KYSA Cup Kamloops

A couple of trips to Kamloops over the long weekend and four soccer games later we have a bag of new memories from this great soccer tournament. We do not have a great end result to brag about this year but a couple of tied games gave us plenty of excitement. The girls can be proud as they never gave up. Thanks to the coaches for all your hard work and for spreading such a great tournament atmosphere.

(Tech Talk Warning)

In the first shot below check out the great view I had in the last game on Sunday in Kamloops. The second shot below shows my main soccer setup. It is a Canon 1D Mark III with an EF 300 2.8L IS. Depending on the shots I am after I shoot this lens with or without the 1.4x extender. Using the extender the focal length goes to 420mm with a max aperture of f/4. The first photo above is the 1D with 300 + 1.4x extender. On day one of the tournament I chose to travel light and shot only with the EF 135 2.0L on the 1D III and the EF 16-35 2.8L on the 5D II.

Check the link to see all the shots from the 2010 KYSA Cup Tournament.

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This Week in Soccer

It has been another great week of shooting soccer. Last Wednesday I was at Marshall and dropped in on a couple of Vernon Men's City League games. I haven't shot men's soccer in a while so it was great fun being out in the evening sun getting a feel for the action. Check the link here for more shots from the two games.

The Vernon United U15 girls played a even match with Kelowna United on Sunday. With only one sub on the bench the Vernon Team had to work hard for the 0-0 draw. More photos from the game via the link.

Now only 23 days to the World Cup Start in South Africa. I am ready by the phone if either Getty Images, Reuters or AP should give me a call. I would clear my schedule. Call me: 250.503.8472 :)

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Soccer: Seaton vs. Revelstoke

This time of year I spend a lot of time on the soccer fields and always with my camera gear within reach. Three games were on the agenda this week. Two high school school games are done and a league game is coming up on the weekend.

(Tech Talk Warning)

I have been experimenting with different setups over the years and find it quite rewarding now to be shooting with my dream setup, a Canon 1D Mark III, EF 300 2.8L IS + the 1.4x extender . For some of the games lately I have been using a two camera setup; the 1D with the 300 attached and a Canon 5D Mark II with the 70-200 2.8L. This allows me to shoot action almost all across the field with the 1D and when the action gets too close I turn to the 5D II. I am so enjoying shooting with the 1D due to three factors: First the autofocus tracking is a significant step up from anything I have used in the past. Second, shooting 10 frames per second ensures me that if there is some good action the likely hood of capturing is vastly increased. Third, I really like the look of the files if you nail the shot. I also try to shake things up from game to game. On Monday I shot the whole game with just the 1D and the 70-200. Other times I may throw on a different lens altogether in order to get a different look.

Check my soccer galleries from some of the early spring games.

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Snow Geese

I was out shooting wildlife with Henrik in the lower mainland on Saturday. It was a gorgeous crisp spring day and the mountains on the horizon were stunningly beautiful with the recent snow we have had. We were chasing raptors all day without much luck due to a low tide and somewhat windy conditions but it was still a stellar day where the highlight was a flock of snow geese spooked by a low flying eagle.

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Vernon United U15 Girls - Icebreaker Bronze Medals

It was cold on the soccer fields over Easter but we all warmed up the end as our Vernon United U15 girls finished strong and took the bronze medals at the Icebreaker Tournament played in windy Winfield. This was my first soccer outing with my Canon1D Mark III and I really enjoyed efficient autofocus tracking and the high frame rate shooting at 10 frames per second. Check out the slideshow below or link to the soccer gallery.

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Canon EOS-1D Mark III Review

This review has been updated. Please link to the Updated Review

An unscientific camera review by Morten Byskov - mfoto.ca

Another camera has found it's way into my bag. After much debate I decided to sell my Canon 5D and grab a Canon 1D Mark III. I have been very happy with my 5D but after I got a 5D Mark II in March of 2009 the 5D took a back seat and has mainly been a back up camera. I got the chance to grab a used 1D Mark III, which had both AF fixes done and was indistinguishable from a new camera. For some time I had been eying out the release of Canon's 1D Mark IV but disappointingly it comes in at $5000.00 US and as a 1.3x crop camera. The 1D III currently goes for about half of this and although the 1D III also is a 1.3x crop and doesn't shoot video it still gives shooters many of the benefits of a 1D series camera.

