How About a Separate Sports Video Forum?

[J. Stephen McDonald]

The title says it all.

[Chris Soucy]

The title says it all.

This isn't SKY.


CS

[Laurence Janus]

I guess there could be room for a forum about techniques for filming moving objects.
Full of things like deep-DOF, fast pans, zooms, autofocus and high frame rates.

I would be really interested to read about all that!

[Tarik Peterson]

Would this fit under the previously proposed changes to the Wedding / Event Videography section? If you seperated the wedding piece out, the sports stuff would seem to fit in with the "Other" Event video stuff.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Tarik Peterson

the sports stuff would seem to fit in with the "Other" Event video stuff.

The "Event" stuff is pretty particular to birthdays, Bar/Bat/B'Nai Mitzvahs, retirements and other similar sorts of stuff. Sports shooting is radically different - often multicamera live switched, VERY fast paced, followed by periods of sheer boredom...

[Tarik Peterson]

Agreed, I guess I was thinking more of some parent/ grandparent shooting their kids in high school sports or even those people doing recruiting videos and/or highlight videos.

[Don Bloom]

Yeah, sports is a different animal. I've done footaball, both pro and high school, Nascar, (robotic) baseball (HS and JR college) and basketball and there is little if anything in common with events and weddings other than knowing how to operate the camera.

While baseball can be fun it is kind of slow moving, football, well you need to be on your toes (I have been tackled) and of course it depends on where you're postioned. End zone is far different than sideline which is a lot different than pressbox etc., basketball is faster paced and you nned to be ready for anything (yeah I've been knocked over on the court also) and NASCAR, well following a car at close to 200mph is a trip in itself.

I know there aren't that many people here on the forum that do sports compared to the number of people that do weddings and other live events but sports is a whole different thing.

Maybe a sub-forum for threads and video clips!?!?!

Sports and news to me has always been similar to my time in Vietnam. Hours of boredom, moments of terror. Hmmm, come to think of it, weddings can be pretty much the same. ;-)

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Don Bloom

well you need to be on your toes (I have been tackled)

CFL football, Winnipeg Blue Bombers sideline - had to grab my cable puller by the scruff of the neck to get out of the way. Never been tackled but MAN that was close!

Also almost got hit by the ski on a snowmobile at Sno-X when it left the track at my position in the corner - I just fell straight back and it went over my chest, missing me by less than 3 feet.

[Don Bloom]

isn't it funny. Do this long enough and think of the story's we could tell. The best part is no one would believe them except us!

Gotta love it! I really miss shooting sports. Good stuff!

O|O
\--/

[J. Stephen McDonald]

I'm pleased by the interest in this proposal. I'm really hoping for a sports forum or sub-forum. Shooting sports as part of a multi-cam, wired set-up, where each operator has only brief periods of responsibility, is very different than doing single-camera coverage of an entire event. When I've done track meets, it's like a 6-ring circus and getting at least some of all the events is a big challenge. For awhile, I was using a full-size Beta camcorder, but eventually shifted to smaller cams with autofocus. The amount of usable footage increased a lot with that. Something like the Sony XR500 and its close relatives, which are great in dim light, would be my choice for such sports events.

I'm going to try my Sony HX1 photo camera, using its 720p HD video mode, on a track meet this weekend and am expecting good results. This is the Pepsi Invitational in Eugene. The 640mm video FL and tight AF of the HX1 will come in handy and it is also excellent in low light. Compared to other CMOS cameras, especially those with large sensors, the motion artifacts are minimal. I expect the same would be the case with the XR500 group. I'll put up a link to my coverage of that meet on Vimeo and those in my region can compare it to the commercial broadcast coverage on the Oregon Sports Net. I'd be interested in what camcorders others find most suitable for full, single-camera coverage for sports events.

Here's a link to a track meet video I shot 14 years ago, with a little Sony TR700. There's information about the equipment along with the video. It is almost entirely unedited, except for a few bits at the beginning and about 99% is just as I shot it. http://www.vimeo.com/10577962

[Shaun Roemich]

Hey Don, here's a pic of me operating the swing seat for the Manitoba Moose (the Vancouver Canucks farm team in the AHL) at the last game in the old Winnipeg Arena, home of the much maligned Winnipeg Jets for so many years...

GO JETS GO!

<sorry, had to>

[Shaun Roemich]

And one of me and my belly at a Winnipeg Blue Bombers game, east side "Fan Cam" - across the axis of action so only fans and visitors' bench.

[Chris Hurd]

Wow, round lens hoods! That takes me back.

We can certainly do this, but it might have to wait until after NAB.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Wow, round lens hoods! That takes me back.

Sony UVW100's - 1/2" BetaSP one piece camcorders. 16x Fuji's on them. 6.5mm or something.

And remember those pics are at LEAST 5 years old...

[Don Bloom]

and a handsome man you are. lol!

the 100's had to lov 'em.

I have no pics that I can share but I can say I would have burned them anyway.

Seriously, I started thinking about stuff as we got this thread going and man I remembered a bunch of stuff that happened to and around me when I did a lot of sports. Can't remember all the details but I DO remember a lot of it not being too humorous.