College basketball: Chico State loses to Sonoma State

[Bob32]

These shots were taken last Friday night when the Chico State Wildcats hosted the Sonoma State Seawolves. The performance of the Wildcats didn't reflect their 14-4 overall record, and even though they led 35-30 at halftime they eventually succumbed 62-59.

As usual I shot the game from corner locations due to the baseline being off-limits except for media types. Camera: D700 + 85 mm. f/1.8. Exposure: Manually set at 1/640, f/2.5, and ISO 5,000.

I'd have included a couple more shots except that while complying with the 800 pixel limit vertically they exceed the 800 pixel limit horizontally. One was 1200 x 572 and included some very cute cheerleaders!

I'll have to review your guidelines for posting to determine if there is provision for making space between photos and inserting comments about each photo. In the third photo player #44 at 7'0" is the tallest man on the Chico State roster and is seen making a dunk shot that brought a resounding cheer from the Wildcats fans.

Comments are welcome.

Bob

[SmartWombat]

I particularly like that last shot.

I'll have to review your guidelines for posting to determine if there is provision for making space between photos and inserting comments about each photo

If you add the images to your gallery, then you can use [ IMG ] links to the gallery to put the images in between the text instead of attaching them to the post and havng them all after the text.

[Bob32]

Paul,

I'm pleased that you find special merit in the last shot.

I was going to ask again if with the Wombat moniker you are in Australia, but I came across your bio and discovered that you are situated in England near Oxford. By an interesting coincidence I just met an English lady who recently joined our local camera club and is a talented photographer. I don't know if she has what is referred to as a Cockney accent, but I had a difficult time understanding her. I didn't catch the name of the city she was from but I did discern that it is near Oxford. If she were any more English I fear that I might not have understood anything she told me!

At times I've entertained thoughts of visiting England, but haven't yet firmly decided to do so. The thought of shooting some rugby games there is stimulating. I saw and shot my first rugby game about three years ago and developed an instant attraction for the game. There are a limited number of rugby games played locally, but I enjoy shooting rugby action whenever I have the opportunity.

Bob

[Old Timer]

Excellent quartet of images. You are sure on top of the peak action.

[Bob32]

Thanks, Larry.

When the players are going up for shots like this I usually shoot a burst of 3-5 images at 5 FPS. Typically only one shot out of the sequence qualifies as a keeper. The rest are trashed.

Bob

[Old Timer]

Basically when shooting under the basket I use the same technique, and your right generally only one out of the 5 or so will qualify. You're shooting the D700 do you use the grip? If so you can boost your fps to 8 with the AA battery option. I find 8 fps gives more options and improves my number of good keeper.

[Bob32]

Larry,

Last year I bought the grip for the D700 but have seldom used it. I'm a senior citizen and prefer to travel light when shooting. To me the grip added too much bulk and weight to the camera. It was especially objectionable when I had my 70-300 or 80-200 on the camera. Ugh! Therefore, the grip has sat unused after I tried it a few times. Lately I have been using my 50 mm. and 85 mm. primes more than usual, and it has occurred to me that I might try the grip when I am using these much lighter lenses. It would help in shooting the mostly vertical shots taken during basketball games.

I never tried adding AA batteries to the grip to obtain the 8 FPS. That would only add to the weight problem! No doubt the 8 FPS would help in those bursts where presently there's not even one keeper. However, I'm still voting for the "lighter is better" option.

Bob

[Old Timer]

Larry,

Last year I bought the grip for the D700 but have seldom used it. I'm a senior citizen and prefer to travel light when shooting. To me the grip added too much bulk and weight to the camera. It was especially objectionable when I had my 70-300 or 80-200 on the camera. Ugh! Therefore, the grip has sat unused after I tried it a few times. Lately I have been using my 50 mm. and 85 mm. primes more than usual, and it has occurred to me that I might try the grip when I am using these much lighter lenses. It would help in shooting the mostly vertical shots taken during basketball games.

I never tried adding AA batteries to the grip to obtain the 8 FPS. That would only add to the weight problem! No doubt the 8 FPS would help in those bursts where presently there's not even one keeper. However, I'm still voting for the "lighter is better" option.

Bob

I sure understand the part about the weight. The AA's do add some weight but I love having the vertical release makes shooting a sport like basketball where 95% of my shot are vertical anyway a whole lot easier. Just added a grip to the D7000 also, it helped so much with the sports photography even though there was no increase in fps (still 5) it made for a better handling camera. I'm shooting basketball with the Nikon 28-70 f2.8 and the 80-200 f2.8 both are pretty weighty, nothing compared to the 300 f2.8 that I shot soccer, football and baseball with. The 300 usually will go on a monopod and it makes it much more manageable. As you know I'm defiantly a senior citizen photographer too so I do pay attention to weight and ease of use.