[Leica] Re: Sports Photography

["Sal DiMarco,Jr." <sdmp007@pressroom.com>]

Luggers,
    Any camera is usable for sports photography. It is just a question of
how much you wish to limit yourself.
You can use 8x10 view camera to cover a football game. (to use a ridiculous
example) Since the camera has no viewfinder, you have to set up and focus on
one spot and wait for the action to come to you. You'll have world class
photographic quality, but a mediocre action picture.
    As you increase the flexibility of your equipment, you increase your
chances for getting better action photos.
    Autofocus and motorized cameras are not essential to good sports
photography. A good eye and good reflexes are.
    If you want to see the best in sports photography, I suggest you look at
Sports Illustrated magazine. Their photographers are the very best. Week in
and week out they have the very best in action photography.
    Due to my association with TIME Magazine, I have had the chance to meet
and sometimes work with some of these shooters.
    What they all have in common are, an intense love of sports and an
understanding of their tools.
    They all know autofocus and auto exposure are a features not crutches.
They have all learned to manually follow focus and know when to turn off the
AF feature. They all know auto-exposure is great when you shoot the
quarterback in bright sunlight and then shift down field in the shade to
shoot the receiver, but they know when AE will be fooled.
    While, SI photographers are known for shooting enormous amounts of film
on an assignment (40 rolls is not uncommon on a football game), they also
realize an eight frame per second motor drive does not guarantee capturing
peak action. Timing does.
    These features allow a good photographer the ability to further
concentrate on getting better pictures, not guarantee them.
Happy Snaps,
Sal DiMarco,Jr.
Philadelphia, PA