Pushing the Olympus E-P3 to Do What It Was Not Designed for — Catching the Ball on the Bat at a Not So Well Lighted Baseball Game — Fun for the Childish (Like Me)

© 2013 Peter Free

 

07 April 2013

 

 

Fun with timing at the ballpark

 

I get easily bored sitting around watching other people do things.  If I have a camera handy, I divert myself by catching moments of interest.

 

This is more fun when the camera I have is not well designed to do what I intend.  Like a couple of nights ago, when I took the Olympus E-P3 to an evening baseball game.  Its now obsolete sensor doesn’t work well in low light.  And the kit lens is too short (and too slow) at the telephoto end to work at the distances involved.

 

I challenged myself to catch the ball hitting and coming off the bat.  Both without using the camera’s continuous shutter mode.

 

 

Examples

 

The shutter speeds and f-stops were dictated by the limits of the kit lens and trying to keep the ISO low enough, so that I could get something useful out of the camera sensor.

 

Below — the “big” picture from a well-timed shutter click:

 

Big picture showing bat hitting baseball during a game, taken by the Olympus E-P3 in low light.

 

Below — a close-up of the ball and bat (cropped from the big picture) — ISO 800, 1/200th, f5.6:

 

Close up crop of bat hitting baseball taken by Olypmpus E-P3 in relatively low light.

 

Below — a just hit ball:

 

Photograph showing a just hit baseball, taken by an Olympus E-P3 under poor lighting conditions.

 

Below — a close-up of the ball in its initial flight (cropped from the above photo) — ISO 1600, 1/200th, f4.3:

 

Close up crop of just hit ball, taken by an Olympus E-P3 in poor light.

 

 

And more fun

 

I also tried to get a swing and miss and a foul ball into the batter’s box.

 

Below — crop from the swing and miss — ISO 1250, 1/320th, f4.4:

 

Close up crop of a photo showing a swing and miss, with baseball in view, taken by an Olympus E-P3 in moderately dim light.

 

Below — crop from foul hit directly down — ISO 1250, 1/320th, f4.4:

 

Close up crop of photograph showing a baseball batter hitting a foul into the ground at his right foot, taken by an Olympus E-P3 in low light.

 

Below — what turned out to be a perfect bunt, crop — ISO 1250, 1/200th, f4.2:

 

Close up crop of a photograph showing what turned out to be a perfect bunt, taken by an Olympus E-P3 in low light.

 

 

Caveats

 

If your shutter speed is too slow, the ball can become a disappearing streak (in the picture) because it was traveling faster that the sensor needed to pinpoint its place at any one time.   The result is an odd-looking blur, composed primarily of the colors and textures that were behind the ball during its flight.

 

Below — an example of blur in which the ball is becoming difficult to see — ISO 1250, 1/160th, f4.4.  The ball is a white blur just above the intersection of the third base line and the front left edge of the batter’s box — the batter is looking at it:

 

Close up of photograph showing how too slow a shutter speed will cause the pictued baseball pitch to be difficult to distinguish from the background, taken by an Olympus E-P3 in low light.

 

If the batter is between you and home plate, and your timing is on, you will not see the ball in the photograph because it is hidden in front of the hitter.  I have quite a few of those.

 

 

It’s all about luck and timing

 

Below — the ball an instant before entering the catcher’s mitt — ISO 1600, 1/200th, f4.3:

 

Close up crop of photograph showing baseball about to enter catcher's mitt, taken by an Olympus E-P3 in dim light.

 

 

The moral? — If you can’t be up there hitting, you can still see if you’ve got some basic timing down

 

It makes the sit around time more interesting.