College football season starting

[ac12]

I gave it some thought.
As Ron said, I shoot with ONE camera. I don't have sponsored funding for more.

Depending on where the play is, what kind of play (running vs pass) and where it is going, there can be enough time to switch cameras.
You also have to practice switching cameras. I've gotten reasonably good at lifting the camera and getting off a fast shot. So while I could use two cameras, I would not want the extra weight of the 2nd camera. Getting old sucks.
If I shot with two cameras, it would be a Micro 4/3 kit, where I could get the weight down to what I can handle.

 

[ronlane]

@ac12, until about 2 weeks ago, I was in the same boat with only one camera. After getting a used 1D mk IV and using it as my main body with my 70-200mm, I can then carry a 7D mk II with a 24-70mm. I don't have the 300mm or 400mm yet.

I borrowed a 300mm f/2.8 for the college game I got last weekend and used the 300 and a 70-200 on the second body and that was a nice combination. I was able to switch to the 70-200mm when the teams would get inside the 20. I was lucky that I was in position that I did not have much come right in front of me where I was too close and needed a 24-70mm.

 

[floatingby]

Not trying to argue or anything, just something I observed 2 weeks ago when I went to a CFL game(as a spectator). Guys there with 400mm or 600mm lens on monopod had no other cameras; they also didn't move much, almost looked like they had assigned position(no way for me to confirm this, of course, just what I observed). Guys carrying shorter focals, I'm guessing in the 24mm to 200mm range, carried 2 cameras, one guys even had 3, and they walked the field a lot. Don't have a clue as to who those guys were working for(League?Club?Paper?Mag?), but it made sense to me; trying to shoot with a camera in one hand while holding a 5Kg, 400mm lens at the end of a stick in the other hand is a difficult proposition at the best of time.

 

[ac12]

This shot was with the 70-200 lens at 70mm on a DX/crop camera, so 105mm FF equiv.
I wished I had my 18-140 super-zoom on the camera for that shot, or one of the short FX/FF zooms like the 24-120.
You can always crop in, but you can't crop outward beyond the image border.
note: numbers and faces obscured for student privacy.

@floatingby
Yes, I would think the guys with the LONG lenses were part of a team, with their job to shoot the far shots or TIGHT closeups.

 

[floatingby]

View attachment 163838
This shot was with the 70-200 lens at 70mm on a DX/crop camera, so 105mm FF equiv.
I wished I had my 18-140 super-zoom on the camera for that shot, or one of the short FX/FF zooms like the 24-120.
You can always crop in, but you can't crop outward beyond the image border.
note: numbers and faces obscured for student privacy.

Just an opinion, but I think you just missed proper framing on this shot so I wouldn't blame the lens focal length; feet don't need to be in the shot, I would think if it was framed mid shin, or even mid thigh, heck even from waist upward, but with the actual catch then it would have been a great shot.

 

[ac12]

View attachment 163838
This shot was with the 70-200 lens at 70mm on a DX/crop camera, so 105mm FF equiv.
I wished I had my 18-140 super-zoom on the camera for that shot, or one of the short FX/FF zooms like the 24-120.
You can always crop in, but you can't crop outward beyond the image border.
note: numbers and faces obscured for student privacy.

Just an opinion, but I think you just missed proper framing on this shot so I wouldn't blame the lens focal length; feet don't need to be in the shot, I would think if it was framed mid shin, or even mid thigh, heck even from waist upward, but with the actual catch then it would have been a great shot.

Yes I did miss the framing, I wanted the catch itself.
I was expecting a "feet on the ground" catch, like they usually do, not a jump catch. So I was not ready to track the receiver vertically when he jumped up. The wider lens would have given me a buffer for unexpected movement.
My after-the-fact guess is that the receiver jumped to catch the ball, before the other guy could intercept the ball or prevent him from catching the ball.

 

[ac12]

@ac12, until about 2 weeks ago, I was in the same boat with only one camera. After getting a used 1D mk IV and using it as my main body with my 70-200mm, I can then carry a 7D mk II with a 24-70mm. I don't have the 300mm or 400mm yet.

I borrowed a 300mm f/2.8 for the college game I got last weekend and used the 300 and a 70-200 on the second body and that was a nice combination. I was able to switch to the 70-200mm when the teams would get inside the 20. I was lucky that I was in position that I did not have much come right in front of me where I was too close and needed a 24-70mm.

I do have a 2nd body, my Olympus E-M1. I could put the 12-60 on it and use it for the closer shots. But the 12-60 is not a fast lens.
But I do not have a carry set up for 2 cameras. And I have to think about and figure out how to manage two cameras, being a one camera shooter for so long.

I might have to wait for Christmas, and see if Santa will bring me an Olympus 12-100 f/4 lens

 

[ronlane]

@ac12, I understand you on that. I just got my second body and I am using a blackrapid sling to carry that second body with. I have an peak designs slide that I could try too but I haven't at this time.

 

[ac12]

OK, report on my trial shooting football with two cameras.
Camera and lenses.

• Primary camera Nikon D7200 + 70-200/4
• Secondary camera Olympus EM-1 + 40-150/4-5.6

Setup:

Cross shoulder straps on each camera.

I used a cross shoulder setup, so the unused camera could not accidentally slip off my shoulder and fall to the ground.​

The lower strap on my left shoulder, with the secondary camera hanging on my right hip.
The upper strap on my right shoulder, with the primary camera hanging on my left hip.​

Results:

• With cross shoulder straps, when lifting the secondary camera, the upper strap always got in the way of the lower strap. It was clumsy to use the secondary camera. I extend the lower strap, better, but it was not a good solution. The strap setup needs more work.
  
• Switching to the secondary camera took more time than I had, in a fast play, and I quickly gave up on that.
  
  • I did not want to just DROP the primary camera, when I switched cameras, especially with the 70-200 lens on it. So I lost time lowering the primary camera.
    • One idea is to attach the strap to an AS clamp on the tripod foot, which would reduce the stress on the lens mount, when quickly lowering the camera, and moving around.
  • The straps to the secondary camera was restricted by being below the straps of the primary camera.
    • Whatever camera is on the lower strap would be restricted.
• You REALLY want the zoom rings on both cameras to turn in the SAME direction.
  • The Olympus zoom turned in the opposite direction than the Nikon, so I was turning the zoom in the wrong direction when I lifted the Olympus to shoot Muscle memory does not work with lenses that do not zoom the same direction.
    
  • I am going to try it again with the Panasonic zoom, which turns in the same direction as the Nikon zoom. I don't know why I did not just switch to the Panasonic lens at half time
• Camera controls and operation should be as similar as possible, to avoid confusion when switching cameras.
• On a separate unrelated issue, I had issues with the EM1, primarily with the EVF. I am going to try a different configuration see if that solves or reduces the EVF problem.

 

[floatingby]

Camera controls and operation should be as similar as possible, to avoid confusion when switching cameras.

Yep, and that was part of the problem I had last year shooting a D850 and a D610. The D850 has a joystick kind of control for focus point positioning, while the D610 use a 4 ways pad, muscle memory doesn't work for that.
Even small changes make a big difference, for example: I shoot in either Group focus or D9 for football, but on the D850 I assigned the front PV button to trigger single point focus; when I shot the D500, on which you cannot assign the PV button for that, I was constantly trying to press the PV button out of muscle memory with confusing result.