England v Wales, Twickenham. 6th August 2011

Having really enjoyed watching the England v Wales Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham from behind the G12 today, I was also pleased to get back to see the results of this 'test for the day'. Questions like, How quick is the shutter? What is the refresh time like? How would the zoom cope? all needed answering.

Happily the shutter is like lightening compared to the old p&s, Refresh time is a bit slow for sports action as I often missed the actual kick whilst waiting for the previous preparation shot to buffer, but then I was purposely testing single shot mode in automatic. (Multiple shots and manual tests will come later.) The zoom though is pretty good with many of the shots taken on the day, moving out of the optical zoom and into the digital zoom range. An example being the one above, with Johnny Wilkinson preparing to give England the first three points of the match.

However, in my haste to stand up and cheer this early lead, I forgot I had my finger on the shutter button and the resulting picture appeared. A happy accident I would say, as I love the mottled and colourful pattern. (I know, I know, it's not Rugby!)
Meanwhile the shots in the optical zoom range prove to be quite capable of telling the story, although they will never perhaps make it into print on the sports pages*. That won't be an issue though as I have no plans to sit alongside these guys anytime soon.

Whilst it was perhaps not the most exciting of games for all those dedicated followers, just being there was excitement enough for me, having never before been to a rugby match, let alone an International rugby match.

Needless to say, we were delighted to come away with an England victory, for Johnny Wilkinson being named man of the match, and me starting to get to know my G12.

*Sports pages Some great pictures from a great vantage point with a great lens!