I knew going into the game that the lens wasn’t long enough, so sideline shooting was the way to go. Surprising, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Sure, it was just a tad short, but it did the coverage. The zoom speed could keep up with the plays. I didn’t have a problem following the action. Another surprise was the deep DOF. I didn’t expect that.
I did setup a tripod at the end zone. I used a lanc Varizoom controller. Using the Varizoom, I was able to follow the action. I did play with the speed knob. It seem near the fast setting.
Exposure was around 5.6 with gain at 12 dbs. No noise in the picture. Exposure varied about a half a stop.
The only funny thing that came out of this testing was color. The reds would vary a bit. It seems all other colors were good. Unsure if it was an user error? I was testing the HG1 setting under the HG Gamma menu? Shooting HD. The field is evenly lit. Rare for a football field. Also the lights are not 56k. More in the 44k area.
I have shot with an ENG camera and the colors were fine. Shooting from a press box and from the sidelines.
My FS7 is setup with a Zacuto camera plate and a Switronix AB plate for power. I have the Sony arm straight out, similar to an ENG lens, but shorter. I could rest my elbow against my body. Balance is great with the plate and an brick.
Overall, the camera did good. The 2x crop would have come in handy. I did notice that trying to set focus on a moving target was a pain, but a still player was a piece of cake. The camera only used .4 volts during about 2 hours plus the camera was on.
Depending how far the sport action is and how tight of a shot is required, the 28-135 might be okay with the 2x crop.