"Advanced" Digital SLR Questions for Shooting MX

[biglou]

Speedy-I ordered that book along with the one elk mentioned just the other day. :cool:

JPIvey-CMOS: yes, and for the lens, I'm going to go with the Sigma lens I linked to. Chili has one and it has worked well for him. Polrizer: coming off!

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[YZ165]

Nice Kawidude! :laugh:

 

[Wintermute]

A couple of other tips from a former professional newspaper photographer.

Tony and MX-727 have you going in the right direction as far as the technical stuff goes. Here's a few tips from years of shooting all kinds of photos; sports, features, portraits, breaking news, etc.

We used to use Canon EOS 1 bodies, even on our digital cameras. I own an A2E which has similar programming but a different (not as good) chassis. I'm not sure if your Rebel will support all these functions or not so take them as a starting point.

1. We never used AF activated from the shutter release, it induces delay and makes it impossible to use off center framing in many cases. Instead we would reprogram the AF function to a button on the back of the camera that would be under your right thumb. We would also set the focus mode to spot focus on the center of the frame. With some practice thumbing the button to focus the camera becomes automatic.

2. We rarely used full program exposure. I run either Aperature or Shutter priority depending on which element is more critical to the subject matter. I also frequently use full manual, especially if I don't trust the camera's internal meter for a given lighting situation.

3. ISO and digital cameras works mostly the same way that ISO and film does. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the camera is to light. WIth increasing ISO comes an increasing loss of fine detail. With film this is due to the grain structure of the silver in the film, with digital this is due to noise in the CCD or CMOS element. This noise is most prevalent in the blue channel on most cameras. With early digital cameras we bought special noise reducing software for Photoshop to compensate for high ISO photos.

4. Digital cameras work like slide film not negative. Many of the guys I worked with had a tough time moving to digital because they were used to getting away with murder when setting exposure. Negative film has 3 stops of latitude (detail captured above and below the selected exposure). Digital on the other hand, like slide film has only about 1/2 stop of latitude. The big thing here is to watch your highlights, once you've clipped them (no detail, rgb values of 255) there is no coming back.

5. Fill the frame. Digital cameras are much more limited in their ability to have photos enlarged than film is. Long lenses help a lot here.

6. Know your glass; Tony and MX-727 have the relationship between aperature and depth of field right, but focal length has a role to play here too. Long lenses will have two major effects; they will have fairly shallow depth of field and they tend to compress or "stack" the elements in the photo. This is how we used to do trick photos like having one person standing on another persons hand back in the days before photoshop. Wide angle lenses on the other hand typically have massive depth of field and tend to make objects close to the camera seem much larger than objects further away. At extreme wide angles this leads to the "fish-eye" distortion that most people are familiar with.

7. Get close. This isn't always possible at pro events, unless you can score a press pass, but it will improve your shots of other events. Some of those spectacular photos from the magazines are shot at distances of less than 10 ft.

8. Work your angles. Don't shoot everything from the same height off the ground. Get up high, get down low, move around, think about the image you want and then see how you can create it.

9. Practice. This covers a lot of ground. The first biggie is knowing your equipment. How much delay between shutter press and the image being taken. How long does it take to focus. How effective is the internal light meter under different circumstances. The other part is learning the craft of photography, framing, composition, using your lenses effectively, manipulating depth of field and shutter speed, intentional blur, etc.

10. Most important. Keep your eyes open and remember where you are at all times. Nothing is more embarassing/painful than getting run over, stepping off a ledge, etc. because you are totally buried in the viewfinder.

Hope you find this helpful.

Wintermute
____________________________________
Formerly known as ORW
Got Dirt?

 

[Philip]

I'm thinking of how awesome some of these would have been if I'd had a longer lens...

Actually Lou I shoot a Canon D60 which is basically the same one you are shooting. At Houston I had my friends 300 1.8 lens and it was too much lens. I had a hard time keeping my subject in the lens. In your situation being outdoors you may have done better with the longer lens, but too my surprise i got better pics with my 70mm lens.

 

[LoriKTM]

... Nothing is more embarassing/painful than getting run over, stepping off a ledge, etc. because you are totally buried in the viewfinder.

Speaking from experience, there, Wintermute?! :laugh:

(Lou, the guy knows his stuff. Does pretty good DW group photos, too. ;) )

 

[biglou]

Thanks Dave! :cool:

Philip-That was at max zoom on that pic, so I could have used more there for sure. A 300 with the 1.6x magnification factor is a lot of lens if you're close to the action!

 

[Chili]

Philip if that lens is too much for your friend I'd gladly take that big bulky thing off his hands, heck I'd even offer him a few bucks to be fair ;)

 

[Philip]

He is a professional and he lets me use his stuff. That's the only reason i let him be my friend. He owns the www.pro4um.com site where there is much that can be learned from the many pros there. Lou the 1.6 was not the magnification but the f/stop. Very expensive lens, too much for the recreational guy, so i just borrow it. My plans were to take it to Red Bud, but our plans fell through. I use it at a lot of outdoor sporting events and it is perfect for that. If i can ever steal some time in my life i will try to post some pics with it. ;)

 

[Chili]

Philip I believe Lou is referring to the 1.6x crop or magnification factor of the smaller sensor on the Rebel, it's not a full frame sensor like the 1 series bodies.

