lens for Lakers NBA game at Staples Center, section PR18?

[barry]

Hi,

Going to a Lakers NBA game at Staples Center soon; they have extremely onerous camera rules so getting the 40-150mm Pro lens into the arena is very unlikely.

From seats in section PR18, would the Oly 45mm be useful at all?

How about the 40-150mm Oly 'kit' lens? Is there enough light in Staples for it to be usable?

I also have a 70mm f2.8 Pentax Auto 110 lens, which is small enough to sneak in, but IME manual focus on moving subjects can be very difficult, and I'd have to order the adapter ($20) and it may not arrive in time.

I'd be using my E-M1, btw, if they don't stop me at the entrance.

The only other game I've been to at Staples was in a box seat, and was very high up, and I really can't tell how close PR18 is.

Thanks,
Barry

 

[Drdave944]

The best lens for this is the f1.8 75mm Oly . I have used it for football games in day and night situations .It is very inconspicuous if you take the lens hood off.

 

[Jonathan F/2]

I knew somebody who would frequently bring a Nikon 80-400 VR and DSLR body to the Lakers games. I think you'll be fine bringing a bigger lens. Saying that, I agree something fast like the 75 1.8 would be ideal!

 

[adamsmt2013]

Double check policy. NFL just change policy that no telephoto lenses are allowed in the stadium. Cost me a five mile round-trip walk to the car to store it.

 

[Replytoken]

Can you rent the 35-100? It is quite small for a constant aperture lens.

--Ken

 

[eteless]

Double check policy. NFL just change policy that no telephoto lenses are allowed in the stadium. Cost me a five mile round-trip walk to the car to store it.

You can get around that by using a view camera lens which isn't a telephoto design, I mean you may make some people angry when you hit them with the bellows/extension tubes... but it isn't a telephoto lens.

 

[barry]

Hi,

Staples' policy is now no cameras with interchangeable lenses (previously they allowed lenses shorter than 3" in length).
I don't have the Oly 75mm or I would try to get it in.

Is there any point to try with the 45mm, or is it just too far?

Thanks,
Barry

 

[John M Flores]

Rent the Panasonic FZ1000. Or sit back and enjoy the game.

Oh wait, it's the Lakers though.

Rent the Panasonic FZ1000.

 

[tg9413]

Rent the Panasonic FZ1000. Or sit back and enjoy the game.

Oh wait, it's the Lakers though.

Must be easy to shoot a Lakers' game now, the ball is glued to one dude's hands.

 

[barry]

Rent the Panasonic FZ1000. Or sit back and enjoy the game.

Oh wait, it's the Lakers though.

Rent the Panasonic FZ1000.

Interesting specs... is F/4 (at the long end) fast enough?

Thanks,
Barry

 

[John M Flores]

Interesting specs... is F/4 (at the long end) fast enough?

Thanks,
Barry

Yeah, the court should be lit well enough. A couple of years ago I shot a Harlem Globetrotters game with a 1" sensor - Nikon 1. The long end of the zoom (300mm EQ) was F5.6. I had to use ISO1600 a couple of times but the 1" sensor did fine, and I'd presume that the Panasonic sensor is better than the Nikon 1".

EXIF data should be available for these shots. Just click through to Flickr.

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_DSC0611.jpg by john m flores, on Flickr

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_DSC0638.jpg by john m flores, on Flickr

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_DSC0646.jpg by john m flores, on Flickr


What I don't know about the FZ1000 is whether or not it has the DFD AF of the GF4.

 

[barry]

Yeah, the court should be lit well enough. A couple of years ago I shot a Harlem Globetrotters game with a 1" sensor - Nikon 1. The long end of the zoom (300mm EQ) was F5.6. I had to use ISO1600 a couple of times but the 1" sensor did fine, and I'd presume that the Panasonic sensor is better than the Nikon 1".

EXIF data should be available for these shots. Just click through to Flickr.

F/5.6 on a couple of your images... and they look great!

I think I'll try to sneak the 40-150 R kit lens in... it's not huge.
I've heard they don't usually dig through women's purses (I'll have to convince my wife to take one), and I can put the 9mm BCL on the camera.

Thanks!
Barry

 

[HarryS]

The published policy prohibits ILC's but you might get lucky. This guy did.

http://website.tactic.be/2014/11/26/can-you-bring-your-camera-to-the-staples-center-in-la/

 

[eteless]

The published policy prohibits ILC's but you might get lucky. This guy did.

http://website.tactic.be/2014/11/26/can-you-bring-your-camera-to-the-staples-center-in-la/

In the guys fisheye shot it looks... deserted... is that normal?

 

[barry]

In the guys fisheye shot it looks... deserted... is that normal?

The Lakers aren't playing very well this year, but Lakers games with other good teams are selling lots of tickets at fairly high prices.

Barry

 

[DynaSport]

The somewhat arbitrary restrictions some venues/organizations put on camera gear is very aggravating, but personally I wouldn't try to 'sneak' anything in that didn't comply to their rules. Even if you are successful, you run the risk of being asked to leave in the middle of the game.

I recently went to the Outback Bowl and they posted that you couldn't take a camera in over 12 inches long. That worked for me because my G5 and P100-300 is several inches under that. But they also had very irritating bag restrictions, so I just took the camera without a bag. I thought about taking a shorter lens as well so I could take pictures where 100mm was too long, but I decided to just use my iPhone for that. But then when I went into the stadium I didn't think they were very diligent about enforcing their rules. I saw several people walking around with bags that clearly violated their policy.

I guess you never know how strict they are going to be when enforcing the rules. At the Tampa Bay Rays games I have to go through a metal detector and they look through your bags. They didn't do either of those things at the Outback Bowl.

 

[Drdave944]

If you use a small camera like a GF series Panny or an Oly Elp 5 or 7 the people at the entrance will not know if the lens is interchangeable. Put on a pancake lens or even the 45mm.
The worst thing that can happen is you will have to take it back to your car.

 

[barry]

So... I was able to get into Staples on Sunday (vs Trailblazers) with the following in my wife's smallish purse:
E-M1 with 9mm BCL and Joby Ultrafit strap attached
Oly 17mm
Oly 45mm
Oly 40-150mm R f4-5.6
one spare battery
and a wool scarf for padding.

I chose an older female security checker; she commented about 'a lot of stuff' in the purse but said nothing else.
I had put the 17mm lens in a side pocket, and the other 2 under the scarf, but she dug through everything anyways.

From where we sat, 40mm was enough to get almost all of the court in frame. Most of my shots were zoomed, probably around 130mm but I'd need to confirm. 150mm was too tight - player and ball not both in frame when passing, shooting, etc.

I didn't end up using the 45mm as I was able to use the 40-150mm 'wide-open' at ISO 500 and get 1/120 - 1/160 shutter speeds.
The camera kept changing exposure on different parts of the court, due to dark backgrounds in the seats, so I ended up in Manual mode. The exposures will still vary as zooming was changing the Aperture, but I wasn't seeing any blown highlights. I'm sure there'll be more noise from some underexposure though.

I tried ISO 800 but was seeing a lot of noise when 'chimping' so I switched to 500; the ball is often blurry but the players looked OK in-camera.
I haven't gone through the shots on the PC yet; will try to post some when I do.

Barry

 

[HarryS]

I have heard that Staples uses metal detectors. Not true?

 

[barry]

I have heard that Staples uses metal detectors. Not true?

Yes, but bags are hand-inspected.

Barry