Shooting the Boat International Silver Jubilee regattas

[nicolas claris]

I spent 3 days shooting In Porto Cervo (Sardignia) last week, during the Boat International Silver Jubilee regattas… I only could shoot from the press boat as no clients wished to hire a chase boat ,-(

I may admit that I had quite a success with the Hy6 and the other pro photogs! Some couldn't even think one could bring such a "machine" on the sea… but they were all intersted and asked many questions about shutter speed, DOF and PP…

The wind wasn't very strong, but fair enough o have the boats moving and battling on the blue water…

They were about 25 boats ranging from 24 meters to 51 meters long

Shots were mostly done with the 80 mm, some with the 50 mm. P mode on faster speed (1/1000) sometimes down to 1/640 but NEVER below… Hence I could bring back much more keepers than usual

I'll try to post some crop @ 100% a bit later…

Crop @ 100%:

 

[nicolas claris]

 

[nicolas claris]

 

[nicolas claris]

Crop @ 100%: of course same file but not processed on the same computer…

 

[Thierry Hagenauer]

those are very nice shots, Nicolas!

I am glad to see that faster speed has improved the number of "keepers".

Looking forward to see more and get details.

Kind regards,
Thierry

 

[nicolas claris]

Looking forward to see more and get details.

Thanks Thierry

I just posted one on top of thread ;-)

 

[Asher Kelman]

Magnificent work! Are you now at home with the camera and just shooting moving the controls without looking much. IOW, is the mechanics now more transparent and lest of a barrier to your work.

Also, are you getting a feel for where the camera excels compared to the 1D Mark III. Of course, I could say DR and file robustness but really, I have no idea! How much have you overcome the expected limitations of MF on these types of shoots? Has high ISO been the main thing you miss or the 600 mm Canon glass?

In practice, what have you learned are most important. what are the weight problems and stability issues with each system?

Asher



Asher

 

[nicolas claris]

Bonsoir Asher
in many way, I found the settings that work for me and I get much more keepers than previously. I can now concentrate almost exclusively on the framing.

One cannot compare shooting with the Canon and the Sinar, Canon 1DS3 is much more versatile, in a way it seems easier as I may vary glass from 12 to 500 mm, but you know I don't use different length to get closer or more far, I use them for the different looking and perception they do bring.

Hence it is a bit more demanding with the MF as I have less lenses and no tele, they are also primes, what quality of glass!, so one has to be very precisely positionned to get the right framing, a much better understanding is needed between the photog and the chase boat pilot…

The MF is a less "fancy" camera, the lens length I have (40-50 and 80 mm) are gorgeous but I don't use to shot this kind of medium width, once I'll be more in depth used to them, I'm sure I will bring back more WOW images…
For now I feel like shoting more classic… a much more difficult approach than the big bang bong I get with the 12 or the 500 on the DSLR…
As a conclusion for tonight, I would say, that with the Sinar, the camera brings it's capacities, but it's up to the photog to express himself… The Canon seems to me now much more point and shoot…

During these 3 days of shoot, I always ready to shoot the Canon with the 500 (with a few exceptions) and the Sinar with the 50 or 80… very interesting…

For those interested, the Canon shots are there