motorsport lenses?

[itannum990]

Can I have your thoughts on this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-18-300mm...

Bought used for half the price.. My thinking is that I can sell in my 18-55 and 70-300 to reduce the carryload..

?

[NTEL]

itannum990 said:

Can I have your thoughts on this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-18-300mm...

Bought used for half the price.. My thinking is that I can sell in my 18-55 and 70-300 to reduce the carryload..

?

I've just bought a mint second hand Nikon 18-300. I think its a great lens It's a lot sharper than the kit lens I had. I never take it off the camera. Only criticism is that it's a wee bit heavy to hanging around your neck without having a decent padded strap.

[onyx39]

Canon EF 75-300, taken at 205mm according to Flickr.

_MG_0028 by jimpritchard2, on Flickr

[eps]

I've got a couple of lenses that I've tended to stick with, but one of those is definitely not really 'happy' married to a DSLR - it was outstanding with a film camera, but it's just a bit slow and clumsy now. I've just picked up an 18-250 Tamron so hoping that it can give me a wider option.. Time will tell!

The main point here is to take _lots_ and I mean _lots_ of photos and try to see what effect any changes in technique or settings make on the photos.

I think it's been asked already, but not answered, how are you setting the camera up? If it's still set to AUTO then you need to move away from this and go with either Fstop, Shutter Priority or Full Manual.

and take lots of photos... I might have mentioned this already, but this is the real key.

When I go to motorsport events I tend to take a few shots before anything happens, checking the equipment works and I'm comfortable and clear about how I'm going to photograph the action. Which way is it moving, etc... Focus on the track or parts of it, get some kind of idea of the light levels and so on. Then hopefully there is a race before the one I'm really interested in, take a few shots of that, even if it's slower or you're not really interested in it. It will help you to move with the subjects and again you should be able to check the light levels.

Even before I take a new lens to a motorsport event I've taken a few shots in the garden close and far, to check how it performs.

For most of my motorsport shots they seem to be around the 200mm mark. So more than that won't really help. Of course it depends on the circuit and general access to it.

I tend to range the shots on shutter speed of 100-200/s again you need to take quite a few and adjust accordingly.

The more photos you take the better the feeling you will get of what works in what situations. To be honest I can quite easily 'waste' an hour before ending up with a decent setting for the time of day and it may well change depending on the subject and light conditions.

I don't tend to take too many shots in poor light or rainy conditions.

Try to get in as tight to the subject as you can, but of course without clipping the subject..! Adjust as necessary. I can't remember how many shots I took last weekend but it must have been around 300, quite possibly a lot more. There will be a big number that can be deleted onsite and then it's a case of going through them on a laptop and binning blurry ones or those that just aren't quite right.

Try and go with some kind of plan as to what you are trying to photograph.. Cars on track? Cars stationary? Pit Action? Ideally something with a bit of movement and interest. If you have a bit of plan or idea at least you can focus on attaining that.

Some of mine from 2013 at Silverstone can be found here : http://motors.all-free-photos.com/show/showgal.php...

[outnumbered]

Capturing the feeling of motion is what it's mostly about IMO.

You can do this even with quite a high shutter speed (making it easier to get a useable image) if you catch the cars from head on going round a corner, even at 1/1000 the wheels will blur a bit. Getting more than one car in the frame is also a great way to add impact.

This one's at 1/400th, no panning, I just focussed on the lead car and you get the feeling of movement from the others behind.

ELMS Race 1 - Chris Hoy by tw_tvam, on Flickr

Edited by outnumbered on Friday 17th April 16:38

[Nigel_O]

I'm only just starting out on what feels like a very steep learning curve - still playing around with various settings to see what the result looks like

Spent Sunday morning at Curborough Sprint course in Staffordshire and got these - all shot with a Nikon D5200 through a Sigma 50-500

Any comments welcome - FWIW, I reckon shutter speed is too fast - not enough background motion blur







I also agree with the earlier comment about taking several rapid shots and hoping one comes out good - I managed this little lot








And in a quiet moment between runs, I also managed this, with the same lens

[Dan_1981]

A couple from Donington at the weekend.

