The ceaseless march of technological progress makes camera gear made just a few years ago seem hopelessly inadequate if you listen to marketing materials and people on camera forums prattling on about which camera/brand is best as if they are talking about sports teams. It’s an odd dichotomy–photographers bristle when people suggest that their photos are nice because of the nice camera that they have yet at the same time seem to be seeking every technological advantage to make taking photos easier.
So, last Friday I went to see photograph indoor ice racing at the Sun National Bank Center arena in Trenton NJ…you know, the kind of event that brings out the white F2.8 zooms and full-frame cameras with built-in grips? I came woefully under equipped, with a nearly 5 year old DSLR, 6+ year old lenses, and a 5+ year old flash made by a company that just declared bankruptcy. Not only that, but the camera and lenses in question (a Pentax K-5 with DA*16-50 F2.8 and 50-135 F2.8 zooms) were never known to be good gear for action even when they were new. In other words, I brought a knife to a gun fight.
But sometimes a little bit of experience and practice can make up for not having the latest and greatest. The flash let me stop down the aperture to get decent depth of field. The decent low light performance of the camera let me pump up the ISO to let me power down the flash to 1/32 for fast recycle times and capture some ambient light. And getting onto the ice for low shots right up close to the action helps the shots convey the energy of the racing. And my, was it fun racing.