 

[Chili]

Here's a few recent examples from the Sigma for you Lou. It was a tough day to shoot for newbie like me because the sun was really bright and no cover anywhere so I ended up with a lot of blown out front number plates and fenders etc. I still have so much to learn for shooting in less than ideal conditions, I'm starting to feel like the three bears too dull, too bright, man when's a day going to be "just right" :laugh:

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3404resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3312resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3460resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3498resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3802resize.jpg

These were processed a bit in Photoshop and saved at 60% quality and smaller size for bandwidth reasons.

 

[Chili]

Got around to putting up a couple more today. Research the purchase Lou so you know you'll be happy with the lens, I know I am but hey I ride a Zook ;)

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_4439resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_4190resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3600resize.jpg

http://www.wpgphoto.com/gallery/albums/userpics/IMG_3574resize.jpg

Keep in mind same quality and size reductions on these for bandwidth reasons.

 

[biglou]

Sweet! :cool: You realize, of course, I have to buy this lens now. Found one overstocked somewhere for $639 I think... :nod:

 

[Chili]

That's a heck of a deal! Make sure it includes the case and tripod collar (won't need it for now but it should be included).

 

[biglou]

These are supposedly new in the box overstock units. It's going to be about 3-4 wks before I buy. Did yours come with the hood, also?

 

[Chili]

Mine came with the hood, a really nice padded soft case and the tripod collar. There will likely be some deals on overstock units as Sigma has come out with a new "DG" version of the lens. I think the DG is just a new coating for the optics that is supposed to improve them even more. With all the stuff flying around at a track I never shoot mine without the hood and a UV filter on the lens.

 

[biglou]

Here is the one I found: http://www.adorama.com/SG70200HSG.html?sid=11215209564274363

It's a "Trusted Store" on Shopping.com for what that's worth.

Have you seen a new version with "APO" in the description? I was searching around Amazon, and came across two of them, one said "APO" and the other did not. This could be the new DG version you mentioned I suppose?

 

[Chili]

No worries with adorama, they are a top notch store from all I've seen. I think all of the 70-200 2.8's are APO but not sure

APO lenses. These lenses use apochromatic design and Special Low Dispersion glass (SLD) for minimum color aberration and ultimate telephoto image quality, improving contrast and sharpness.

Apochromatic (APO) telephoto lenses greatly minimize color aberration, a phenomenon created by different wave lengths of light refracting at different angles. This causes each color to have a slightly different imaging point, resulting in poor image quality.

APO Zoom Macros offer up to 1:2 magnification in the telephoto range with instant shifting from normal to macro shooting.

APO Tele-Macros offer 1:3 image size close focus, long thought to be impossible for a telephoto lens — and are no larger than a fixed focal lens of the same class.

Either way that is not the new DG lens as the lens would have DG in the description ie. 70-200 f2.8 ex HSM APO DG or similar. They also have a new 120-300 f2.8 that I'm drooling over but the price is beyond my means at the moment.

 

[biglou]

Booyah! Just won the bidding on one of those lenses on that e-auction site! :cool:

 

[Chili]

Congrats Lou! I'm sure you'll be happy with that lens for years to come. Now we can talk about upgrading the body (the camera not yours :laugh: )

 

[biglou]

The seller is in the Chicago area, and I'll be up that way in a couple days. Too bad I won't have it for the ride, so I guess I'll just practice with the old 28-90mm this week. Besides, I can get as close to the action as I dare, and make the riders "go 'round and do that again"! ;)

I think the Rebel body will do me just fine for what I'm doing. It will take a while to justify dropping the cash to upgrade anytime soon. 20D?

 

[Chili]

20D will be my next purchase. I'm happy with the quality of the photo's from the Rebel but the lack of AI Servo in anything other than a preset mode (sports) irritates me and makes shooting in less than ideal conditions difficult.

 

[JPIVEY]

Congrats Lou, looking forward to seeing some more great shots, I think I have as much fun shooting the races as I do racing them.

Out in the dez, I'm inches away from these guys and it gets pretty exciting at times; with the 80-200 it looks like they're going to run me down

 

[Okiewan]

A side note..... You gotta see image # 13 on the new MAC as the background, it looks great!

 

[a454elk]

Sounds like you got some great tips here Lou, hope you don't mind if I steal a couple! I went straight for the 20D cause of what I read and what JPIVEY told me. I love the camera and it's so far beyond my capabilites I'll probably never use them. But I can see that shooting pictures is going to be my retirement hobby. ;)

 

[Philip]

Congrats Lou! My bud says that is a good lens for that camera. You should have some awesome pics to show us.
Not to rub it in but I buy Kirk's cameras when he uprgrades, so looks like my next one will be the D1 Mark II. :nener: Show some pics with the new lens Lou!!!!!!