Leap Into Action With MPB

For cricket, a lens of around 400mm on 35mm format will give a decent image size from the boundary rope. The exposure was 1/2000sec at f/5.6 and ISO 500. Image by Will Cheung.

Action photography can be a real test of your hand-eye coordination. Keeping focus as a racing motorbike is hurtling towards you and then timing the press on the shutter button to capture the peak of the action might sound simple, but it’s a challenge and getting it right demands practice and good technique. What’s also important, though, is having the kit with the focusing and burst shooting skills capable enough to help you tackle fast-moving subjects.

Timing your shots is obviously important but having a camera that can rattle through a sequence of frames very quickly is a big benefit and may possibly give you several stunning shots to choose from. 

The camera manufacturers don’t just concentrate on innovating one feature because they need to take a global view, but they have certainly given burst shooting a lot of thought and speeds have progressed rapidly. For instance, the Nikon Z9 and Sony A9 III are incredible machines capable of racing through still photographs at 120fps (frames-per-second). Both are flagship models and priced accordingly; in the shops right now, the body only price of the Z9 is £4999 and the A9 III is £6099.

Buying a used camera from MPB can save you a lot of money. Using these two cameras as examples, from MPB a used Nikon Z9 is £3349 while a Sony A9 III can bought for £4329. You don’t need a calculator to work out that taking the MPB option will save you a tidy sum and you can put that cash towards a lens, more memory or a set of filters, also from MPB.

With excellent autofocusing and rapid shooting speeds, the Nikon Z9 (left) and Canon EOS R7 are great cameras for action photography, and both are available from used gear experts MPB.

We used two top of the range models to illustrate the point, but there are savings to be had at all price levels. Take the Canon EOS R7, for example. This camera boasts 32.5 megapixels and because it’s an APS-C format camera, its 1.6x crop factor gives more telephoto pulling power, which comes in handy for action shooting, and it can shoot at 15fps with its mechanical shutter. New, the EOS R7 sells at £1349 (body only) while a used sample in excellent condition from MPB is £1149, a saving of £200.

The Micro Four Thirds format, supported by OM System (formerly Olympus) and Panasonic, offers the even more useful crop factor of 2x. The highly featured OM System OM-1 Mark II in excellent condition from MPB is £1819 (body only) and it can shoot at 50fps with autofocus tracking. It also has Pro Capture mode which temporarily holds pictures in the camera’s buffer and only when you press the shutter button fully down are the past (up to) 99 shots written to the memory card. It’s a great feature for action and means capturing shots that even those with the most rapid reactions will miss.

Lens matters

Of course, you don’t get anywhere without a lens, and you need long lenses for the simple reason that sporting action often happens some way from the spectators. Having a telephoto lens means you can get a decent-sized image and crop out distracting stuff like advertising hoardings.

How long a lens you need depends on the subject. Cricket, for example, will need a focal length of 400mm (on the 35mm format) at least, and even on an average-sized ground this should be enough to get a decent view of the action at the wicket. If you have the budget, a fast aperture prime telephoto is a possibility, but that’s probably only worth it if you’re a frequent long lens user and a telezoom might be the best, most versatile and better value option. A couple of decent independent options include Sigma’s 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DN OS HSM Sport, available from MPB at £1099 (Sony FE mount), and the Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VXD at £859 (Sony FE fit).

Panning a fast-moving subject with a relatively slow shutter speed can give fascinating results. This was taken with a Fujifilm XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR lens (£884 from MPB) at 140mm. Image by Will Cheung.

Many sports, such as football, rugby and hockey, are much more fluid in that the players constantly change position so a zoom is a more viable option, especially if you have one with a f/2.8 maximum aperture to allow fast shutter speeds even in less than perfect light. Their downside is that fast telezooms tend to be expensive. As an example the new price of the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S is £2139, but from MPB you can get the same lens in excellent condition for £1529. which is a very worthwhile saving.

There are sporting events that don’t need a telephoto lens to get you close to the action and you can shoot them with a standard zoom. Marathons and cycle races, for example, take place on public roads which means you can get very close and you might even use a wide-angle lens for dynamic compositions.

So, what are you waiting for?

Once you’ve the kit you need, check out the sporting events in your local area and get out there to hone your action skills. Have fun and good luck.

The latest news from MPB

MPB prides itself on its sustainability

MPB has published its second annual impact report, which details how the business is performing against its sustainability strategy. Sustainability to MPB is defined in economic, social and environmental terms and the business is committed to economic prosperity, social inclusion and the protection of the environment, now and in the future.

The report digs into the detail and there’s a downloadable pdf available if you want to learn more about MPB’s objectives and how it’s performing. 

Key takeaways from the report include 100% plastic free packaging, zero waste to landfill and 46% of MPB’s management roles are held by female employees. In terms of kit, over 570,000 items were recirculated in the past fiscal year and to give you an idea of how MPB performed, its global average Trustpilot score is a very impressive 4.83 out of 5.

Click here to read the full report.

MPB Explained

You need kit to take photographs and produce videos, and taking the used route is a cost-effective way of making the most of your budget and keeping up with the latest developments in imaging technology.

MPB is one of the biggest used retailers with bases in the UK, Germany and the USA.

Trading with MPB the process is fair, safe, painless and incredibly easy.

Whether you have kit to sell, want to make a purchase or part exchange, start by going to the MPB website which is intuitive and straightforward to use.

If you have kit to trade, just start typing the name in and a list of suggestions from MPB’s huge database will appear. If a name on that list matches your product click on it and add its condition; if not, continue typing in the whole name and condition.

It’s worth bearing in mind that MPB’s database covers much more than cameras and lenses so if you have, for example, a photo backpack, tripod or filters to sell these can be shown as you type in their name too.

With all your kit listed, add contact details and a quote will appear in your inbox soon afterwards, although manually entered items will take one working day.

If you are happy with the quote, accept it and follow the instructions to get the kit ready for courier collection on a day to suit you. For higher-value deals, an MPB account manager will also be in touch, so you have a personal point of contact if you have any queries.

Once received by MPB, you will get a notification and after checking by its product specialists you will receive a final quote. This can vary from the original quote if there is a missing item —like a battery not being supplied—or your assessed condition differs from the actual condition.

A quote can go down, but it can also increase if the kit’s condition is better than your assessment.

The whole process doesn’t take long and MPB are in touch by e-mail at every step so you’re never in the dark, and only when you are totally happy with the deal, pass on your payment details or pay the balance in the case of part-exchange. Either way, the money or your new kit will be with you soon after.

Get A Quote From MPB Today

About MPB

• MPB is the largest global platform to buy, sell and trade used photo and video kit.
• MPB is the simple, safe and circular way to trade, upgrade and get paid.
• MPB is not a marketplace, instead buying directly from visual storytellers and evaluating all items before reselling MPB-approved kit.
• MPB’s dynamic pricing engine provides the right price upfront for all items.
• Circularity is at the centre of MPB, promoting sustainability, diversity and inclusion in everything they do.
• MPB prioritises inclusive recruitment and supports employees with extensive training and development. They promote inclusive visual storytelling and an inclusive circular economy.
• MPB’s business model is 100% circular. All packaging is 100% plastic-free. Their cloud-based platform uses 100% renewable electricity.
• MPB recirculates more than 570,000 products annually
• MPB provides first-class customer service. Customers can receive support through their Help Centre or by speaking directly with a kit expert.
• MPB’s product specialists are trusted by thousands of visual storytellers in the UK.
• MPB is rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot with over 37,000 reviews.

Visit The MPB Website