This was a test to discover whether my new FZ1000 can manage indoor basketball.
Result: With some reservations, yes, it can.
I had previously photographed
junior indoor basketball with good results using a Panasonic GH4 with
Lumix 35-100mm f2.8 lens. I find this
sport very difficult to photograph due to the boys' unpredictable style of
play.
You can see this particular game is an uneven contest. The
small boys in blue had been winning all their games in a lower age grade so
they got bumped up to play with the older boys.
Who won as they should, but not
by an overwhelming margin.
Camera Settings:
Memory Card: Sandisk Extreme Pro, 95MB/Sec, UHS1.
Drive Mode: Burst M.
I shot in short bursts of 4-5 frames, allowing the camera time to write
files to the card between bursts.
White Balance: Auto. The lights at this venue produced a strange color which was difficult to correct
in Photoshop Camera RAW.
Focus Mode: AFC
Autofocus Mode: 1 Area, with the AF box size 4-8 of 15
counting up from the smallest. For readers seeking guidance, do not use the AF
Mode called Tracking.
Mode Dial: S Priority
Shutter speed: 1/320 - 1/400
Mechanical shutter. A shutter speed of 1/500 or faster would have been desirable but I wanted to keep the ISO
settings down as far as possible.
Auto ISO
Quality: On this occasion I used RAW capture. At other times I have used JPG which allows
longer bursts but gives less opportunity for post processing.
Viewing: EVF
Comparison with
GH4/35-100mm f2.8
Benefits of GH4
It is my impression that the
GH4 kit has slightly faster AFC with the lens used.
The GH4 pictures are less grainy at high ISO settings.
Due to the above I am able to use faster shutter speeds with
the GH4.
In consequence of all three factors I found the GH4 kit
produced a higher percentage of sharp frames than the FZ1000. Some frames from the FZ1000 were as sharp as
anything from the GH4 but quite a few were just slightly less crisp.
With the GH4, in about 85% of frames that part of the
subject under the AF box was sharp.
With the FZ1000 I put that figure at about 60%, with many
frames in focus but not quite sharp due to the relatively slow shutter speeds
used.
Benefits of FZ1000 The
built in 16x zoom allows me to photograph action or spectators at the other end
of the court then in 3 seconds be ready with the wide angle to capture basket
attempts.
Note that the FZ1000 will not zoom and focus simultaneously. The technique is to alternate between zooming and focussing.
Note that the FZ1000 will not zoom and focus simultaneously. The technique is to alternate between zooming and focussing.
I actually saw more photo opportunities with the FZ1000
because of the big zoom range.
Summary If I were a professional basketball
photographer I would not use the FZ1000. But for family record photos it
performs very well indeed with a decent percentage of keepers.
These results add to my growing discovery that I really can
photograph almost anything with the FZ1000 and come away with a good number of printable photos. This camera is much more capable in a wide
range of challenging situations than any other fixed zoom lens camera I have used previously.
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