3 feet to the right

Went to shoot a local HS football game last night - I love shooting action from the sidelines. Lately, I've been  playing with dialing in the 1Dx and getting use to its controls and setting it up so I can work quickly.
So there I was on the side lines about 35 yards down field from the line of scrimmage. I watch the snap through my 300mm lens and see a big hole develop and running back coming right up the middle, and the defense bites, but it's play action and I see the QB roll out with the ball, lock on target and launch the ball. I pull away from the camera and spot their star receiver hauling ass down the opposite side line, I whip the camera to the action, find him in the view finder, the camera locks focus in an instant. I can see his eyes tracking the ball as it approaches, they widen as ball comes into view, I thought it was out of his reach, he leaps, completely laying out in mid air - this kid was frickin' flying, it was so awesome. I start firing off the shutter but WTF?  I see a zebra flash across my viewfinder! I've been wanting for a shot like this since I've been shooting football and just my luck, that official ate his wheaties that morning and actually kept up with these kids - good for him, but damn if it screwed my shot.

Don't give up on that small sensor just yet.

While everyone is going ga-ga over the latest 'big sensor in a small camera' (including me admittedly) There is still some image related advantages of a small sensor pocket cam - Macro shots are just crazy easy with these guys. Their small sensor means super depth of field, and while not so favorable for portraits of people, it's a plus on macro portraits of little creatures such as my six-eyed friend here. 

I found this guy crawling around our campsite on a recent trip and grabbed this shot with my trusty Canon Powershot G9.  I never used the viewfinder, I just stuck the lens about an inch away from this guy half pressed til I heard the 'beep' and fired - the wide DOF kept him nice and sharp. Lighting was provided by the built-in flash and what's neat is that at these close distances, the lens is closer to the subject than the flash is to the lens so it results in an off-axis light just like off camera flash  but without all the triggers and extra gear. (I actually had to hold the camera upside down so the flash was close enough to light the subject, right side up, it was casting the light about 2 feet behind the subject.)

I think the results (make sure you click the picture to see it full size) weren't too shabby for a camera that cost less than 1/3 the price of good Macro lens for the DSLR.