I have my Basketball process down these days. Practice is needed to keep my “eye” in, as with most things, but the actual process is so comfortable, I can pack and go with as little gear as possible and know I will be ok.

This example is from a game today for the school, their 1st team against of all teams, the other school I worked for last year. Odd that I knew the other schools players better than my own teams, but year 11’s from last year are on my radar, year 10’s from the year before less so.

Anyway, back to the process.

I use two cameras, one for under my nose, one for the other end of the court and approach.

The first is an EM1x in “three boxes stacked” focussing configuration and the 75 ,1.8 Olympus.

This allows me in M43 terms a 150 f2.8 full frame equivalent with enough quality (thanks to the f1.8 aperture) for clean, robust ISO 16-3200 images even in the not-so-great light of the local basketball centre.

I use this lens for play at the other end, usually my teams defensive end,

then follow the play out of that end,

and hold your nerve as long as you can as the players move towards their attacking hoop.

It is also ideal for 10-rows-up bleacher shots, something that adds another dimension,

and is especially handy if you are at your defensive end and cannot get to the other easily.

The lens is also the best option for free-throws or bench shots, ideal for portraits of a player, the mood of the game or record keeping.

This is the left hand sorted. I used to have this on a strap, the second camera on another strap, but it could become a tangled mess and was sometimes even too slow in swapping. I now just hold the camera with a hand strap for security. I am not zooming so the second hand is not needed for the second camera.

The second camera (EM1.2) holds the wide or the near-action lens. This can be anything from a 9 to 30mm (18-60 in FF). The most used are either my 15 Leica or 17 Olympus, the 15 a favourite in this particular setting as it’s colour seems to like the lighting a little more (on an Olympus camera).

The frantic action under the basket can be captured from the sides, but players usually block something important. You are mostly guaranteed an unobstructed view from the end as long as you stay out of the umpires way.

Even with the 9mm, which I used once for a basketball camp, not a game, there is tons of room for cropping and re-shaping as needed, but also some sense of grandeur and you get enough players to make sure everyone is covered. I use the widest aperture and a larger 3x3 focus grouping in the middle of the frame and just keep the action there.

The second camera is on a strap over my right shoulder. I find grabbing this one handed, either vertically or horizontally is easy and fast, but only if I hold onto the other camera, not try to switch between two dangling, strapped cameras.

When I shot televised JackJumpers games for the paper, these lenses were swapped out for the the 40-150 and 12-40 f2.8 Pro lenses on a pair of EM1x cameras, but the lighting on these courts is not strong enough and the zooming or extra depth of field at f2.8 are not needed. I also could not move around at those games, so I sat with one camera in hand and one on the floor in front of me.

The floor at that venue could hardly have been harder. I remember that even with a neoprene pad to sit on, my biggest issue after a game was not getting back and processing before deadline. It was being able to walk to the car!