The Picture Desk: Shooting hockey with the Sony A55

I usually go through the same steps when shooting hockey, whatever camera I'm using.

These first shots were all done during the pre-game skate. I shoot the pre-game skate from the players bench. It's just easier that way. I can shoot both teams doing the round-about instead of just getting one team which would happen if I shot from the goal line. With no glass in the way you get better sharpness. You just have to watch for pucks and pass the players the occasional towel or water bottle when they ask.

I used the Sony A55 and 70-200 F2.8 lens and the ISO was set to 1600. The lens was wide open at F2.8 and the shutter speed was 1/1000 second.

I had the focus set to continuous and the motor drive was at 6 frames per second. (The camera also has 10 frames per second mode).

Once you get the subject in the frame the camera does a good job of follow focus. Not every frame was sharp but overall I had a high number of in-focus images.... and that's with no depth of field.