'22 Junior Biathlon World Champs 16-80, 70-300, X-S10

A couple weekends back the IBU Junior Biathlon World Championships were held at Soldier Hollow, Utah, the 2002 Olympics Nordic site.

Since I ski there I thought it'd be fun to try my hand at some sport action shooting. The courses were 2.5-3.5 k inside the greater track area so it was possible to approach the track in many places with lots of different views. I even snuck up adjacent to the shooting range and got a few series before a nice & friendly track marshall suggested I go somewhere else.

Sprints were Saturday and Pursuit Sunday. To be honest I set the camera to P, DR400, Astia (for mellower contrast in high contrast setting?), 5 then 8fps, mechanical shutter, JPG only and mainly focused on trying to see composition with the different field of view, orientation, situations and AF with the 2 lenses. At first I tried AF-C wide tracking and while it would lock on the skier there were to many times where tracking would abruptly stop and the focus point would reset. A few other times the focus point indicator would switch (glitch?) to 9 point zone. So i gave up on Wide/Tracking and switched to 9 point zone and moved the zone with the joystick depending on the view and orientation. Saturday temps started cold, 10 deg F or so and warmed to 30 under clear blue skies and brilliant sun.

Saturday night i reviewed the 450 shots from that day (up to DSCF5475) and for Sunday decided to shoot aperture priority in the 4-5.6 range of both lenses as much as possible and use the E shutter at 10fps (DSCF5476 and up).

Sunday i shot another 1540 images. The day was warmer but there was intermittent cloud cover. I've cropped and minorly tuned about 60 shots of the total in CaptureOne. Here are 12 of those.

I'd like any input on things to think about next time. I'd probably chimp lots more to see where I was choosing the wrong orientation or zooming to tightly. I'd probably also shoot wide open on both lenses. Made me wonder about renting a 50-140/2.8 AF hit rate was great Saturday, whole series were in focus. Sunday was not as good but i think i was doing a worse job too at my tracking and orientation/focal length tasks.

Edit: how does one get a more consistent color, WB & brightness (if possible) across numerous frames?

Cheers!

Nice, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Artur

Great set! Thanks for posting.

Very nice set

Excellent set.

Morris

Really well done.  Thanks for sharing.

It can be tricky. Though I am one to use AWB “most” of the time, in this situation (I’d like to pretend that) I’d (remember to) set a white balance using a target and leave it locked in unless I noticed a dramatic change in the quality of the light. It might not be 100% correct for each shot, but I find its easier to create a consistent “color grade” for an album if I’m starting from a known K value. Often I can apply a “global” correction across all, or at least a large batch, of images that gets me close but I’m generally going to spend time on each of my selects.

For these scenes I’d work to get the snow correct  and consistent across images while paying  careful attention to the brighter white of the uniforms.) Once I had that down, I’d confirm that the  skin tones were where I wanted them and make minor corrections to the images as necessary. I’d mostly let the rest go unless I noticed something egregious.

That’s my approach. Look forward to hearing how others hear would tackle this.

Great shots. I've shot a few marathons with these two lenses and haven't had any qualms with either - the 16-80 is surprisingly versatile and 80mm @f4 gives decent separation and is still acceptably sharp  unless you're really pixel peeping at 200% or so.

I recently added the 50-140 to my collection and for the UK winter it was an absolute godsend. I switched from Canon to Fuji just at the start of the first lockdown so this past winter was the first time I really had to deal with lack of light for outdoor sports.

All that said, in good light I have found the 70-300 to be every bit as good and it obviously has the extra reach. For this sort of work I wouldn't rush out and get a 50-140 - although as you said, no harm in renting and you can see for yourself.

The only real downside from the 70-300 (aside from the slower aperture) is that it doesn't focus while you zoom. I initially never considered this feature (or lack of) until I got the 50-140 and being able to zoom and hold focus can be invaluable on occasions.

Very nice set, but they would have been significantly (2 full stops+) cleaner at DR100 with optimal exposure. DR400 won't change the contrast significantly, try setting the highlight tone at -1 or -2 instead (or try D Range Priority). Next time try enabling the highlight warning blinkies on in the EVF and riding the exposure compensation dial to keep the brightest important highlight detail just below blinking (for white, not grey, snow). With all that snow around, I'd expect the AWB to be pretty consistent - and it looks consistent here (I always shoot RAW and make an easy correction to all images in the same light at once if necessary). Astia typically looks good in bright sun, but I can do without the thermonuclear blues (again, not a problem with RAW), Your shots look good overall, but I would definitely avoid the blue enhancement options when shooting Astia jpegs, Astia's blues are often over the top on their own (IMO).

Erik

Your pictures look great! I especially like the close-up of the skis.

If I may ask, is the 16-80 + 70-300 a common combination for you? I also own an X-S10 and plan on buying those two lenses, and was wondering how you find them.

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Very nice set, but they would have been significantly (2 full stops+) cleaner at DR100 with optimal exposure. DR400 won't change the contrast significantly, try setting the highlight tone at -1 or -2 instead (or try D Range Priority).

Thanks much!

