Selects: Top 3 Camera Setups for High-speed Sports Photography

Marc Read is an avid follower of Formula 1, a dedicated disciple of DSLR cameras and suspicious of mirrorless cameras’ capabilities. So, we thought he’d enjoy heading off to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to shoot… with three mirrorless setups. And no DSLRs. Let's see whether Marc's mind can be changed. Over to you, Marc.

I mainly photograph wildlife, planes and motorsports. All three require speed and accuracy from a camera, and I’ve always found DSLRs to be perfect for this. Today, all the top manufacturers sell mirrorless cameras, some of which are aimed at my area of photography. Until recently, the lack of an optical viewfinder, slow frames per second and sluggish autofocus had put me off mirrorless cameras. The only real benefit I could see was the greatly reduced weight.

For each camera, I chose three lenses—a telephoto for long-distance close-ups, a wide zoom, and a fixed prime for portraits of celebrities. The Fujifilm and Olympus cameras were fairly easy to learn. The Olympus made me feel at ease, as the size and button layout are very reminiscent of the pro-DSLR. The Sony presented me with a steep learning curve, and the menu system wasn’t intuitive.

The Olympus setup

• Olympus OM-D E-M1X

• Panasonic Leica 200mm f/2.8 Power OIS Elmarit

• Olympus M.Zuiko ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO

• Panasonic G Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 ASPH

The Fujifilm setup

• Fujifilm X-T3

• Fujifilm XF 200mm f/2 OIS WR with 1.4x WR Teleconverter

• Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR

• Fujifilm XF 56mm f/1.2 R

The Sony setup

• Sony A9

• Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS

• Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM

• Sony FE 100mm f/2.8 STF OSS GM

As with any sporting event photography, it’s important to have a plan to make your day out worthwhile. This was a bit of a challenge. I’d never been to Silverstone before, and there was only limited information about the best photography spots. I had passes for the inner track, which gave access to some promising locations. There were far smaller crowds, too. On a sell-out day, this turned out to be a blessing.

The first area I tried was the Formula 3 race, in a grandstand with great views of the action itself. But the height of the stand meant the photos lacked a certain something. For this race, I used the Olympus OM-D EM1X and Panasonic 200mm f/2.8. With this camera’s in-built grip and button layout, Olympus is clearly trying to win over pro DSLR users. The Olympus felt familiar to handle, comfortable and easy to learn, and it boasted an impressive set of features.

Before shooting with it, I wasn’t sure how the Micro Four Thirds sensor would perform. However, the resulting crop factor turned out to be a major benefit. As the small sensor doubles the lens’ focal length, you can use smaller lenses while achieving the same reach as with a larger full-frame equivalent.

Like most things in photography, the cropped sensor’s benefits aren’t without their downsides. The depth of field isn’t as shallow, for example. Though this isn’t a massive issue when shooting motorsport, a shallow depth of field would’ve given me some nicer images throughout the day. There’s also the issue of fitting 20 megapixels into the area of the cropped sensor. This means the pixels are much smaller and much more tightly packed. Ultimately, this affects image quality and light gathering, leading to grainier images.

Overall, I’d say the Olympus is familiar. As a DSLR shooter, it handled very much like a DSLR. The buttons were in the right place, and it was easy to change settings quickly. But, for some reason, the images didn’t blow me away. It could’ve been due to the weather, but the hit rate of in-focus shots was lower than I’d hoped. The images weren’t popping off the screen. After I edited the images, I was much more impressed. While they lacked a bit of depth—and were a bit grainy due to the 200 base ISO—overall, I found them pleasing.

The Olympus didn’t convince me, so I switched to the Fujifilm X-T3 and the beautiful 200mm f/2 lens. The size reduction was noticeable, mainly the depth of the grip. It’s very shallow. With a larger lens attached, the Fujifilm was nowhere near as comfortable as the Olympus. The button/settings layout took some getting used to on the Fujifilm. The shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation are all changed via dials on the top of the camera, while the aperture is controlled on the lens itself. I was used to changing modes via one dial on a DSLR rather than having to change two or three. It seemed I was spending more time looking at the camera to change settings than I was looking through the viewfinder.

