Back to Shooting Derby

It had been a long time since I shot a bout. I was in Chicago at RiotFest when the last home game for the Brawlin’ Dolls occurred in September. There are some things that I can be very stubborn about, and lighting derby is one of them. I can see the benefit, but I like to motor drive it as well. The photo above was taken just as another photographers flash went off to my right. I loved the look of it. It was at that moment when I realized that I would be lighting the next bout. My one objection to most lighting is the weird shadows that it can cause. Here though I saw that a few good shots would be far better than a lot of average shots. Next year the Brawlin’ Dolls start off with some closed bouts. That would be a great chance to dial in the lights so that when they play in front of the crowd later in the year I will have a system down.

The Last Real Test For the Canon 7D Mark II

Last night I was very eager to see what the 7D Mark II would do in a darker venue. I was not upset with the performance of the camera. I played around with a few of the auto focus settings to see if any of them were better than any of the others. I really found that it didn’t matter in the dark environment. Sometimes it would pick up focus right away and hold it. Other times it would not. I have had that with other cameras though so I don’t think that it is a problem with the 7DII. It did very well though, and I would have to say that this is the camera that I will lean on for the next couple of years.

Bonus Photos

Here are a couple of photos from the game that I enjoyed.