EF 300 2.8L IS, f/3.2, 1/400, ISO 1600, click to view larger image

I think the 1D III will work better for me as a compliment to my 5D II. Better than the 5D due to the higher fps. and AF tracking. I have now had some time to give it a test and have shot volleyball, hockey, theatre, portraits in my studio and also an engagement sessions.

EF 300 2.8L IS, f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 1250, click to view larger image

If you have tried a 1 series camera before you will know that these beasts just feel different. They are built to withstand some abuse and long term use in a variety of climates. We are talking about better weather sealing, which may come in handy for me while shooting ski races. With that said I can't say that I have ever had trouble with any of my Canon bodies in the past. I do live in a dry climate and even when it snows you can just brush the snow off the camera. The 1D III however does feel very solid and is a pleasure to use. It is very responsive from the get go and shooting 10 frames per second inevitably leads to more keepers while shooting sports or wild life.

EF 85 1.2L II, f/5.0, 1/160, ISO 100, click to view larger image

My findings on the auto focus tracking have not disappointed, nor have they exceeded my expectations. Much have been written about the AF issues of the 1D III. Even I have expressed my concerns prior to making a jump for one. The first thing you discover is the fact that the camera has quite a few custom settings and so far I find that it really pays off to adjust and experiment with these until you are comfortable and find a usable setting for what you are shooting. The ability to pick different and better individual focusing points is a real asset and I find myself doing this more and more as the outer points are more reliable than on the 5D cameras. Shooting hockey and volleyball I got more keepers than when I shoot with the 5D cameras.

As for image quality even I had concerns shooting with a 10.1 mega pixel camera versus the 5D II with 21.1. The trick is not to compare the files but find how the two camera can compliment each other. For cropping you cannot beat the 5D II but if you can fill the frame the AF tracking and frames per second makes up for it on the 1D III and you should end up with shots you otherwise wouldn't have been able to capture. I have noticed, and this did not come as a surprise to me, that the portraits taken in my studio has a wonderful pop and pleasant skin tones using the 1D III. For landscapes or wide angle shots in general there is little doubt that the the 5D II creates nicer images. Again it comes down to using these two camera where best applied.

EF 135 2.0L, f/2.2, 1/320, ISO 1250, click to view larger image

EF 70-200 2.8L, f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 2500, click to view larger image

Link to other reviews:

Canon EOS 5D II

Canon EF 16-35 2.8L

Canon EF 85 1.2L II

Canon EF 135 2.0L

Canon EF 70-200 2.8L

Canon EF 300 2.8L IS

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Volleyball - Kelowna Meet

The girls played another three games on Sunday at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna.

Link to my SmugMug site to see all the photos.

(Tech Talk Warning)

My post today will be very tech talk oriented as I am contemplating the addition of new camera.

I am looking to pair my 5D with a second camera so I put myself through a bit of a shootout at todays volleyball game. Using the Canon 5D, 5D Mark II and 1D Mark III. Unfortunately I had to shoot JPEG with the 5D II as I do not have software to convert the RAW files. Just working through my raw footage the 1D generally produces more keepers due to better AF and FPS.. no surprise here. The files were a tad bid better than the 5D files.. again no real surprise. This was the second time I got to try out the 5D II and I liked it more this time. However it seemed I had to shoot at a higher ISO to obtain the same exposure... ie. on the 5D and 1D III, I was at 2.8 1/500 ISO 1250. For the 5D II I had to bump the ISO to 2000 to get what looked like similar results. And in post processing it still seemed that these files were a bit under exposed. I am in no way out to bash the 5D II here and it would have been nice to shoot RAW here. You can certainly see the extra MP in the files but I had to get used to the LCD and reading the histogram in order to trust my exposure. I suspect it would take some getting used to no matter which camera I decide to pair with my 5D. Volleyball is far from all I shoot so the decision will be based on much more than this. In the end I think you could get good results with either camera. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how well my 5D did in this test but also realize this is the camera that I am used to operating. Thanks to Carl and Christina for lending me gear. It is much appreciated.