I have an Olympus E-510 DSLR, which is not a popular choice against nikon and canon, but i think there lenses are really good even on the lower end, and the features packed in the body are great, even if it means being stuck to the 4/3 format, which i'm fine with. I took my new lens to limoges, the 70-300 (f4-5,6) which is an 140-600 equivalent in 35mm film. I've shot most of the pics in 800 and 1600ISO, 1600 is a bit too much on my frame size and get really noisy/grainy.
Hey, there have always been other names besides Canon & Nikon, and I've certainly heard good things about Olympus (and they're official sponsors of the US Open Series, besides). I'm definitely impressed with the results! I figured you had to be using at least ISO 800, and yeah, I don't really like going any higher than that either. It's possible to get some decent pics that way, but not really if there's too much action in the shot.
I shoot in Speed mode (S) and try to find the right balance between the speed/ISO/focal range. To ge a steady shot of a player in action, it's hard to go under 1/160s, 1/200 ou 1/250 should work out but try no to move too much. Here it was indoors, so I compensate on +5EV in order to still get enough light on the pics.
Whatever lens you use, try not to go to the end of the range, where it mostly is less efficient light wise, it's better to use in the middle range and resize it after, IMO.
Wow - you were using that low a shutter speed?! I take back what I said about steady hands - you're a human tripod!!! :worship:
Completely agree about the zoom range on the lens - the quality falls off if you go all the way out (which is normal for pretty much all lenses) especially for action shots. I've been pretty pleased with mine when I go for "still" shots all the way out at 300mm, but for action - nah.
I personnaly prefer to set my white balance manualy after a few try, than to leave it on manual where the result can vary too much (specially with pink background and clay color... it's hard on the eye! LOL)If i need to,
I use the gimp to edit the pics.
:worship: Your geek credentials are now firmly established. :worship:
I tend to leave WB on auto and if I need to do any color correction, I'll do it after the fact - but that's just personal preference. It's better to not have to do the post-processing, but I'd rather not have too many settings to tweak when I'm shooting and just concentrate on the subject. Which, let's face it, is well worth focusing on - pun intended. 
:lol:
Just for the idea, i shoot over 500pics and there about 30 that i like (it's hard to have an original point of view after a while) and unlike the official photographer, i'm not allowed to move around the stadium. (
BTW i saw corinne "at work", she really know what she is doing, and i would have loved to be able to shoot with her equipement just for a try!)
:hearts: I'm so jealous!!! I'd love to see her at work / see what gear & settings she uses / basically, just be her apprentice for a day. (Wait, that means I do nothing but carry around a ton of gear... uhhh... well, you know what I mean. :lol
Yeah, the one thing I'm really envious of is the kind of access those official media types get. For a start, they're SO much closer to the action, and that makes all the difference. I'd be interested to see what kind of shots I could come up with if I were able to shoot from the same place(s)!
I do the same - shoot waaaaaay too many pics and then drown in them afterwards (for some reason, tennis is like that). I never did make it through last year's IW pics, but I'm doing much better with this year's.
I'll be back tonight normally with more pics