After a little while of using the Fujifilm, the autofocus speed and the colours were better than the Olympus. The sharpness of the lens started to produce some pleasing images. From panning, I found my hit rate of in-focus shots was much higher than it was with the Olympus.

We opted to miss the F2 race to shoot some famous faces. This was easier said than done. The scrum trying to secure autographs made it next to impossible to get anywhere near the front. Had I been shooting with a DSLR here, I wouldn’t have managed to get any images—for sure. With the flip-out screen on a mirrorless camera, I was able to hold it as high as I could.

The images won’t win any awards, but it was great to get some shots of drivers I’ve watched on TV for years.

After a while, I found an area to sit for the Porsche Mobil 1, where I picked up the Sony A9. I was initially very sceptical—I wasn't expecting the Sony A9 to perform that well. I was very wrong. The combination of the 100-400mm, the autofocus and the 20 frames per second was excellent.

Straight away, after picking it up, I started getting some nice shots. The electronic shutter and zero blackout from the electronic viewfinder were fantastic for panning shots. The button and dial layouts are quite different from other A-series cameras, and it was very easy to access all the controls quickly. The deep grip is comfortable, too.

The position I’d chosen for the Porsche race was a good spot, but the early birds had already secured the unrestricted view. There were a couple of small areas, which allowed a clear view of the action. I picked the car up at its farthest point for panning shots and tracked it as it raced past. Unfortunately, in the spot we had chosen this technique, I had to pan through people's heads. Incredibly, the Sony A9 didn’t care about the back of people's heads. Once locked onto a car, the Sony stayed locked on. This led to some really interesting shots.

Now for the start of the main event, the F1. My strategy was to use two setups. After quickly reviewing the images I’d taken, I decided that the Sony A9 and Fujifilm X-T2 would probably give me the best results. I moved around to get as many different shots as possible. As soon as the race started, I walked down the access road, which was quite empty during the race. The safety fencing wasn’t a big issue here, as it was really close. With a combination of a slow shutter speed and a fast-ish f-stop — f/4 to f/5.6 — the fence wasn’t visible in the shots.

The Sony excelled here. With cloud cover and constant action, it coped fantastically well with the exposure and autofocus. Due to the changing conditions and shooting scenarios, I found Sony’s controls much easier to use than Fujifilm’s dials.

As I continued to move around, hunting out different angles, I spotted a couple of other photographers shooting under some of the unsightly green mesh that had lifted in the wind. This gave me a very narrow view of cars coming out of the slow corner loop. I tried the Fujifilm X-T3 and 200mm. But, because of the large aperture, it struggled to lock on focus. On the other hand, the Sony A9 with the 100-400mm was spot on.

I got a shot of race leader Lewis Hamilton, with some flags in the background, with which I was thrilled. A bit further around the corner, I found a photography hole with a crane parked in front of it. I could just about get a shot on tiptoes with the camera above my head. Due to the weight, I used the Sony setup and managed to get a few shots.

As quickly as that, it was the final lap. Lewis Hamilton won. It all happened in the blink of an eye, but I’d taken around 4000 shots. Without the sound of a shutter, it’s easy to get carried away!

During the F1 race, despite having both the Sony and the Fujifilm with me, I used the Sony much more. This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I was desperate to get the shots I wanted. All three of these cameras are extremely capable. With more time, they each would have produced the shots I craved. But in these restricted circumstances, where I’d never used any of these cameras before, the Sony A9 immediately filled me with confidence. It just performed straight away. Once I’d returned home and looked at the shots, it was evident that the Sony A9 had a much better hit rate.

It wasn’t a completely fair test because I had different focal lengths on all three setups. But on the day, the Sony A9 and the 100-400mm were untouchable.

Has this experience changed my view on mirrorless camera? In short, yes. Having used early mirrorless cameras, I’d had the view that mirrorless systems aren’t anywhere near the ability of a DSLR for action photography. I’ve spoken to many photographers who claim the same. After this weekend, it’s clear my views were outdated. These three cameras are very near the capabilities of modern DLSRs, if not exceeding them.

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This article is part of the MPB Guide to Sports Photography, our comprehensive look at how to create sports photography, with camera recommendations, advice and interviews with experts.