I do have -1 highlights as a default setting in my cam.  I tried DRP but iirc things looked unrealistically flat & doesn't DRP require some higher ISO headroom just like DRx00?

Next time try enabling the highlight warning blinkies on in the EVF and riding the exposure compensation dial to keep the brightest important highlight detail just below blinking (for white, not grey, snow).

I do have blinkies enabled and made use of it but wasn't always on top of it.  Sunday was more challenging with the in & out sun.

With all that snow around, I'd expect the AWB to be pretty consistent - and it looks consistent here (I always shoot RAW and make an easy correction to all images in the same light at once if necessary). Astia typically looks good in bright sun, but I can do without the thermonuclear blues (again, not a problem with RAW), Your shots look good overall, but I would definitely avoid the blue enhancement options when shooting Astia jpegs, Astia's blues are often over the top on their own (IMO).

Erik

I'll try RAW as well next time if it doesn't clog the buffer to quickly.  I see the strong blues now that you mention it.

GMacF wrote:

Great shots. I've shot a few marathons with these two lenses and haven't had any qualms with either - the 16-80 is surprisingly versatile and 80mm @f4 gives decent separation and is still acceptably sharp unless you're really pixel peeping at 200% or so.

Thanks!

All that said, in good light I have found the 70-300 to be every bit as good and it obviously has the extra reach. For this sort of work I wouldn't rush out and get a 50-140 - although as you said, no harm in renting and you can see for yourself.

My main thought was to be able to shoot wide open at a wider aperture to get better subject isolation.

The only real downside from the 70-300 (aside from the slower aperture) is that it doesn't focus while you zoom. I initially never considered this feature (or lack of) until I got the 50-140 and being able to zoom and hold focus can be invaluable on occasions.

I didn't know this.  I was sometimes zooming but intentionally not shooting at the same time to avoid focal length change blur in the shots.

Thanks all, it was pretty fun and such an opportunity, being able to get such good access.

doak wrote:

All that said, in good light I have found the 70-300 to be every bit as good and it obviously has the extra reach. For this sort of work I wouldn't rush out and get a 50-140 - although as you said, no harm in renting and you can see for yourself.

My main thought was to be able to shoot wide open at a wider aperture to get better subject isolation.

The isolation you have here is pretty decent, but certainly, you will get more with f2.8 - although don't expect magic separation or anything.

The only real downside from the 70-300 (aside from the slower aperture) is that it doesn't focus while you zoom. I initially never considered this feature (or lack of) until I got the 50-140 and being able to zoom and hold focus can be invaluable on occasions.

I didn't know this. I was sometimes zooming but intentionally not shooting at the same time to avoid focal length change blur in the shots.

Yeah that blur is on account of the 70-300 not being parfocal - that was the word I was searching for earlier but my mind was a blank. The 50-140 IS parfocal so, as I say, it stays in focus while you zoom.

wantfastcars wrote:

Your pictures look great! I especially like the close-up of the skis.

Thanks!  It is quite a crop from a Saturday shot.  I tried intentionally shooting some skis Sunday but didn't get the right shot.

If I may ask, is the 16-80 + 70-300 a common combination for you? I also own an X-S10 and plan on buying those two lenses, and was wondering how you find them.

I had a 55-200 and have the 100-400 that i'm trying to sell, it is just so big that while it takes great photos i don't use it so much.  Reflecting that mindset, I also have the 15-45 which really cuts weight for hiking and such.  I don't mind its idiosyncrasies because the lighter weight is so noticeable when carrying it for a while.  I like the versatility of the 70-300's close focus abilities.  And in that vein i also have the 16/1.4 which can focus close as well.

But yeah, for travel they're great as I can jam the X-S10, 16-80 (or 15-45), 70-300, godox 350 and 18/2 in a Peak Design 5L sling.

jaberg wrote:

It can be tricky. Though I am one to use AWB “most” of the time, in this situation (I’d like to pretend that) I’d (remember to) set a white balance using a target and leave it locked in unless I noticed a dramatic change in the quality of the light. It might not be 100% correct for each shot, but I find its easier to create a consistent “color grade” for an album if I’m starting from a known K value. Often I can apply a “global” correction across all, or at least a large batch, of images that gets me close but I’m generally going to spend time on each of my selects.

For these scenes I’d work to get the snow correct and consistent across images while paying careful attention to the brighter white of the uniforms.) Once I had that down, I’d confirm that the skin tones were where I wanted them and make minor corrections to the images as necessary. I’d mostly let the rest go unless I noticed something egregious.

That’s my approach. Look forward to hearing how others hear would tackle this.

Interesting! It reminds me of taking incident light readings for street photography in the 70s and then leaving the setting alone as long as the light was about the same.

Side note: Sunday I started with a fully charged Fuji battery and after 1540 shots, almost all using e-shutter, there were 2 battery bars remaining.

And-roid wrote:

doak wrote:

Side note: Sunday I started with a fully charged Fuji battery and after 1540 shots, almost all using e-shutter, there were 2 battery bars remaining.

On the battery settings did you set performance?

Yes, I had boost turned on.

Oh, and the LCD was flipped around to face the camera so LCD off the whole time.

How cold was it?  A quick Google suggests pretty warm.  Klister even?