After covering the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp, I sort of got lazy with the whole concept of what a practice is actually like. The NFL teams are so structured and they know where to go, when to go there and what they are doing.
In college, University of Pittsburgh for example, the practices are organized at a much more feverish pace. More stations, more drills, more groupings, etc. After about 15 minutes of wandering around, I realized that the practice "pace" was at least twice that of what I had just experienced with the Steelers.
For example, I'm there with my "one-two punch weapons". I've got my 1D Mark II w/ Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS attached and my Canon 1D Mark III attached to my Canon 300mm f/2.8 USM L NON-IS. Once I realized that they practiced on a "partial" field, the 1.4x TC II stayed in the pocket.
Just like at PNC Park, the 300mm was almost TOO much lens. The 70-200mm was not nearly enough for much of anything except headshots up close and anytime the ball is thrown my way, I realized that the 300mm covers an easy 50yds on the 1.3x sensor of the Mark III. I have been saying all along that the TC II had no affect on the IQ but, let me tell you, the shots were tack sharp with it off. Here's an example image below shot at 300mm, about 15yds away.
I don't think I can take a better photo than that. Maybe a better moment, different player, game uniforms... all the things that are ancillary to my main goal - grab the moment and get it 110% tack sharp and see the eyes and the ball simultaneously.
I'm going to see if CPS will loan me a 400mm prime lens for the "Friends of Coal" football showcase on 9.4.10. Seeing how that performs will be great. Maybe even the 500 f/4 during an NFL weekend. I think that might be overkill - the 400mm seems to be the staple on the sidelines of the NFL.
One thing I have noticed a lot is that I am rarely shooting at f/2.8 (wide open) unless I have a specific reason. With the high ISO performance of 1600 (very minimal noise), I am able to get a more crisp DOF at f/4.
Off to training camp tomorrow with a Mike Tomlin press conference at noon - after the morning session - it should be a good end to the training camp experience. Now to see if Emily and Dave will give me credentials for the Lions pre-season game.
