My name is Dave and I shoot winter sports. I’ve been to three Winter Olympics and Paralympics as well as countless world cups and world championships. My daily life is at the Canadian Sport Institute Alberta, the training centre for most Olympic and Paralympic winter athletes at some point.
Whether it is the bright lights of competition or the daily grind of training, the Sony a9III and the 300mm f/2.8 are a killer combination in my daily work as a sports photographer. I couldn’t be happier with the a9III and 300mm. This combination performs in virtually any condition, indoors, outdoors, and even in the freezing cold, ensuring I go home with the photos I expect.
One challenge common to most winter sports is that the athletes wear helmets, cages, goggles, sunglasses, buffs, hoods and even motorcycle helmets. This is where the real-time recognition autofocus helps capture images when you only have one chance at it.
Many training venues can be challenging to work in. The Ice House, the bobsleigh training facility in Calgary, has a mix of lighting, including some daylight and a mix of new LED and old mercury vapour lights. This is where the world’s first global shutter system shines, taking care of that annoying light flicker from your images.
These darker training environments also benefit from 5-axis image stabilization, which allows you to use slower shutter speeds at high ISOs. I frequently shoot at ISO 6400 and 800th of a second, which I try not to go below.
At the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics in Korea I was fortunate to work with pre-production models of the a9III and the 300mm lens together. What a superb setup for hockey, figure skating and curling. The autofocus was snappy and the images had that crispness that only Sony cameras make.
At major events where there is often only one chance to get the photo, you want the best equipment for the job. It may be the big save or the moment of victory, which is why I rely on the Sony a9III and the amazing line of lenses.
Dave Holland is a Calgary-based Olympic and Paralympic sport and athlete photographer and Sony Canada influencer. Working out of Calgary's Canadian Sport Institute, Dave has been privileged to work with Canada's elite amateur athletes helping to raise their profiles in our increasingly crowded digital media landscape.