D500 Outdoor Soccer under Stadium lights

[astroNikon]

To follow up on my other hugely popular thread ==> D500 vs D750 Indoor Soccer Shootout
which many, many very bright people have told me was spot on .. LOL

STADIUM
Anyways, last night our Travel soccer team played, well, another travel soccer team. Duh, right ?

But it was in our artificial turf stadium. And they turned on the lights too !!

CAMERA AND LENS
I thought it would make a good test of the D500.
Vivid, JPEG FINE* mode. images are slightly tweaked mostly for WB as I realized I forgot to change it to the type of stadium lighting, and some minor exposure tweaks. I didn't spend much time on it, maybe 30 minutes total. So the images could look better but good enough for the time invested.

I took my Tamron 150-600 v1 lens.
I have to go back and check things as the images are not as sharp as I would like. I may have accidentally turned on the VR/VC. My Shutter Speed was initially 1250 but I brought it down to 1000 as the ISO was too high, so I'm not sure if the lower shutter speed might have affected the image IQ. Looking at the pics I know my D750 would have produced better images due to the lighting and more flexibility in that regards, but this was a test for the D500.

Due to the high ISO I also brought down my Aperture. I normally just shoot at f/8 for the sharpest image. But in this instance I was trying to improve the image quality by lowering the ISO. So I allowed the Aperture to float on the largest opening available. This, we know, will affect the image quality.

f/5 150mm ISO 11,400 1/1000 Shutter
20170503_Strikers-33 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

I also initially started with my monopod. But I quickly used the "body monopod". I put my left leg on the bench ahead of me. Then I put my left elbow on my left knee and held the camera that way. Much more fluid going back and forth and up/down on the field.

I also learned that 150mm on a 1.5x Crop is *still* too close to the field even though I was a good 40 yards away up at the top of the stadium seats which is only about 20 rows up.

I found myself mostly between 150 and 300mm. Few images taken above that focal length.
With the 150mm still being too close for action on the near sideline.
I would have preferred probably 80-300. hmm .. Nikon's 80-400??

Shooting The D500 was so nice. The super fast AF was amazing, and the 10fps. I really got the "touch" of the release button and was able to shoot 1 or 3 shots at a time even on Continuous High. When I first got the camera it was hard to control not taking 3+ shots when you only wanted 1.

On my other cameras (d7000, d600, d750) I became a normal user of the AE-L/AF-L button. This to focus on the player and not the moving ball when there's a long shot, and you track the shot to the goal.

The D500 uses the joystick for AE-L/AF-L. You have to push it directly in for lock. I have not mastered this yet and end up moving the focus points around instead. So I reprogrammed the AF-ON button as AE-L/AF-L. Worked as needed from that point on.

In one instance I ran off a couple dozen shots of a shot on goal. ball barely missed but the D500's 10fps is totally amazing, and pretty quiet too.
here's the start of the shooting
20170503_Strikers-36 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

and 16 shots later
20170503_Strikers-51 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr


One of few shots at 600mm showing one of out Striker coaches at half time.
20170503_Strikers-17 - HALFTIME by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

Full images ==> Strikers_20170503

 

[MSnowy]

I think you'd be even more impressed with the d500 when you get a chance to use it with Nikon lenses. I have the Tamron 150-600 , Nikon 200-400mm f4 and Nikon 500mm f4.The image quality and focusing of the Nikon lenses makes a big difference in the final results when paired with the 500 as compared with the Tamron.

 

[Destin]

I love my D500, but I'm not super impressed with my Tamron 150-600. Even on the D500 the focus speed is pretty terrible compared to my faster lenses. I know that's to be expected, but that doesn't make it easier to cope with.

I don't often use the 150-600 for sports and would never even attempt it at night, honestly.

Give that same scenario a shot with a 70-200 2.8 and you'll be blown away by the D500. That's a little short for a soccer match no doubt, but it does get the wider end you wanted and you can always crop in a little tigher.

Even better would be the newest version Sigma 120-300 2.8 but that's getting really pricey.

 

[astroNikon]

@MSnowy I was really impressed with the focus speed of the D500 with my 80-200/2.8 but that was indoor. All my other lenses are Nikon, but only 1 is an AF-S. Last night I really wanted the 10fps, otherwise I would have used my d750 and it was a good test as I knew it would push the camera in the ISO/Shutter/Aperture range like it did with indoor (and pushed past it's safe exposures).

@Destin Well I do have a 80-200/2.8 that I've been using for years. With the larger fields I've found that somewhat small, at least on a FF sensor (d600/d750). I have yet to try it on a full size soccer field with the D500 one of these days.

I've used the Tamron in the past. Yes, it's really not a full-sized sport lens, but it's what I have in that focal range. I've also resisted using two bodies as I know something like the D500 with the Tamron and my D750 with my 80-200/2.8 would be a great combo for sports.

I could buy a 120-300, as I think I thought about it when CoastlConn sold his.
But I have to take a break from the $$$ for a while.

 

[Destin]

I could buy a 120-300, as I think I thought about it when CoastlConn sold his.
But I have to take a break from the $$$ for a while.

I feel your pain there man. Definitely done spending on photography for the year.. already bought a D500, 70-200, and 150-600. Easing up on the $$ for sure, even though there's more I want.

 

[astroNikon]

I could buy a 120-300, as I think I thought about it when CoastlConn sold his.
But I have to take a break from the $$$ for a while.

I feel your pain there man. Definitely done spending on photography for the year.. already bought a D500, 70-200, and 150-600. Easing up on the $$ for sure, even though there's more I want.

Yes, $$$ is a stumbling block. It it wasn't for the $$$ I'd have the best of everything .. wouldn't everyone ?

I really wanted to test the D500 in this scenario.
I knew my D750 wouldn't have a problem. But I wanted to learn where the D500 would and wouldn't work. The math (2 stops slower than the D750) and usable ISO levels (another nearly 1 stop loss I think). But had to lower my Shutter a bit lower than I wanted.

Over all a good test. And the results were very good for the parents. Much better results than the D500 w/80-200/2.8 in poor indoor lighting.

I also used a UHS-II SD 150/mbs card which didn't have a problem. I don't think the regular 95/90 SD card I had would of had a problem because if the deep buffer of the D500. The only long shot I took was one goal shot that lasted for just under 2 seconds at 10fps.