No, the shutter speeds were staying around 1/400th and that seemed enough to keep it pretty sharp. I would have gone to 1600 ISO had there not been enough shutter speed.

It is amazing how good the 800 ISO cropped 8x10's actually look. I *cannot* wait for the E-1 replacement. I know some people with it and have been given vague(and glowing) details on it.

With horses, you need more than 1/400th, with the dogs, you can get by with it(it seems)

Hmmmm I can only get to about 1/250 or less using my 200 1.8 lens (at 1.8) and ISO 800 (on my MKII). The combo takes amazing images but I obviously get some foot blur with that ss. I can go to ISO 1600 but the noise is not acceptable to me, at 800 it's pretty good. I wouldn't think the shows I go to are darker than yours....

I want that MKIII!!!

Each show has a different light level. There is a show in Knoxville that is just AWFUL lighting wise. I don't think I could shoot it with available light. Maybe.

This one was pretty well lit and fairly evenly lit.