Re: I'm sure I saw it :-)
 

On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:32:04 -0500, rfdjr1@optonline.net wrote:
: On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:20:07 +1300, Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@sum.co.nz> wrote:
:
: >Even though I live in one of the most Rugby-mad nations on earth I
: >occasionally get to see the highlights of North American football on
: >TV.
: >
: >Tonight I saw the conclusion of the game between the Baltimore Raiders
: >and the San Francisco 49ers. Right at the end there was a shot of the
: >coach and the team and all kinds of associated people gathered in a
: >circle out in the field, hooping and hollering and smacking each other
: >on the back, and laughing and crying as is appropriate for a team
: >which has just won.
: >
: >Closing in around them was ring of photographers raising their (DSLR)
: >cameras into shooting position. Just as the last of the news clip
: >closed off I swear I saw the word 'NIKON' on the front of the lens of
: >one of the cameras. Boy, I bet that guy was ****ed off!
:
: Speaking of all those cameras, what kind are they all or more likely, what
: attachments dor they have that makes the body look so huge from the back?
: Todays digital camerals don't use motor drives do they?

In a way, yes. There's no film advance to drive, but they do have to power the
motors in autofocus lenses.

: And I wouldn't suspect that they need battery packs.

Oh, indeed they do.

: Why are they so big, especially noticeable from the back.

High-end digital cameras cram in a lot of extra electronics, and this in turn
requires that the camera accommodate more and/or larger batteries. And
professionals (not unlike the rest of us) hate to have to stop and change
batteries in the middle of a shoot. The result is a camera that a member of
this group once described as "about the size and weight of a patio stone".

Do all professional photographers need these huge cameras? Probably not, but
they do perform well, and photographers are a bit like lemmings: there's a
strong tendency to conform to the type of equipment the other guys are using.
And media outlets tend to buy their people expensive cameras, possibly to make
it harder for them to claim that the quality of their equipment kept them from
getting a better shot. So you'll sometimes see someone bucking the trend (a
newspaper or wedding photographer using a 5D, for example); but more often
than not, a photographer at an important event will be carrying at least one
of those biggies.

BTW, a smaller camera with an add-on battery pack can be easily confused with
a larger camera. In my early days as a digital photographer I once mistook
(embarrassingly) a 5D for a 1D. (The other photographer and I were both
covering a wedding reception, he as a professional and I as a family member -
and unwittingly self-identified newbie.)

Bob