Looking At Processes, Where Do I Turn For Sport

My kit is a mixed one, because my needs are varied.

It has stills and video elements, two brands and formats, kits of varying shapes, because I do a lot of different things and sometimes the same things different ways. So, what do I do, what do I use, when and why.

Outdoor sport.

This has been a staple lately, something I am extremely comfortable with and my kit is becoming so very intuitive.

EM1x + 300mm (cross body black rapid lens strap), EM1x 40-150 f4 or 2.8 by light (cross body camera strap), with a 25, 8-18 or 12-60 in a small bag if needed for teams shots and other angles depending on the sport and job dynamic, with a third body (EM1.2, EM1x or G9) if speed matters more than compactness.

Occasionally, for bright light, low speed sports like cricket, I will use the capable 75-300 or 40-150 + 1.4x (the fixed 300 can be too long on some grounds). If the game is on a small field like tennis, the 300 will just be left behind.

The full frame equivalent of 80-300 and 600 is about perfect for football.

Indoor sport.

This falls into two categories, bad and decent light (rarely good light).

In poor light, which is most of my basketball and netball, I will use a EM1x + 75 f1.8 for the far ends of the court and second and the 25 f1.8 for the close end. This varies little. I can capture most of a basketball or netball game from the mid point with the 75 (150mm ff-e), but that is not always possible, often the court end is all you have, so the duet is more practical.

If the light is good, I will switch to the 12-40 and 40-150 f2.8 pair.

A location capable of all light types depending on the level of sport. National grade basketball is indoor sunlight, local netball, very much reduced.

Sport is all about getting the job done, not much else. You can be as creative and prolific as you wish, once you can guarantee the shot is captured sharply and cleanly. My limits on M43 are ISO 6400, 1/500th lens wide open at f1.8-2.8, which can handle anything people are expected to watch.

Better is always better of course, so when 1/1000th is reached, the ISO comes down. One advantage of M43 is the extra depth of field gained for a focal length. At a given magnification you have effectively 2 stops more depth, so f1.8 = 2.8, f2.8 = f5.6 etc. A 600mm lens (full frame equivalent) is a 300, so wide open at f4 (f8), there is plenty of depth to play with for the amount of effective light gathering which is not affected.

Sometimes there is a little too much background info, but post processing can always reduce that, it cannot add in missed depth.

The format’s prime lenses are universally sharp wide open, so no issue there either.