Run!!!!

Run!!!!, originally uploaded by john m flores.

Via Flickr:
That's my nephew, breaking towards second base with all the velocity his little legs can muster. Gooooo!!!!!!!!!

Shot with the Panasonic GH2 mated to the Panasonic 100-300mm F4-5.6 zoom. I was beside the right field foul pole when I took this. These are my first experiments with this setup in fast moving situations, so I fiddled with different focus modes and focus modes. I also had to fiddle with image resolution as the number of pictures and the speed of capture vary depending upon how many megapixels each image is.

My big concern was viewfinder blackout, but in this particular case it wasn't an issue. This photo is that last in a sequence of 10 photos as he ran from first to second base. He in the center of the frame and in focus for all but the first two where he is on the left of the frame and the camera mistakenly focused on the batter behind him. User error I suspect.

Would the camera be able to track a gazelle as it ran from first to second? I don't know - anyone have a spare gazelle to loan for some tests?

As far as image quality, it's good. Not stellar. Not tack sharp and not a ton of subject separation. With some more practice, I could probably dial in this setup a bit more, but will it ever approach APS-C? Hard to say.

In the Pentax world, I'd need the DA* 60-250 for this shot, a much bigger lens. That's important to me, since I rode to this game on my motorcycle, camera in a messenger bag.