Touring Cars - Donington by Dan_1981, on Flickr

BTCC Donington by Dan_1981, on Flickr

[eps]

Nigel_O said:

I'm only just starting out on what feels like a very steep learning curve - still playing around with various settings to see what the result looks like

Spent Sunday morning at Curborough Sprint course in Staffordshire and got these - all shot with a Nikon D5200 through a Sigma 50-500

Any comments welcome - FWIW, I reckon shutter speed is too fast - not enough background motion blur

snip!

I also agree with the earlier comment about taking several rapid shots and hoping one comes out good - I managed this little lot

snip!

You need to be clear on what you are trying to achieve and then zone in on settings that seem to work for this.

At the very least you will need to be on Shutter Priority or Manual to ensure that the camera doesn't adjust it in a way that you don't want it to.

What settings did you use for the above?

Have a look through the photos you took and work out which ones look/feel like they are the better ones.. Then check the EXIF info and see what settings you were using.

I think the 3rd one you post is excellent, it captures a moment in time and is quite tight as well, but keeps some 'reference' information in place which helps to place the subject.

[droopsnoot]

I'd agree - I think the third is the best of the set. And yes, probably a little slower on the shutter speed would get you some extra feeling of speed. High-speed continuous can give you more chances, and I was advised to turn off shake-reduction / image stabilisation as it can confuse matters, and have a go with manual focus as well. On a good day I usually remember some of those things, and maybe all of them by the end.

I've used a Sigma 50-500 for a lot of stuff, that's a good lens though I had to have it repaired last year and hopefully it won't go again. Before that (and still sometimes) I used a Tamron 70-300 because I find that with the 50-500 I rarely go closer than about 300mm. I recently got a Sigma 18-200 which is obviously a lot shorter, but handy when moving between track and paddock and much less heavy.

[Nigel_O]

eps said:

You need to be clear on what you are trying to achieve and then zone in on settings that seem to work for this.

At the very least you will need to be on Shutter Priority or Manual to ensure that the camera doesn't adjust it in a way that you don't want it to.

What settings did you use for the above?

Have a look through the photos you took and work out which ones look/feel like they are the better ones.. Then check the EXIF info and see what settings you were using.

I think the 3rd one you post is excellent, it captures a moment in time and is quite tight as well, but keeps some 'reference' information in place which helps to place the subject.

Superb - thankyou - this is exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for

The three-wheeling Escort is a crop (approx 50%), as is the drifting Porsche - all of the others are pretty much straight from the camera, with a bit of exposure tweaking (original is slightly over-exposed) on the series of the white Escort drift. FWIW, I think the lens might be over-exposing, as even on full auto, some images are a bit washed out

I played with settings during the day - was on shutter priority for most of the day, with settings ranging from 1/250 to 1/1000. I tried aperture priority later in the day, but the results weren't as good. Not sure that I feel confident enough yet to go for full manual

Photo 1 - ISO800, 85mm, 1/500, f14
Photo 2 - ISO800, 320mm, 1/400, f10
Photo 3 - ISO800, 165mm, 1/400, f11
photo sequence ISO800, 320mm, 1/320, f18

As a novice, I'm happy to hear any suggestions to improve technique and success rate (I managed maybe 20 shots from 400+ that I took on Sunday that are worth keeping)

[Nigel_O]

Also - keeping this thread on topic - its interesting that out of 400+ shots, very few are at anything over 300mm

I have the occasional 500mm shot like the one below, but most would have been achievable with a shorter (and lighter!) lens



500mm, f9, 1/400

That said, Curborough is a tiny little sprint track and spectators are quite close to the action - I dare say at Silverstone, I'll be using the full extent of the Bigma

[toasty]

FWIW You don't necessarily need a long or fast lens if you can find a decent position to take the shot (easier said than done sometimes).

These were taken with a 24-105 but the first taken from a balcony at Silverstone, the second from the inside of Druids at Brands and the last through a gap in the fence at Goodwood FOS.

