Monday I went to watch the Boston Marathon and took my ZX-7. I wanted to
take action shots of the runners as they went by, but I actually ended up
missing several great shots. Here's what happened:
As the runners approached, I was zoomed out to 200mm on the F 80-200mm zoom.
The camera focused and I fired off a shot. As the runners neared me though,
the camera was unable to focus on them, and the shutter simply wouldn't fire.
Sometimes I would release the shutter button completely, then press it down
again to try to get the camera to focus and fire. Again, the camera failed
to get a focus lock and the shutter would not fire.
As the runners passed by, eventually they would get far enough away that the
camera could get a focus lock and then it would fire the shutter. Lots of
shots of the backs of people's heads.
Other times, I would pull the zoom back out to the 80mm end, as the runners
got closest to me, and the camera did manage to get a new focus lock, but as
soon as I zoomed back out to 200 for the next runner, it would again fail to
focus and I could not fire the shutter.
Using a two-touch zoom manually is a real pain for action shots.
Is the ZX-7 simply ill-suited to this kind of action shooting?
Would a faster lens have helped? (It was sunny, and shutter speeds were
~1/350 in the shade to 1/750 in direct sun) The F80-200 is f5.6 at the 200mm
end.
Would a one-touch manual focus zoom just be easier than worrying about
auto-focus block? Some of the pictures might not be in complete focus, but
at least I know the shutter would fire and I'd get something.
What are other folk's experiences with this kind of action shot?
Mike Nosal
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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