Derrick ChenMarch 17, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; Men’s Tennisu: California Golden Bears vs Arizona State Sun Devils at Hellman Tennis Complex; Derrick Chen (Photo credit: Kelley L Cox/KLC fotos)

Between the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, I covered Cal Men's Tennis vs Arizona State.

Since I'm not totally familiar with the canon system yet, I thought I'd bring both my canon gear and Olympus (OM Digital Solutions) gear. Also, because my longest glass on loan from canon is the 70-200mm and I like to go overhead for some of my tennis photos.

My set up was:

Canon R3 with RF 70-200mm f/2.9

OM Digital Solutions OM-1 with 150-400mm f/4.5 and 8mm f/1.9 fisheye

All brought in a ThinkTank PhotoBacklight 26L on my bike because parking near Hellman Tennis Center is complicated at best.

TL;DR Both worked great!

I used the canon system for when I was court level and the 70-200mm was of course the perfect range, sharp, fast, and easy to use.

I used the Olympus system for overhead and also for huddle photos.

Mikey Wright, TeamMarch 17, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; Men’s Tennisu: California Golden Bears vs Arizona State Sun Devils at Hellman Tennis Complex; Mikey Wright, Team (Photo credit: Kelley L Cox/KLC fotos)

Starting with the fisheye for the huddle photo, I think how much I would miss the Olympus fisheye. It's so small and easy to bring. And I love that it basically doubles as two lenses. A fisheye, but also a standard wide with an in-camera ability for fisheye compensation (though you lose C-AF with this feature so better for overall stadium photos than action.

But when I went from canon back to Olympus, the EVF felt small and the grip felt worse. I really like the spinning thumb wheel on the canon as well as the shutter dial being on top of the camera instead of the front. With cameras being so capable these days, I've long advocated for getting a camera in your hands because whichever camera feels better to use, is the camera for you. Maybe it's just because I started with canon, but the grip, for me, is the best.

Carl Emil OverbeckMarch 17, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; Men’s Tennisu: California Golden Bears vs Arizona State Sun Devils at Hellman Tennis Complex; Carl Emil Overbeck (Photo credit: Kelley L Cox/KLC fotos)

For Cal, I have to deliver images in-game. Unfortunately, the campus wifi blocks FTP uploads so the only method to upload is to import from the camera to my phone and then upload via the browser on my phone. Maybe it's just because I am more familiar with it, but the OMDS camera-to-phone is seamless (significantly faster in the OM-1 than any other model) and the canon "camera connect" is buggy to say the least. For the final celebration photos, I ended up just using my laptop to send photos.

Carl Emil OverbeckMarch 17, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; Men’s Tennisu: California Golden Bears vs Arizona State Sun Devils at Hellman Tennis Complex; Carl Emil Overbeck (Photo credit: Kelley L Cox/KLC fotos)
Ultimately, my takeaway is that I am so thankful to be able to cover a variety of sports, at great venues, in beautiful weather, with great gear... and a Cal win :)