ADVICE FOR USING PRIMES

[cornishboy]

With the football season started I have got a 300mm prime. Its a bit of a shock after using a zoom - any useful advice for how to use it effectively? Do people pre plan shots in given areas of the pitch? How do you use the lens the most effectively?

Cheers

 

[whitey]

I would say the best way of finding out how its used is with practice

I found it strange at the start working out when to use it when to not. What I do now is use a in the opposite half and the odd occasion on the far side of the half I am covering, once action attacks to the 18 yard box I am sitting at I switch to 70-200

its alittle strange working out how far / close you can get with the 300 but once you have covered a few games you will get the hang of it

 

[Organic]

I agree with whitey. Practice, practice, practice. You 'll find once you're free from the "I can zoom-in and zoom-out" mentality that you'll start to focus more on the composition of your subject.

The hardest part to deal with is when the action gets too close but you'll soon learn to deal with it. I tend to turn away and wait for the subjects to move away.

I think initially you'll need a lot more patience, but follow and react to the action.

 

[petergrant]

Agreed - finding that common ground of what's good while zoomed in or out is tricky. And I hate watching a blurry game! The zooms vary from where your sitting though as whitey said.

 

[Canon Bob]

I use a 300mm (+1.3x crop) on one body and a 135mm (+1.3x crop) on the second for closer action....the two work well together for me. The second body is now FF so the 135mm will give way to a 200mm.

Bob

 

[Gary Coyle]

Any prime is in effect 2 seperate lenses, use in landscape mode until you fill the frame and then turn into portrait mode, hey presto, you zoomed out.

 

[bigrob]

The beauty of the prime is that you are concentrating fully on the action and not on zooming.