01/18/2026
Victoria Royals vs. Spokane Chiefs – First Net Cam & Catwalk Remote Experience
This was my first time operating a net cam and a catwalk remote. The first hurdle was upgrading my PocketWizard from version 2 to version 3 and adding the e-release upgrade. Version 2 works for the net cam but its signal isn’t strong enough to reach the catwalk. After a month of searching, I tracked down three version 3 units on the used market—two from Saskatoon and one kindly sold to me by my friend and fellow photographer Jordan Leigh.
Accessing the catwalk was another challenge. Arena staff had to trust me and my setup. Two magic arms—one for the camera, one for the lens—mounted with a 70-200 focused at 70mm.
For the net cam, I experimented with a 10-18mm RF mirrorless lens on a Canon R5 Mark II instead of the traditional 15mm. Its small size allowed me to cut a tiny hole in the plexi that a puck can’t fit through, while still giving a wide-angle view. The crop factor makes it effectively 16mm, so I can’t see both posts—annoying—but the images have less distortion and don’t feel like a typical net cam photo, which I enjoy.
A downside of the RF mirrorless lens is that, without a mechanical connection between the focus ring (which I tape down on the EF 15mm), a physical shock can interrupt the electronic communication and cause a “loss of control,” leaving the image out of focus. In the second period, a puck lightly bumped the net cam, and all the images afterward were out of focus.
When selecting I focus on image quality and try to forget whether the image is from my handheld cameras from between the benches, the net cam, or the catwalk setup as It’s easy to let the complexity of the setups bias my perception, so I remind myself to judge the photo on its own merits which is sometimes easier said than done.
