Sharpness - technique over gear

[wendellt]

hate to bring up one of these threads

but i finally found someone who is the definitive reference to shrapness

Randy Brooke ace runway photographer for over 30 years
he usually shoots film but when he moved to digital he
used a canon Digital Rebel XT with a sigma lens for fashion weeks around the world from technique he can produce better images
than others using better gear like a markII

at Ny fashion week he upgraded to a 5D with a sigma 120-300 lens
he was kind enough to allow me to post one of his images note this one is a reject, most of his work is on an agency site

he does use in camera sharpening but even though you can still see the quality of the image

jpeg unedited canon 5D sigma 120-300
http://www.zeduce.org/images/fashion/runwayComp/randyBrookeMaraHoffman.jpg

here is my best shot, this is as sharp as i can get with my newly calibrated d2x and 70-200 with my current technique around 1/250 ISO250 f4.5
http://www.zeduce.org/images/fashion/runwayComp/wendellRosaCha.jpg

technique over gear anyday

i assisted randy at NY fashion week as 2nd shooter and bag holder

[jdear]

wow his photos is damn sharp...!
did he give you some tips as to his techniques?

you shot RAW wendell?

thanks for sharing!

Jonathan

[wendellt]

for press we all shoot jpg for speed
also the photoeditors cant use raw to much time wasting

speed is the name of the game

shoot perfect and upload to getty

the only things i learned from randy were

he shoots higher iso to get higher shutterspeeds like 1/400 get crystal sharp runway images

prob with that is nikons at high ISO produce lots of noise so i was always forced to shoot at 1/250, depending on how fast the mdoel walks and how shakey i am this shutterspeed can still produce blur

at times randy shoots at ISO1600 1/800 f4.5
power to canons for better noise handling

most of his tricks i guess is the way he focuses on the model tapping slightly on the shutter freuquently not relying on auto focus tracking systems

back in the 80's he shot runway with film and a manual focus
lens thats hardcore

[big pix]

thanks wendelit....... it is the same technique I use for shooting birds ...... unless they are in flight

[Pehpsi]

Thanks for posting, always interested to others' work. Both great shots too. I can't believe that was one of his rejects!! That would be on the top of my list..

His standards must be pretty high..

[wendellt]

it's a reject because model is looking down
and half blinking

technically though its an ace

[Pehpsi]

I see. Makes sense, and shows just how little I know about this stuff

[ATJ]

he shoots higher iso to get higher shutterspeeds like 1/400 get crystal sharp runway images

prob with that is nikons at high ISO produce lots of noise so i was always forced to shoot at 1/250, depending on how fast the mdoel walks and how shakey i am this shutterspeed can still produce blur

at times randy shoots at ISO1600 1/800 f4.5
power to canons for better noise handling

If that is the case, it is gear over technique. The gear is allowing him to shoot at ISO 1600 and still get low noise.

I'm not saying that he also doesn't have great technique, but I bet he couldn't get the same results with a currently available Nikon.

[radar]

thanks for that Wendell.

Andrew, as you say, the ability to shoot at higher iso for the Canon is an advantage and it makes the photographer's life a bit easier. However, I suspect that even if he was using the same gear as Wendell, he would still get great shots, probably better then the Canon shooters too, he would just modify his technique accordingly. So technique would still win over gear, imho

cheers,

André