Shooting with the OMD E-M1X at the White Water Nationals

Shooting with the OMD E-M1X at the White Water Nationals

Since becoming an Olympus mentor a month or so ago, I decided to invest in the new Olympus E-M1X camera body. This is Olympus`s top range camera body. Having bought it, I decided to try it out at the British Nationals Championships at the Lea Valley White Water Centre.  Although a lot heavier than my existing OM-D E-M1 MkII, it is still not much heavier than a Canon 5D, and certainly nowhere near as heavy as my Canon 1DX. The camera performed well, and had a really nice feel in the hand. 

The last time I photographed at the Lea Valley White Water Centre was a few years ago. I have to say that on that occasion, you could get quite good shots at certain sections of the course with a telephoto lens of roughly 200-300m focal length. It appears that now the `public barrier` is slightly further away, and you really do need a longer lens in the region of 400m-600m (unless you are lucky enough to get media accreditation)  I found that with a longer lens there are two quite good position to photograph from. 

As I was unable to get a media pass, I had to photograph from where the public stand, but I could still get good images even from there. The main position that I photographed from was right near the bottom finishing line, where you are almost looking uphill towards the bridge. As they come through the last set of `gates`, you get a fairly clean backdrop without getting the concrete backgrounds spoiling the shot. The advantage of this position is that it gives you quite a low viewpoint, which gives the shots more impact. Pictures taken from this position were using the Olympus 300m F4 Pro lens ( which equates to a 600m lens on Canon or Nikon equipment)  I could hand hold this lens all day without getting tired,- which I certainly would have done with my old equipment. 

The other position that is quite good is photographing from on top of the bridge. Although there are `wires` above the water, there is a gap which you can shoot through as they come through the first set of `gates` . It does give you a clean image but from this viewpoint you are looking slightly down on the competitors. Its still not a bad position, and you do not need quite as long a lens as the other position.  From this position I use the Olympus 40-150 F2.8 Pro lens with the MC 14 converter. 

The three previous images were taken from the position near the finishing line. This image shows the view up the course towards the bridge. As the competitors come through the last tow set of gates, you can get frame filling shots with a long telephoto lens. 

This images was taken from at the top of the bridge on the left hand side. 

The top arrow on this image shows the position that the previous image was photographed. The bottom arrow shows the gate the competitor is going through

This shot shows the distance you are from the competitors from lower down from the bridge.  The problem is that its almost impossible to get a clean shot from these positions without getting the concrete side wall in the background.

  

 These last three shots were taken from the position near the finishing line.