ALL: Best camera for sports

B

Bon

Member
Hi everyone,what started as a hobby making football hype vids has turned into paid work filming youth football games.
started last year with a hand held canon hg10.did the job for dvd production but this year i will be filming the 9 team league and posting 15 games a week online.

bought a sony ex1 for the playoffs last year but i'm not sure i want to keep the camera, weird stuff happening with the turf when tracking a player.not sure if it is camera or bad settings by me.

i will need to purchase 3 more cameras and have been looking at the ac90.
i don't care if it is 1080 or 720 60fps.
the cameras will be used by others so i would like something pretty straight forward to use.a real good auto focus would be good that keeps a nice sharp image.
would prefer a camera that uses sd cards.

what concerns me with the ac90 is the nd filter,as all games will be played between 8am and 2pm.will i be able to attach an nd filter and leave it on even if it starts to become cloudy or clouds clear to a sunny day.
i would prefer the camera operators to not have to change fitlers during the game and just adjust iris.

the evf concerns me though.i think it has around the same pixel count as the ex1,so it will probably be ok,though would like better.

if anyone has experience with sports shots would love to hear from you,especially the ac90.
willing to hear about any brand of camera that would be good for sports.
budget will be between 2 and 3 grand per camera,new or used.

cheers
bonstonker
 
I shoot gobs of sports with my AC 160 for a local High School. I am in no way great at what I do but I really enjoy it. Here is a link to the first game I shot with my 160 http://video.losmadrids.com/?p=1050. I have gotten a bit better with my settings since, but some of them are bad because I rushed or just experimented with settings. There is a category for football videos but the older ones "pre" Oct 2011, were shot with my DVX100b.
Since getting my AC 160, I shoot a lot from the top of a press box since the zoom covers what I need. I also shoot with auto focus enabled 90% of the time since it works quite well for the most part. Shooting a scoreboard with small bright lights in it will cause the auto focus to not lock on and go into so panic searching.
As for the daytime shooting, the AC 160 has built in ND filters so I don't have that issue, sorry.
I cannot say how pleased I am with AC-160. Is it perfect, no, but it’s perfect for me and what I do.
 
@apachekahuna..... very nice recordings.

I have an AC160A that I use mostly for stage/music events and documentaries. I am usually about 60 -100 feet away. The 22x zoom is great.

The AF looks like it works fine - the recordings you made all seem to have been done at night which shows the low light capabilities of this camera. It would be nice to see a clip that you made during the day.

Having on-camera NDs is great - it is troublesome enough to have to shift these manually so the AC90 protocol might prove to be an issue. I do most of my focus, zoom, iris, stop/start via a Studio 1 Productions ProZoom remote. No remote I know of will adjust the NDs remotely.

The VFR feature on the AC160 might be of interest.

There is quite a price diff between the AC90 and the AC160. Makes it difficult to pick.
 
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Bon said:
i don't care if it is 1080 or 720 60fps.
Click to expand...
AC90 and AC160 do both. AC130 is only 60p at 720.

the cameras will be used by others so i would like something pretty straight forward to use.a real good auto focus would be good that keeps a nice sharp image.
Click to expand...
I would probably vote for the AC90.

would prefer a camera that uses sd cards.
Click to expand...
All the AC's use SD cards.

what concerns me with the ac90 is the nd filter,as all games will be played between 8am and 2pm.will i be able to attach an nd filter and leave it on even if it starts to become cloudy or clouds clear to a sunny day.
Click to expand...
Yes. I would probably recommend a 3-stop filter (ND .9) or 4-stop filter (ND 1.2). With that attached you should be able to shoot throughout the day in auto mode, as long as we're talking about daylight! If you start filming night games, that filter would have to go.

the evf concerns me though.i think it has around the same pixel count as the ex1,so it will probably be ok,though would like better.
Click to expand...
EVF is not great, it's small and low-res. The AC130/AC160 EVF is about the same size but is much sharper. But it's certainly fine for framing, etc.

Oh, and congrats on finding a way to turn a hobby into a booming business!
 
