The Sports Photo Guy

I took a pair of D300s to the NCAA Division III Final Four in Salem, Virginia, this weekend.

D300 w/MB-D10 & EN-EL4, 80-200/f2.8 AF-S, Auto ISO (2000), 1/500 @ f2.8 manual

What a great combination for almost effortlessly handling the fast action of college hoops together with the celebratory atmosphere of a championship tournament!  With a combination of lenses covering everything from 18mm to 300mm, I shot over 5,000 frames during four games and put many of the D300’s features to work.

Key again was the Secret D300 High-Speed Auto ISO Trick, which allowed me to set my shutter speed and aperture manually (typically 1/500 @ f2.8) and let the camera adjust the ISO in 1/6-stop increments to achieve perfect exposure.  I can emphasize how useful this feature was, not only for allowing me to cover action anywhere on the floor, but also for quickly switching to reaction shots of the crowd.  The 8 fps shooting speed of the MB-D10 & EN-EL4 combination was also very useful.

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10 frames @ 8 fps – 1/500 @ f2, ISO 400-640, Sigma 30/f1.4 

The sequence above shows how the AF system of the D300 is up to the challenge of following good college basketball - in this case, the passing and ball movement that characterizes top-tier Division III hoops.  This backdoor cut executed to perfection by Amherst College in the championship final was shot at 8 fps.  The focus in the 3rd frame, as #24 catches the pass, is slightly off - the defenders are in sharp focus - as I transition from the passing guard to the shooting player.  But the remaining frames are tack sharp where you’d expect them to be.  What’s more, ISO was continually adjusted, starting a 450, moving to 400 briefly, then up to 640 in several steps.  The sequence also illustrates the value of shooting with a wider lens like the Sigma 30/f1.4 - a longer lens could not have captured the nature of this play.  (See my old site for a comparison of the 30/f1.4 to the Nikon 50/f1.4 which it replaced in my camera bag.)

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D300 w/Sigma 18-50/f2.8 HSM, 1/500 @ f2.8, ISO @ 2500 

At the end of the game, I was looking for something different from the usual “jube” shots the other dozen or so photographers would get from the floor, so I ran to the back of the Washington University student section where I captured this priceless image.  Knowing the D300 Auto ISO feature would handle the exposure, I kept my “game setting” of 1/500 @ f2.8 to give me a shallow depth of field while still freezing the frantic reactions of the joyful students.