12 Replies Latest reply: Mar 11, 2008 11:21 AM by John_Cornicello_Photo RSS

    Roller Derby Advice

    badchess Community Member
      Anyone ever shot roller derby?

      Is there a good spot to shoot from? Good lens size?

      I assume the light will be bad so I'll probably go with a 135mm F/2 lens and crank up the iso.
        • 1. Re: Roller Derby Advice
          Allen Wicks Community Member
          Nikon D3. :)

          Set the white balance in advance to a gray card. I agree with the fast lens.

          IMO events with fast moving subjects look best when movement shows in the pix, so I would experiment with slower shutter speeds (1/15-1/60), lower ISOs, various different DOF, and panning (also not panning but stable camera platform and slow shutter, interesting background).

          Personally I usually find fully frozen subject/background movement pix to be very boring, but the short DOF from that sweet lens may even allow some frozen pix to look good. So try some f/2 1/300-1/500 pix if ISO allows it without too much noise (make sure the camera's auto noise reduction is on if you bump the ISO up).

          Perhaps the best thing about DSLR is we can try things, chimp and change as needed.

          Check and see if you are allowed in the arena with such pro photo gear without a press pass for the event. Even though most venues ignore point-and-shoots many disallow pro gear like a DSLR with f2 lens attached. Also check if flash is allowed, because flash fill might work well. The point-and-shoot folks get away with all kinds of things that security disallows for pro gear.
          • 2. Re: Roller Derby Advice
            Ann Shelbourne Community Member
            >The point-and-shoot folks get away with all kinds of things that security disallows for pro gear.>

            Because the officials don't think that the pictures will "come out" so they ignore you!

            On my recent trip to China I was able to take photographs in numerous museums and temples where photography is forbidden because I was using a small unobtrusive hand-held camera with fast lenses and Portra 800.

            While being able to use a larger format camera and a tripod would have been wonderful, I would have returned home without any of those photographs!

            Sneaky wins .

            ;)
            • 3. Re: Roller Derby Advice
              Ramón G Castañeda Community Member
              >take photographs in numerous museums and temples where photography is forbidden because I was using a small unobtrusive hand-held camera with fast lenses and Portra 800.

              One of the reasons I never leave the Leica rangefinder behind. :)
              • 4. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                Ann Shelbourne Community Member
                Nice quiet shutter on those Leicas is another advantage.

                My RB67 would have been useless far too visible and a shutter/mirror mechanism that goes off like a rifle-shot!

                (Unfortunately I am also beginning to find the RB67 far too heavy to lug around all day too.)
                • 5. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                  Community Member
                  Ann,

                  I've got two RZ's and understand about the size. For even better lenses and almost complete silence, pick up a good used Mamiya 7 with a couple of lenses. It's like having a medium format Leica with the most unbelievable glass you'll fnd anywhere including the amazing 43mm. There are people who think their M7s aren't working because they can't hear them.
                  • 6. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                    Ann Shelbourne Community Member
                    That is an idea. Peter. which is well worth looking into. Thank you.
                    • 7. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                      badchess Community Member
                      I had a presspass and they were OK with flash (which surprised me). .

                      I also had a cold so wasn't at my best, and didn't experiment with panning as I would (and should) have liked.

                      Lighting was even worse then I feared. I stuck with very high iso (iso 3200 with canon D1iii) and got some OK pictures, though not nearly as good as I had hoped. Really wish I could afford some strobes to hang in the rafters.
                      • 8. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                        badchess Community Member
                        http://weeklyvolcano.typepad.com/spew/2008/03/how-the-throwdo.html

                        In case anyone wants to know how they turned out...

                        As I said, I was not pleased, but mark it as a learning experience/practice.
                        • 9. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                          LRK 2 MeganK
                          Philip,

                          I'd say you did very well with these. Thanks for sharing!

                          Linda
                          • 10. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                            John_Cornicello_Photo Community Member
                            I didn't realize you were a local! I'm up in Seattle.
                            • 11. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                              badchess Community Member
                              We should get together for a photography field trip sometime John! Ahhh, PageMaker, I started using it before it was an Adobe product!

                              Thanks for the kind words Linda, I'm a pretty fierce critic of my own stuff often. Well, usually. Almost always.

                              Some of it might be I was looking at the photos (including the vast proportion of outtakes) at 100% or 200% on a 21 inch monitor, rather then the smaller final product, and that might color my recollection.

                              And I try to keep telling myself "It was dark, I was sick, and these aren't too bad for the conditions..." I wish I would have tried the panning technique though.

                              Still, for ISO 3200
                              • 12. Re: Roller Derby Advice
                                John_Cornicello_Photo Community Member
                                Are you on Flickr? There is a great/large group of local folks who get together regularly for photo strolls, field trips, product demos, etc. at http://www.flickr.com/groups/seattlemeetups/