Back to the Footy with a Canon Extender 1.4X III

August 2, 2015

Back to the beloved Jubilee Oval to watch the Dragons go around against the Newcastle Knights. The Dragons are in a massive form slump and its been a long time between drinks since the last win!

I have not been able to go out to a day game as I missed the last home game against Cronulla which probably was the last time we had won a game! Due to it being a day game, I decided to try my hand and grab (or hire) some equipment to see if it makes a difference before attempting to buy better equipment for my quest to become a sports photographer.

Everyone says you need a 300mm or 400mm so I made the trek out to Sun Studio in Sydney today to hire something to get me the zoom distance. It was a toss up between getting a Canon Extender 1.4X III or 300mm f/2.8 L lens. I played with both and as much as I liked to have taken the 300mm beast I decided that since I only had one camera body with me, the smarter choice was to get the Canon Extender 1.4X III. There are the obvious negatives which meant that my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L MK 1 lens was going to be stopped down to f/4 but the positive was that I was still able to zoom. So today I will be getting a reach of 280mm out of my 70-200mm. The 300mm seemed quick at focusing but the lack of zoom just got me a little worried since I sit next to the fence and will need to zoom to the shorter end from time to time.

I'm not much of a reviewer, the extra zoom did help and I got keepers that way. Apart from the aperture slow down, I did notice and had read about the focus speeds being a little slower. It did feel slower but being a newbie the missed shots may have just been me.

This has got me thinking now, where can I try the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM (Sport). I better save my pennies, I have a sneaking suspicion this may just be the lens to get me further into sports photography. I can take this in to some venues where as a 400mm f/2.8 I am sure I will need a media pass.

For those interested in the statistics, the Dragons came out on top. It was Marvel Super Hero week and the Dragons had their IronMan jersey on and the Knights had their Spiderman jersey's. They had a great start and then fell away and were trailing the Knights at half time. They then kicked in to action. So I thank the Dragons to make it such an eventful day.

OK with out further or do here are the pics. Everything was taken with the extender on the camera and paired to the 70-200mm on my Canon 1Dx.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 46 (J Dugan 2 T Frizell B Marshall W Matthews M Rein G Widdop tries G Widdop 9 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 24 (A Clydsdale K Gidley J Mamo T Randell N Ross tries T Roberts 2 goals) at Jubilee Oval. Referee: Gavin Reynolds, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 10,236.

Big Dell greets Fox presenters Braith Anasta and Jimmy Smith

Former premiership winning Dragon, Jeremy Smith

Opposing captains, Gidley in the No.1 and Jason Nightingale leads the Dragons out

Gagai holds up Dugan whilst Widdop watches on

Try Try Try, Mitch Rein crosses for the 2nd try of the afternoon, why is the Ref going to the video?

Happy Dragon is definitely happy that's 12-0

Ball and All, Peter Mata'utia locks up Clint Newton

Jack de Belin hits it up strong through the middle

Benji does the smart thing and passes before Smith gets a hold of him

Half time interval is almost done and the Flames are warming the crowd up

de Belin and Marshall are arguing who is the real IronMan

Woohhh that's lifting almost above the horizontal

Josh Dugan a 2 try scorer in this game, hits it up.. tatts and all

Duges has played tough all year, probably a bit busted after Origin but going well enough

Joseph Tapine tries to get away from Benji and Dugan

Jake Mamo... close but no cigar... NO TRY

Red and White Army are happy !! It's looking like a good Sunday arvo

Captain Creagh tells the boys, follow me and I'll lead you the way ... to a WIN!

Desperate try line defense is returning Marketo and Creagh are wrapping the Knight up

That's a bit awkward, Thompson, Aitken and Widdop all want a piece of it and Dugan watches on

And that is full time, the good old score board tells the story

Following the action

June 8, 2015

Living the dream is one thing, trying to improve and distinguish my style from others is another thing. I am a beloved rugby league fan, and a Dragon's man at heart.

Today I scored some free tickets to go to watch the Bulldogs v Dragons at ANZ stadium at Homebush. It was a day game so it was going to be fun and not push the Canon 1Dx ISO to 6400 and try and get some clean shots at ISO 800.

The task today was to try and track play as best I could. Follow through and not just shoot a pass and stop the continuous burst. Normally I stop after capturing 3 frames of action. Today I wanted to really follow through, anticipate the action but follow through the scene (or play).

After a few shots I realised that even moving around to near the fence the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS (Mark 1) did not provide me enough reach. Back at the suburban ground of Kogarah Jubilee, the fence was much closer to the pitch.

CANTERBURY 29 (T Browne S Kasiano T Lafai J Morris C Rona tries T Hodkinson 2 M Mbye 2 goals M Mbye field goal) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 16 (G Widdop 2 P Mata’utia tries G Widdop 2 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Chris James. Crowd: 27,291.

I wish to be here one day... ONE DAY ... NRL or any newspaper are you there reading ??

or does former team mate B Mozzle get away?

Big Sam Kasiano .. big is a HUGE understatement

Widdop hits the hole... kids you just need to find the hole and get the ball passed to you

Widdop running for his life not only for the try line but also to avoid big Sam squashing him

B Mozz stay away man... is it try time ?

Back to settling down and to tame the big Dogs pack

Is Brett Morris having second thoughts ? always welcome back to the Dragons

Living the dream again ...

April 18, 2015

Well trying to live the dream. With a ticket ordered a few weeks in advance and a chance to catch up with some mates, I decided to live the dream again. Front row southern side of the beloved Kogarah Jubilee Oval. Sitting behind the goals is great for footy ONLY if you are taking pics. The bad part is, you only get to see half of the game as that's about as far as the eyeballs (I'm talking about mine) can identify red and white vs maroon and gold. Thankfully there are HUGE screens to catch the action when the ball travels beyond the half way point.

This game is for the Dragons to go 5 in a row. All has turned around for my beloved Dragons after the first 2 rounds of the NRL 2015 competition. With the threat of rain imminent it's time to deliver some shots... Enjoy ... oh here are the stats first

St George Illawarra Dragons 12 (Eto Nabuli, Mike Cooper Tries; Gareth Widdop 2 Goals) defeated Brisbane Broncos 10 (Daniel Vidot, Sam Thaiday Tries; Anthony Milford Goal). Crowd: 13,029. Half-time: Dragons 6-4. On report: Dylan Farrell (Dragons).

Pete Mata'utia .. soooo close to scoring the first one of the night

Eto Nebuli scores the first try for the game, early in the 1st half

The old captain and the new... what's going on ?

Captain Creagh on the charge. Do I pick on the on the small half or the hard hitting second rower

The Dragons back slap after creating a knock on.

The new Brisbane prodigy. Anthony Milford

Cooper, our own Englishman on the charge .. who needs James Graham

Ben Hunt head to head against Benji tonight. Dragons hold a slim 6-4 lead over the Bronco's at half time

Dale Copley makes a charge down the field

de Belin and Ah Mau gang tackling Sam Thaiday

Thaiday premature celebration, that's 10-6 Bronco's charging home with 25 to go.

Cooper made strong chargers all game and deserved the winning try for the game

Daniel Vidot and Eto Nabuli at it all night. Great try saver !!