Maserati support race - Brazilian GP. Advice needed

[towman]

I took these with an Olympus C740 "point & click" jobbie. One of the problems is that it has a Huuuge delay from pressing the shutter to the actual pic being taken. How I got round it was to focus on the point where I wanted to take the pic and then pan with the cars to just the right spot. Unfortunately this had a detrimental effect on the exposure.

Anyone got any ideas on improving this technique?

nb. The pics are straight from the camera - no cropping or photoshop.

I also have some great pics of the GP cars, but can`t post them for a few weeks as I have the same access as the official photographers and could upset them if posted too soon.

Steve

[pic]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/towman/P1010109.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/towman/P1010101.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/towman/P1010085.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/towman/Px1010053.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/towman/Px1010074.jpg[/pic]

[GetCarter]

(IMHO) To improve technique you need to ditch the point and click and buy a DSLR - £540 will buy a D50 which will do just what you want.

Steve

[GetCarter]

GetCarter said:

(IMHO) To improve technique you need to ditch the point and click and buy a DSLR - £540 will buy a D50 which will do just what you want. Steve

BTW - then you'll start spending money on lenses and then more pixels etc... all down hill I'm afraid. But a whole heap of fun.

[towman]

GetCarter said:

(IMHO) To improve technique you need to ditch the point and click and buy a DSLR - £540 will buy a D50 which will do just what you want. Steve

Appreciate that, but we are not permitted SLRs at work! Also budget is tight. (The C740 has 10x optical zoom, so it`s not too basic)

[GetCarter]

towman said:

The C740 has 10x optical zoom, so it`s not too basic

Fair comment. I don't know the camera, so can't comment. If it isn't too basic, then you'll have speed/appature priority mode, which are essential for motorsport photography (you need to decide how much depth of field and movement you want).

If your cameera can't do these basic things then you are stuck with what you have, shutter lag and all - (pretty damned good pics considering!)

PS - Am integued as to why truckers aren't allowed DSLRs!


>> Edited by GetCarter on Monday 26th September 19:47

[towman]

GetCarter said:

PS - Am integued as to why truckers aren't allowed DSLRs!

I work in F1, and as you can see from the pics I have an "access all areas" pass. The official photographers pay a fortune to be in the same place, so we are not allowed DSLRS in case we try to sell our pics

[LongQ]

towman said:

Anyone got any ideas on improving this technique?

Er, nope. They look pretty darned good to me to be quite honest, though the PH compression has done for them a bit post loading.

The only thing you could do is seek out a prosumer device with a faster shutter response - most of which will be down to focusing as you already know, the only down side to prefocusing being that you usually get the meter reading taken at the time, so all you can do is try to pre-focus on something that will give more or less the same meter reading!

If the camera does spot metering )perhaps along with spot focus, you may have a chance. Otherwise you need something with manual control options as already mentioned.

Here's one (or is it two?) to add to the list.

www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/s2is_pg6.html

[simpo two]

For a compact that's bloody good, and you used the same technique I would have. Without a DSLR I'm not sure how you could do any better TBH.

[rich-uk]

Get a P&S with the best lens you can find (or get away with)

My Dad's got one of these and it's very good: [url=http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=15001&catalogId=13401&itemId=68643&catGroupId=24999&modelNo=DMC-LC1&surfModel=DMC-LC1&cacheProgram=11002&cachePartner=7000000000000005702

>> Edited by rich-uk on Monday 26th September 22:22

[towman]

Thanks for all the advice chaps. As for the quality, I took over 500 pics in 3 days and there are only about 20% that i am really happy with. I`ll post a few on here soon.

[joust]

I presume you are "half pressing" the shutter button down to set the exposure and focus?

Compacts take a long time to work out the exposure and focus in general, and hence if you make it do all that work before then you won't get so much "lag" between pressing the button and it taking the picture.

Set the camera in "point" focus mode. Point the camera at where the car will be, focus on the "tarmac" where the front edge of the car will be, half press to set focus and exposure, and then keep it pressed and follow the car, fully pressing just before you get to the place where you focused (to allow for the slight lag).

It generally improves things significantly.

J