apocolibri
Member
Thanks David,
Just don't let it get rusty or gather too much dust. Forums like these can often bring about a costly inertia to find the best possible image maker. It's easy to get swept up in this inertia and overlook what you might have in your hands. Before you know it... the DMR is sold or on the top shelf in the closet and you're shooting with something that can't give you what the DMR can, with a little discipline.
It's very hard to beat when long glass is needed for distant or small subjects. It's not the fastest camera to work with... but several years ago I shot the Superbike races at Infineon and I was the only shooter in the press paddock who had manual focus. The other seasoned press photogs had 1D2N's and 1D3's and looked at me like I was some kind of nut case. I was the brunt of their jokes until the end of the first practice session. I shot with the 400 and a tripod and they were shooting with their 100-400's. After the first session, we all returned to the press bldg and everyone downloaded their images onto their laptops. All I heard were moans. Everyone complained that the early morning light was too flat and their auto focus was more out-of-focus. They all fiddles with their cameras as if trying to figure out how to set up the thing. They had all been shooting at 8 fps so there was a lot of junk to be deleted.
I walked over to a group of photogs with my MacBook Pro and asked if they thought what was on my screen was "acceptable"? The question was somewhat innocent as this was the first motorcycle race I'd shot in over 25 years.
The reaction was pretty amazing. First they looked at the laptop, front and back. Then they looked at the DMR and lens sitting by my backpack. Their expressions were quizzical and totally mystified... as if I was either cheating or there was something akin to alchemy being performed (there was). I had been shooting Ben Spies as he leaned into turns, puck in contact with the pavement, and you could read every word on his helmet and bike clearly. They then looked at their cameras and lenses and for a second I thought they were going to dump their gear in the many trash cans throughout the room. I had one frame per second, or less, but my frames were keepers and theirs were deleted.
Learn to use what you have. It might surprise you.
L
Just don't let it get rusty or gather too much dust. Forums like these can often bring about a costly inertia to find the best possible image maker. It's easy to get swept up in this inertia and overlook what you might have in your hands. Before you know it... the DMR is sold or on the top shelf in the closet and you're shooting with something that can't give you what the DMR can, with a little discipline.
It's very hard to beat when long glass is needed for distant or small subjects. It's not the fastest camera to work with... but several years ago I shot the Superbike races at Infineon and I was the only shooter in the press paddock who had manual focus. The other seasoned press photogs had 1D2N's and 1D3's and looked at me like I was some kind of nut case. I was the brunt of their jokes until the end of the first practice session. I shot with the 400 and a tripod and they were shooting with their 100-400's. After the first session, we all returned to the press bldg and everyone downloaded their images onto their laptops. All I heard were moans. Everyone complained that the early morning light was too flat and their auto focus was more out-of-focus. They all fiddles with their cameras as if trying to figure out how to set up the thing. They had all been shooting at 8 fps so there was a lot of junk to be deleted.
I walked over to a group of photogs with my MacBook Pro and asked if they thought what was on my screen was "acceptable"? The question was somewhat innocent as this was the first motorcycle race I'd shot in over 25 years.
The reaction was pretty amazing. First they looked at the laptop, front and back. Then they looked at the DMR and lens sitting by my backpack. Their expressions were quizzical and totally mystified... as if I was either cheating or there was something akin to alchemy being performed (there was). I had been shooting Ben Spies as he leaned into turns, puck in contact with the pavement, and you could read every word on his helmet and bike clearly. They then looked at their cameras and lenses and for a second I thought they were going to dump their gear in the many trash cans throughout the room. I had one frame per second, or less, but my frames were keepers and theirs were deleted.
Learn to use what you have. It might surprise you.
L