3 ms·

There's definitely a technique to it. I rented a Canon 400mm/2.8 lens for SeaFair (with numerous military flybys) back in the day. On the first pass, I was ex

There's definitely a technique to it. I rented a Canon 400mm/2.8 lens for SeaFair (with numerous military flybys) back in the day. On the first pass, I was extremely frustrated as I was learning how to shoot with the lens (very fast objects, and a very heavy lens). I mistakenly tried to do it all with the viewfinder rather than keeping both eyes open so I could get good aim/framing. The second pass I got better, and by the third and later passes I was doing pretty well. It's still not cheap (I think I paid about $200 for a three-day rental from LensRentals, but that would give you practice time), but it could be worthwhile for the championship, playoffs, etc.

mrandish 2y ago
That 400mm f2.8 is a nice lens. I ended up buying a Tamron 70-300mm f2.8 for around $400 to shoot volleyball. It's one step down from top tier premium level but got good reviews and worked well enough. The zoom and constant aperture helped for v-ball. Another upside is that it wasn't as large or heavy as the top premium glass. Another tip for shooting anything like v-ball is to get a good carbon fiber monopod and pair it with an Arca Swiss quick release. Flexible and very fast. I think to really shoot indoor v-ball well requires a specialized high-end sports camera like the Sony A9-II matched with a 300-600mm f2.8 premium lens. I was shooting with a Sony A1 which is a great all-around top pro camera with fantastic auto-focus ($6k when new) but the A1 was the generation before the flagship cameras came with buffer pre-record which is the killer feature for v-ball. That feature loop records a second or so of full res frames at >20fps so that when you press the shutter button it saves frames up to a second back in time. V-ball evolves so fast it's basically impossible to anticipate the moment of the hit (hitters change up their swing timing on purpose to fake out blockers (and photographers)). Pro sports shooters must develop inhumanely fast twitch reflexes. The new A9-II has that buffer pre-record feature. Having neither pro-level reflexes or the pre-record feature, I was left with "spraying and praying" (and then reviewing for hours).

mrandish 2y ago

That 400mm f2.8 is a nice lens. I ended up buying a Tamron 70-300mm f2.8 for around $400 to shoot volleyball. It's one step down from top tier premium level but got good reviews and worked well enough. The zoom and constant aperture helped for v-ball. Another upside is that it wasn't as large or heavy as the top premium glass. Another tip for shooting anything like v-ball is to get a good carbon fiber monopod and pair it with an Arca Swiss quick release. Flexible and very fast. I think to really shoot indoor v-ball well requires a specialized high-end sports camera like the Sony A9-II matched with a 300-600mm f2.8 premium lens. I was shooting with a Sony A1 which is a great all-around top pro camera with fantastic auto-focus ($6k when new) but the A1 was the generation before the flagship cameras came with buffer pre-record which is the killer feature for v-ball. That feature loop records a second or so of full res frames at >20fps so that when you press the shutter button it saves frames up to a second back in time. V-ball evolves so fast it's basically impossible to anticipate the moment of the hit (hitters change up their swing timing on purpose to fake out blockers (and photographers)). Pro sports shooters must develop inhumanely fast twitch reflexes. The new A9-II has that buffer pre-record feature. Having neither pro-level reflexes or the pre-record feature, I was left with "spraying and praying" (and then reviewing for hours).