Nikon D750, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens, ISO 200, ƒ/4, 1/500
While in Florida at a family reunion, we were suddenly in the backyard watching our kids enjoying Go Karting. I started shooting this with my Nikon D750 with a Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens. I quickly realized the performance differed from what I was used to with my Nikon D4.
I returned to the car and got my Nikon D4 and Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM. I immediately went to the “Shooting menu bank” and picked what I saved as my sports settings.
Next, I went to my “Custom menu settings” and picked the setting I saved as my sports settings.
Lastly, I put the shutter release on continuous high.
To see what each of these settings are on my Nikon D4, you can read this earlier blog post on my Sports Settings for the Nikon D4.
The Nikon D750 could have performed much better, but the point of this blog post is how important it is to concentrate on the action when you need to capture a moment, not your camera.
The one significant advantage of the Nikon D4 over the D750 was 11 fps. The focus tracking and 11 fps gave me more moments to choose my best shot. In addition, the buffer is more significant, so you can shoot more frames before the buffer fills.
The best thing to know is that if you need to get the shot, you must know that you have maximized your camera settings. You don’t do this when you need a photo; you do this when you take your camera and go and practice. For example, maybe you go by a busy road and practice shooting moving traffic so you can tweak your focus settings. After you get that set, then you move to another location to set.
Once you get all the settings just right, then save them. My Nikon D4 gives me four different memory banks to save my settings.
The payoff for maximizing my camera’s settings is having a moment like this to remember my daughter and her cousin having fun.
You will pick the camera you are most comfortable with to get the photo you need, so take the time and calibrate the camera for the situations you will shoot.