Now this was a fast Camera!

[CropDusterMan]

You might think so but if your timing and focus was right (that's where the talent comes into play) it was more like 90-100% in-focus, correctly framed shots. Spray and pray was not the way to go, that was the sign of amateurs.

Absolute nonsense. I guess you were the only one out there with an F2 then.

 

[Paul Howell]

You might think so but if your timing and focus was right (that's where the talent comes into play) it was more like 90-100% in-focus, correctly framed shots. Spray and pray was not the way to go, that was the sign of amateurs.
Click to expand...

Absolute nonsense. I guess you were the only one out there with an F2 then.

I agree, there times when events are unfolding so fast that a high speed motor drive is the best way to capture the event. Integrated high speed motor drives, fast accurate auto focus and auto exposure were sold to pros not to amateurs. Pros jumped to EOS 1s and F5s for a reason.

 

[CropDusterMan]

"Spray and Pray"...? Often times in and event like this, or football for instance, you are there to cover a specific athlete or player that is part of an editorial story...in instances like these and any sports photography
for that matter, you HAVE to come back with the goods...this equates to a deep edit potential of usable
images. How are you going to stand there in front of an editor who is questioning why they even assigned you when everything you shot is soft and unusable? I was privileged to have assisted the finest sports photographers at Sports Illustrated regularly when I was beginning my career, often shooting as a second photographer for them and I also sat and edited with them...and that is an experience in itself...composition, technique, foresight in a situation...these are the lessons learned. You show me a sports photographer who
says he always nails it with one shot, I'll show you a sports photographer who is full of hot air.

Also, no professionals I know ever use auto-exposures though...back in the day (me still) carried ambient light meters.

 

[Sim2]

A bit cautious to drop into the 'discussion' however the motor drive blast was not the answer to all situations. It enabled you to be ready for the next frame as quickly as possible but it would not guarantee a sharp image. Sports such as motor racing, downhill skiing for instance, when shot head-on, if you saw it sharp in the viewfinder then took the shot, the picture would be out of focus. One had to predict when the subject would be sharp when the shutter opened, so most of the time the event was not really seen properly when you were shooting! Standard motor drives just were not fast enough at 6fps to do a blast of a g.p. car head-on at 170mph and guarantee one would be sharp. Even the 100m in athletics, the remotes trained on the finish line had to be a wider view than just one lane otherwise the depth-of-field could be so narrow or the timing to be just out that it missed the actual crossing the line moment.
Having shot some of these events with 300/2.8 or 400/2.8 and processed and seen film from Sports Illustrated photographers I have some experience in this area.
The Eos1 and eventually Nikon contribution were taken up as predictive follow focus was much more predictable than manual follow focus. Not everyone could follow focus with a 400/2.8 but with the eos, they could! Hence, purchase. That and the spectacular perfomance of the 600/4 and 200/1.8 really swung the vote away from the Fd's.
Interesting to see different peoples perceptions of shooting with motor drives though.

 

[Paul Howell]

I know pros who used auto exposure, well once auto exposure got really good with the EOS 1 and F 5, in the day when I was still in college and wanted to be a pro I shot with a Konica T and shot shutter speed priority, later in the Air Forced I to Nikon F, and had traded in my Konica gear for a F with motor drive, all manual, but there were times I missed auto exposure, like days with quick moving clouds. I have never cared for aperture priority I always want to control the shutter speed. When I shot with a F3 it was always in manual, after my F3 was ripped off I bought a Sigma SA7 and latter a 9 which I shot for years, and used shutter speed priority and P mode for flash.

 

[CropDusterMan]

A bit cautious to drop into the 'discussion' however the motor drive blast was not the answer to all situations.

Just to be clear, I didn't say it was. I shot professional cycling in Europe, much of it from a motorcycle, and most of the time with fill-flash, single frame, much of it
shot with an RZ. Obviously, AF, motor drives, these are all tools for the sports photographer...I'm taking a difference to the flawed mentality that using AF
and HS motor drives is the act of an amateur. That's retarded. In the end, it all comes down to a deep edit...having multiple images to choose from. There is a reason that a magazine like
Sports Illustrated will have 5+ Photographers covering the Kentucky Derby (+potentially pulling images from Wire-Service guys), strong edit. Each photographer will not
only shoot several cameras but will also have remotes set up triggered electronically...
Why?...more potential images for your edit. The HS camera plays in here.