@kwkeirstead, Thank You,

I have video of a soccer match at about 3:00 pm last fall, may be of interest to @Bon also. Good bright Arizona day. Off hand I am not sure what my ND setting was but my best guess would be 1/64 possibly 1/16. The Video Doesn't have much ground level stuff during the game, but it was at daytime. At the end I zoom in pretty well.

Always learning here for sure.

http://video.losmadrids.com/?p=2471
 
Regarding the ND filters, I believe the AC90 is like my HMC40 in having automatic internal ND filters. Which is actually very suited to your needs, as the operators wont necessarily have to fuss with adjusting them manually.

The slight issue is that the RANGE of the internal NDs isnt quite wide enough to cope well with a bright sunny day. Adding a fixed ND, as Barry suggests, provides a good solution - it shifts that range of the internal NDs to a more appropriate range for outdoor filming - that range can then encompass full sun, cloud, etc.
 
The fantastic depth of field that the AC90 has would make it ideal for this usage. It would insure that all of the action is sharp and in focus.

B&H Photo has lowered the price of the AC90 down to only $1,739, making it an incredible value.
 
thanks for the responses everyone.
and thanks for the footage apa,you have a good range of shooting conditions for me to consider.

if i was to go with the ac90,would this nd filter be the one to go with.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/21902-REG/Heliopan_704937_49mm_Neutral_Density_ND.html

i see a wide range of price points with different brands.anyone done tests with different brands.
don't want to compromise picture quality because i went cheap with filters.
 
Hi Bon, that is the ND filter that I have been using with my AC90. Delivers great image quality...

I am using the Xume filter system so that filters can be removed quickly, if need be...and I find it reliable and convienent to use...however, it does mean that the lens cover cannot be used while filters are attached. So, I invested in a portabrace lens hood, that slips over the lens hood for protection...got the 3.5x5 version...tight fit to put on, but removes easily.
 
The Heliopan or the nicer B+W are both good choices. I use the Xume system as well and it is really nice. Easier to use than I thought.
 
xume package looks good,i think it will come in handy for a wedding shoot my wife told me i had to film next month.
not sure how easy it will be to match with the ex1 though.
i seem to keep on coming back to the ac90 in my camera search.when i have to make a compromise it seems the ac90 is the one for football and what i want it to do.plus that price point is so juicy.when i add filters,rain cover,bag, batteries,sd cards and manfrotto fluid monopod,i fall right in my price range.
think i will take the plunge on 1 and play with it over the next month and make a decision if i will purchase 2 more.
 
Well, if you purchase from B&H photo, they actually have a 30 day customer satisfaction guarantee. So if you actually find that you don't like the AC90 after using it a few weeks, you could still return it for a refund.
 
took the plunge and went with the ac90 with 183 kata bag,extra panny battery,heli 0.9 nd filter and xume adapter starter kit for $1805.00.
very happy,hopefully i feel the same when i test it out.
 
Bon said:
took the plunge and went with the ac90 with 183 kata bag,extra panny battery,heli 0.9 nd filter and xume adapter starter kit for $1805.00.
very happy,hopefully i feel the same when i test it out.
Click to expand...

Bon, did you purchase from B&H Photo? Sounds like a nice deal to me!
 
The AC90 would be a great camera to use for sports. I video horse shows, and on Barry's advice bought an AC90 in March rather than the AC130 or AC160 to replace my Canon XH-a1 mindDV. I shoot everything in 60p and burn AVCHD hi-def DVDs - my camera has about 50 hours on it according to a menu selection. I love the camera so much that I purchased a second one earlier this week (from B&H) for my assistant to use for a big upcoming show. The great depth of field (manual focus set at M93) keeps everyting in sharp focus. I have 2 64GD SD cards and configured the AC90 to write duplicate clips - that gives me about 5.5 hours - although I have never had a problem with a corrupted SD card. The zoom is quite sufficient - I use the rocker and love the"soft" start/stop. I could not imagine a better video camera for my needs.
 
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