Some rather late photos from LM12
Discussion
Your best bet is to get an SLR and buy a decent lens, with the main thing you are looking for being the smallest f-stop number you can afford. To simplify thing the smaller the f-stop number the more light gets through the lens and the more light gets through the faster the shutter speed you can use for a correct exposure.
You also need to practice panning. The idea is to moving the camera in a smooth arc at the same speed as the car, keeping the car in the same place in the viewfinder while you press the shutter.
thegill's photo of the #26 and #83 cars shows what happens if you get it right AND get it wrong. The #26 is captured really well - the "G-Drive" lettering and straight edges on the car are nice and sharp. The #83 is blurred though - but then you have an LMP overtaking a GT and can only pan at the speed of one of them!
Getting it right is all a matter of practice. Thankfully we are talking about a 24 hour race and live in an age of digital cameras, so you get loads of chances to get it right and can check each image as you go, deleting any that don't go to plan.
You also need to practice panning. The idea is to moving the camera in a smooth arc at the same speed as the car, keeping the car in the same place in the viewfinder while you press the shutter.
thegill's photo of the #26 and #83 cars shows what happens if you get it right AND get it wrong. The #26 is captured really well - the "G-Drive" lettering and straight edges on the car are nice and sharp. The #83 is blurred though - but then you have an LMP overtaking a GT and can only pan at the speed of one of them!
Getting it right is all a matter of practice. Thankfully we are talking about a 24 hour race and live in an age of digital cameras, so you get loads of chances to get it right and can check each image as you go, deleting any that don't go to plan.
More rubber on that bit of road than inside a Durex factory!As ji says, you want an SLR with the aperture as wide open as possible (low f number) and some serious panning practice. I had about 4/5 acceptable shots at night from a pool of about 100... I need to practice it a lot more to get my keeper ratio up. As j17 said though as you're only limited by your memory card space you just need to keep snapping away.
The lens I used for these shots (canon 70-200mm f4) also has image stabilisation which can be set specifically for panning, which certainly helps.
lastly its pretty difficult when you've been drinking all day but I'm not sure what I could have done to avoid this.
The lens I used for these shots (canon 70-200mm f4) also has image stabilisation which can be set specifically for panning, which certainly helps.
lastly its pretty difficult when you've been drinking all day but I'm not sure what I could have done to avoid this.
Tyre Smoke said:
Understand the low F stop, but I was having real difficulty with the fencing. How do you stop the camera from focussing on that instead of the cars? I tried many things and only confused myself!
I usually focus on a white line on the opposite side of the track, or the blue/yellow kerbs, and leave it in manual in that position. You can still change the ISO and shutter etc. but the focus will remain the same.Tyre Smoke said:
Understand the low F stop, but I was having real difficulty with the fencing. How do you stop the camera from focussing on that instead of the cars? I tried many things and only confused myself!
A lot depends what camera you have.A lot of SLRs will have a sports mode that stops the way the autofocus works. In standard mode you half-press the shutter to get a focus and that's then held until you either release and start again or fully-press the shutter and take a pic. In sports mode the half-press doesn't get a focus and hold it but constantly re-focuses until you release and start over or fully-press and take an image with the focus at that instant.
Most auto-focus SLRs will also have a manual focus mode on the lens, so you can tackle this 3 ways:
1) Half-press in standard mode, focusing on something like a white line that's the same distance away as the car will be. This focus will be held and you just need to full-press when the car is centre frame.
2) Switch to sports mode and half-press as you pick up the car. The camera should keep re-focusing up to the point the car is centre frame and you full-press.
3) Get a good focus, either manual or autofocus then switch a/f off. Provided you don't change it the camera will stay focused where you left it. If it's not spot-on you can make small manual focus changes until it's perfect and it will then stay there.
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