Edited by toasty on Thursday 30th April 13:23

[Craikeybaby]

I agree that shot #3 is the best, the thing that stood out about it for me is the relativly uncluttered background, compared to the other shots.

[Nigel_O]

Craikeybaby said:

I agree that shot #3 is the best, the thing that stood out about it for me is the relativly uncluttered background, compared to the other shots.

I think I already knew that #3 was the best - bit of a fluke getting the wheel in the air, as only a couple of cars did it

However, I wasn't really clear on WHY #3 was better

The crop has clearly helped a lot, as the original had a fair bit of clutter - see below for the previous shot in the burst

[Jonsv8]

Couple of mine from an autograss event at the weekend taken with a D7000 and a Tamrom 80-300. Biggest issue was shooting through a wire fence (especially bad on the one picture). Comments welcome

I varied auto focus on and off (lens was surprisingly good to focus) and vibration reduction on/off (again, surprisingly good even when panning which sounds like a contradiction to what it's meant to do). I used shutter priority, a lot taken from 1/80 to prob 1/200 and then ISO altered to get a mid range F stop. I also tried to keep away from the lens 300mm limit as the lens can go a little soft but the few I did take looked fine. I'm liking the lens.

DSC_3397s by jon.61885, on Flickr

DSC_3210s by jon.61885, on Flickr

DSC_3151s by jon.61885, on Flickr

Edited by Jonsv8 on Friday 1st May 06:41

[SlidingSideways]

I know everyone has been saying you need to be in shutter priority or full manual so that you can control the shutter, but there's one exception...

Jonsv8 said:

Biggest issue was shooting through a wire fence (especially bad on the one picture).
<snip/>
I used shutter priority, a lot taken from 1/80 to prob 1/200 and then ISO altered to get a mid range F stop.

To shoot through and make the fence "disappear", you need to be shooting in aperture priority with it wide open (low F stop), at the max length you can get away with and with the end of the lens as close to the fence as possible. You then need to use ISO to get the shutter speed close to where you want.

Unless it's a dull and overcast day, or dawn/sunset this will compromise what shutter speed you are able to use and you will probably need to use ND filters to get much below 1/500 - 1/300 on a bright day.

The only other solution is a media accreditation and trackside access.

[Jonsv8]

SlidingSideways said:

I know everyone has been saying you need to be in shutter priority or full manual so that you can control the shutter, but there's one exception...

Jonsv8 said:

Biggest issue was shooting through a wire fence (especially bad on the one picture).
<snip/>
I used shutter priority, a lot taken from 1/80 to prob 1/200 and then ISO altered to get a mid range F stop.

To shoot through and make the fence "disappear", you need to be shooting in aperture priority with it wide open (low F stop), at the max length you can get away with and with the end of the lens as close to the fence as possible. You then need to use ISO to get the shutter speed close to where you want.

Unless it's a dull and overcast day, or dawn/sunset this will compromise what shutter speed you are able to use and you will probably need to use ND filters to get much below 1/500 - 1/300 on a bright day.

The only other solution is a media accreditation and trackside access.

The worst picture of mine shown was shot at F9, 1/1000 and with 210mm focal length. You can lose the fence a little but its not always possible to get rid of it completely. I'm not convinced F5.6 would have made much difference. Maybe a pro lens at F2.8 would have

[Dan_1981]

Both of mine - above - were shot through the fence

[Jonsv8]

Dan_1981 said:

Both of mine - above - were shot through the fence

Fence distance relative to action, F stop you used, focal length etc? We're interested in learning but the static shot one of mine shows the fence clearly, the pan shots not so for more obvious reasons either though the fence was closer to the cars and so more likely to fall into the depth of field. There was also a contrast issue going on with a very light backdrop.

I'll try changing the F stop to reduce depth of field next time I'm there.

[nellyleelephant]

You can hide the fence, but as mentioned you need long focal length and large aperture. This was 500mm at f4, about 4 metres to the wire fence (leading up to the Wing pits at Silverstone). Much further away and the dreaded criss cross lines would be clear.