Indoor Ball Hockey using GH3 and 100-300

There has been a lot of discussion recently about m43 being able to shoot sports.  I have already made earlier posts about the benefits of using an RDS so won't re-hash it again here but want to say that I used my RDS (red dot sight) for these.  These were taken the first day I got the RDS and this is my first attempt at using it for sports.

As noted in the title, lens was the 100-300 which was actually a little too long for this.  The 45-200 would have been better.  I was switching back and forth between AFS and AFC modes in high-speed burst, testing out the camera AF performance.  The GH3 AF performance was very good!  Also to note: I was sitting higher up in the stands of the arena, and in all the shots, I was firing through the surrounding glass.  If you notice a fuzzy line through the middle of the picture, that is the top edge of the glass...  Also, the ISO's ranged from 2500 to 6400, and I was just shooting in program mode.  If I had the 35-100 f2.8 or the 75 f1.8, they would have come in real handy.

I don't think these are really good, all things considered, but for a start I think they turned out ok and with more practice, and also using a faster 2.8 lens, the newer generation m43 bodies are very capable of indoor lower-light sports.  Thanks for looking at the pics.

I'm surprised you stopped action so well with a 1/200 shutter speed!

All things considered the camera and lens performed well, it appeared more snapshot than composed or predicted action but having tried my hand recently at a pro ball game I found seating to be the ultimate limitation for getting great sports action and not the system.  Well done.  I like he Cannon ad in shot 2 also for he t2i....

The 35-100mm would have been great for these shots. However, the 75mm F1.8 probably would have worked as well.

The 100-300mm really is an outdoor lens. You have to be in a very large building for 600mm in 35mm terms to be necessary.

Shots looked pretty good though. I little too much motion blur for my tastes. However, those are good for what you had to work with.

PC Wheeler wrote:

I'm surprised you stopped action so well with a 1/200 shutter speed!

I give credit to the RDS in helping me track the players while they were moving around the arena.  As long as I kept my target in the RDS sight, the AF would get most of the shots in focus.

mpgxsvcd wrote:

The 35-100mm would have been great for these shots. However, the 75mm F1.8 probably would have worked as well.

The 100-300mm really is an outdoor lens. You have to be in a very large building for 600mm in 35mm terms to be necessary.

Shots looked pretty good though. I little too much motion blur for my tastes. However, those are good for what you had to work with.

Agree - the 100-300 was not needed here.  I know for the next time.  I would love the 35-100 f2.8 but will have to see how much of this type of photography I am doing before I can justify it.