - Right now we're maxed out at 700Mbps - Which will be upgraded in the R1
Verizon has new 5G towers in many venues and that's 20 gigabits, Well beyond what the R1 will need.
3) Do you think it's realistic that an 80mp camera would have enough processing power and a large enough buffer to handle a 20-30 second 30 fps burst and clear quickly enough for the next play?
80MP will be used when needed or requested. No one will be shooting at 80MP / 30fps. 15fps is really the sweet spot and having the latitude to choose file size for the appropriate condition precludes 10,000 80MP/30fps even being a consideration. The key is having the latitude.
4) Do you think an 80mp camera can deliver acceptable results at ISO 25,600 and above, bearing in mind that if you have to downsize the files to reduce noise there isn't much point in shooting at 80mp?
We're very rarely shooting at ISO ranges like that. Our venues are very well lit. I've seen entire games at 5000ISO even at the highest shutter speeds. In some instances, we're concerned with blowouts vs. shadows
5) What shutter speeds would you anticipate shooting at in order to take advantage of the sharpness offered by an 80mp sensor?
Based on the amount of stabilization offered in the R1, hand held vs. mono/tri pod we'll have to see. Again, we won't be spraying and praying, The majority of shots now capturing what we like can be from 1/1250 to 4000. If a client is requesting a specific athlete which is very common, based on what the shots are used for, will determine what we do. When we do "Athlete Profiles" having the latitude to use the same camera in the studio will be very helpful too. The continuity to workflow will be welcomed.
I'm just curious if you have thought about any of these things. I understand that we inhabit vastly different worlds, since I can't rely on someone else to select, edit and process my photos, but have to do everything myself after I've shot a game.
The luxury of having an editor or multiple editors is expensive but the return for the firm is very profitable. Right now a single photographer with just two 500GB cards can shoot an entire game with plenty of space left over. At times we share a 32TB bank with broadcast and we've never even got close. Not too many years ago we were shooting and a PA would dump each card to an SSD as they were sent by a laptop. Things are so much after now. 5G at 20gigabit speeds will make internal/external 5G transmission a very realistic part of workflow.
You're doing what most of us did for years before we worked for larger firms.
The small buffer size and large file sizes of the R5 have made it much less appealing for sports than the 1Dx III. I see the R3 as a reasonable compromise and am looking forward to finding out if I've guessed correctly. I understand the R3 is not acceptable to you, but I am curious what you are looking for and why.
We really want to be able to determine from a creative perspective the resolution we want. If you look at a Blackmagic 12K you can pull 80MP stills.
The Nikon Z9 is a 45MP Sports Camera. The technology is here already. Doubling the resolution of the 1DXMKIII is simplifying things but that's the simple objective and that is 80MP. No one here wants to shoot stills at 30fps. It seems good for marketing but if you're a pro and know your sport 15 or 16fps is optimal.