Tom's Hardware: Topic Going to the Races, Need Some Advice
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Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)
In rec.photo.digital Robert R Kircher, Jr. <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Going down to Atlanta tomorrow to catch the NASCAR events and I wanted some
> general advice on what I should bring.
>
> 1) I'm planning on taking my 300D of course along with my 100-400 and my
> 28-135. I'll be taking shots from the stands and pit road. I'm hoping to
> get some good action shots; we'll see. In any event, unless some one can
> give me a compelling reason why, I hadn't planned on taking my 18-55 or my
> cheap 75-100. Thoughts?
I don't think you'd get much from the 75-100. When I go racing (a lot) I
find that most of my pictures are either paddock shots where I'm right
down round 28mm trying to get as much as I can of a car in shot,
trackside stuff at round about 100 where I'm trying to frame a car in
the landscape, or stuff from stands or spectator areas where I'm out at
200 or beyond. (All numbers equiv., as I use a Panasonic FZ-10.
Personally I'd say the 18-55 for pitlane, "atmosphere" and detail shots
(18mm gives some interesting options for wide-angle shots) and the 100-400
for the race.
>
> 3) Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
I've only photographed race cars once before from grandstands round an oval
(Rockingham, but not the one you're thinking of, the one in the UK; most
of the racing I attend is on road courses) -- fortunately ovals are
pretty compact so you probably won't need to go out to 400 to get good
action shots of the cars.
I don't know how fast those lenses are - but for good action shots I
find that having the lens wide open (so you get a good focus on the
subject and a fairly soft background) and the shutter speed as fast as
it can go is the route to decent pics.
Finally, remember that your camera may well decide that it wants to AF
on chain-link fence rather than what you're pointing it at. 
You may
find that working with manual focus helps.
pete
--
pete@fenelon.com "Send lawyers, guns and money...."
Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)
Robert R Kircher, Jr. wrote:
> Going down to Atlanta tomorrow to catch the NASCAR events and I wanted some
> general advice on what I should bring.
Good for you.. (I'll just be watching on TV 
> I hadn't planned on taking my 18-55 or my
> cheap 75-100. Thoughts?
I'd leave the 75-100 at home, but I'd take the 18-55.
Atlanta is a big place.. You might want to capture the whole
track from the stands.. Your 28-135 might not be wide enough
at 28mm.. I'd want the 18mm to augment my shooting options.
> 2) I have a Lowpro waist bag, similar to
> http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Be [...] ion.aspx,. It holds
> everything but the 100-400, however, I find it sort of bulky. I was
> thinking of stopping by the local shop today and looking at a belt solution
> with a lens case for the 100-400 and the 28-135, a top load case for the
> camera, and an additional case for accessories and CF cards. I'm thinking
> this will be easier to handle on the plane and at the track. Any thoughts
> or suggestions?
I've got a Lowepro OmniTraveller. I found this site that shows
what it looks like:
http://www.asvd07.dsl.pipex.com/ni [...] veller.htm
It has padded adjustable partitions that attach with velcro so
you can move them around and configure the bag to snugly carry a
variety of lens shapes.
I can squeeze in my EF 28-135, my EF 50mm f/1.8 and my EF 100-400
along with the 10D, filters, cables, mem cards, lens cleaning stuff
spare batteries and a 420EX flash
Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)
John Francis wrote:
> In article <QBk_d.708337$Xk.572242@pd7tw3no>,
> Matt Ion <soundy@moltenimage.com> wrote:
>
>>Robert R Kircher, Jr. wrote:
>>
>>
>>>3) Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>One thing I found shooting CASCAR races a couple years ago, is to set
>>your exposure manually. Meter it off the tarmac or start with Sunny 16
>>and lock it in. Otherwise you get too many pictures of black/dark cars
>>coming out grey with washed-out backgrounds, or white/light cars coming
>>out grey with really dim backgrounds.
>
>
> Excellent advice. Just be careful if there's a situation where the
> cars are moving into (or out of) shadows, and meter on the right part.
>
>
>
>> My best results have come from setting the aperture wide open, then
>>locking in the appropriate shutter speed, and just leaving it there.
>
>
> That's appropriate when the cars are coming towards you. For a side
> shot too high a shutter speed results in it looking as though the cars
> are parked on the track. You want a little blur on the wheels, if
> you can manage it. Here's an example taken at 1/200 of a second:
>
> <http://panix.com/~johnf/temp/LSQualifying.jpg>
>
> (You need to pan during the exposure to blur the wheels, not the car)
> That car is probably travelling at the same sort of speeds you'll see
> at Atlanta. I wouldn't recommend starting at 1/200 if you've never
> tried panning to keep the car fixed in the frame during exposure;
> it's a learned skill. But you should definitely try several shots
> with a shutter speed around 1/400 of a second; that's a lot easier.
There is that. Another option is to find a decent shutter speed for
the effect you want to achieve (1/200 if you're comfortable with
panning) and then locking the appropriate aperture - if you have good
sunlight, shooting at ISO 100 should allow you to use f/8, which should
allow you both to get a little blur on the side shots, and provide a
little extra DOF for the straight-on shots (not that my Rebel's AI focus
has ever had much trouble tracking the cars
BTW, on the topic of lens cases/bags, I found a nice little case
(probably a Lowepro) designed for a pocket digital camera that has a
velcro loop on the back to allow you to slip it over any regular belt, a
zip top that opens partway down the front for easy access, a few small
compartments to hold things like my spare batteries, and just enough
room to nicely fit my Canon EF 75-300 zoom. Works great for
quick-changing between two lenses (such as the EF 28-90 on my old
RebelG, and the EF-S 18-55 on the DRebel).
Check any consumer-electronics store that has a good selection of
pocketable digital cameras, and they should have a good selection of
those little camera cases too.
Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)
In article <3q%_d.727414$6l.313540@pd7tw2no>,
Matt Ion <soundy@moltenimage.com> wrote:
>
>
>There is that. Another option is to find a decent shutter speed for
>the effect you want to achieve (1/200 if you're comfortable with
>panning) and then locking the appropriate aperture - if you have good
>sunlight, shooting at ISO 100 should allow you to use f/8, which should
>allow you both to get a little blur on the side shots, and provide a
>little extra DOF for the straight-on shots (not that my Rebel's AI focus
>has ever had much trouble tracking the cars
The trouble with 1/200 for a straight-on shot is that you can't pan
to track the cars, so you're going to end up with some blurring; at
the sort of speeds typical for NASCAR/CASCAR a car will move anything
up to 18" (50cm) during a 1/200 second exposure. While most of that
is towards you, and thus has only a minor effect on the image, it's
still enough to show up on sharp edges (such as the sponsor decals).
I prefer 1/750 to 1/2000 for head-on or front three-quarter shots.
Of course that means you have very little depth of field (especially
if you are using a long focal length), so you can't just rely on
the af system unaided - you're a lot better of selecting a single
af point (otherwise you'll end up with the wrong part of the car
in focus; you want the driver, if you can see him, or the nose).
Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)
John Francis wrote:
> In article <3q%_d.727414$6l.313540@pd7tw2no>,
> Matt Ion <soundy@moltenimage.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>There is that. Another option is to find a decent shutter speed for
>>the effect you want to achieve (1/200 if you're comfortable with
>>panning) and then locking the appropriate aperture - if you have good
>>sunlight, shooting at ISO 100 should allow you to use f/8, which should
>>allow you both to get a little blur on the side shots, and provide a
>>little extra DOF for the straight-on shots (not that my Rebel's AI focus
>>has ever had much trouble tracking the cars
>
>
> The trouble with 1/200 for a straight-on shot is that you can't pan
> to track the cars, so you're going to end up with some blurring; at
> the sort of speeds typical for NASCAR/CASCAR a car will move anything
> up to 18" (50cm) during a 1/200 second exposure. While most of that
> is towards you, and thus has only a minor effect on the image, it's
> still enough to show up on sharp edges (such as the sponsor decals).
True too. Unfortuantely I don't remember entirely what settings I used
at the time... most of it was in good sunlight, which helped... probably
ISO400 film... 1/1000 at f/8 would be likely.
As my audio engineering instructor always told us, "There are no rules,
only guidelines."
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