Houston SX Weapons

Philip · Mar 26, 2006

I borrowed my friends lens for the SX, hope to get some good shots.

LOU & Okie :nener: :nener: :nener:

Okiewan · Mar 26, 2006

Hope they let you in with it... they've got a thing against big white lenses in the stands :)

kawicam125 · Mar 26, 2006

post all the "good" pics that you get ;) ( please).

Chili · Mar 26, 2006

There was plenty of big lenses in the crowd at St. Louis.

CajunKid · Mar 26, 2006

Okiewan said:
Hope they let you in with it... they've got a thing against big white lenses in the stands :)

They let last year. I was afraid they would stop me but all was good. :cool:

Okiewan · Mar 26, 2006

Yeah, a lot depends on the sport. From what I've heard, you can forget getting a pro lens into a NFL game.

CaptainObvious · Mar 27, 2006

Nice lens. If you can't get photo's of the race, you could get pictures of the International Space Station with that thing.

Okiewan · Mar 27, 2006

Hey, it's only a $4,000 lens.

JMD · Mar 27, 2006

Forget the racers. Get some good pictures of the 30-second girl.

Okiewan · Mar 27, 2006

What's up with those chicks?
The one at Detroit looked like she was suffering from MS or something.
Just stand there and hold the damn board please.

Vic · Mar 27, 2006

Okiewan said:
What's up with those chicks?
The one at Detroit looked like she was suffering from MS or something.
Just stand there and hold the damn board please.

Man, you are old. :ohmy:

Okiewan · Mar 27, 2006

Seriously? That chick had one hip in another zipcode. She looked broken.

XRpredator · Mar 27, 2006

I like a little wiggle with my 30-second board girl. What round was it? San Diego? Brunette, and she could shake it.

Philip · Mar 27, 2006

I will have to go to my other lens for the girl, I could spot the lent in her navel with that thing. I usually get some good shots of practice and the qualifying. The main event last year proved difficult because I did not want to ruin anyones view. The lens size makes it hard to just throw up and shot(from your seat), You have to hold it steady and let the rider come into view or you get some blurry pics. Photoshop fixes lighting and color balance but doesn't do much for blur.I have a friend that works with track maintenance ( they do the tuff blocks) so I get to go on the floor for practice.

Okiewan · Mar 27, 2006

Blur? Witha 2.8? Dude, run that shutter speed up!

Philip · Mar 28, 2006

Just because I can have cool toys doesn't mean I know what I am doing. I will pay more attention this year to what my settings are. Last year I just pointed & shot. I did get some good ones but will try better this year. Maybe you guru can help some. :moon:

TheGrinch · Mar 28, 2006

Okiewan said:
Blur? Witha 2.8? Dude, run that shutter speed up!

General rule - Run a shutter speed the same if not higher than the lens size to avoid camera shake e.g. 300mm lens = 1/500th sec.

Problem with shooting at f2.8 is lack of depth of field. If your focus point is not accurate you still risk taking a blurry shot. Best bet is to focus on a point on the track. Then pan the camera to follow the rider and release the shutter as he reaches the point you pre focused on. Also I suggest using a high speed film at indoor events at night e.g. 800/1000 iso.

A monopod/tripod would definitely help reduce camera shake, but might be difficult to get into the stadium.

XRpredator · Mar 28, 2006

I bet a strobe light would help.

Patman · Mar 28, 2006

XRpredator said:
I bet a strobe light would help.

Maybe, but chances are you or those around you with strobe envy would turn in to a bunch of little pouty lipped 2 years olds.

Okiewan · Mar 28, 2006

The 2.8 will allow faster shutter speeds with lower ISO in less than optimal light...

No idea how the lighting is in there so I'd suggest setting ISO to 400 to start, put the camera in Av mode, set the apature to 2.8 ... focus somewhere on the track that has common lighting, see what the shutter speed says... like Grinch said, it needs to be at least the focal length of your lens. As long as you can get 500 or better, you should be okay. At 500, you will still get some movement in the image, some find this desirable (blurry spoke/knobs). But... I always get more keepers at 800+

Considering that the other side of the stadium is pretty far, you can probably get good DOF shots at 7.1 with that 300mm (guessing).

If you are shooting across the stadium (typical from the seats) you WANT the shallow depth of field, otherwise the bike/rider will just blend into the crowd on the other side of the stadium. Yes, focus is more critical. Make sure the camera's auto focus is servo mode and make sure the rider fills most of the frame, you should be good.

All that being said, just read about someone having to sneak a lens into Detroit as the rule was no more than 50mm in the stands. FYI. I'll be trying to get my 200 into Dallas, that plus the 1.4x should reach out to our side of the track, from the 17th row. We'll see.

Chili is probably the best moto shooter on this board, hopefully he'll see this and correct my statements :p

Kawidude · Mar 28, 2006

You can also try using the shutter priority mode on your camera (usually the "S" mode). If you run this you can crank your film speed up to even 1600 if you want. When you're allowing that much light in, with the aperature wide open (f2.8) you can really crank the shutter speed up high and stop the action nicely. In the shutter priority mode you can toggle the shutter speed around and the aperature will adjust accordingly. You'll see where your aperature ends up before you take the shot, so you can dial in how much depth of field you want. At 1600 iso your shots will get a little grainy if you try to enlarge them too much. So 800-1000 iso might be your best bet. But hey, with digital, just give it all a try!

Okiewan · Mar 28, 2006

No way am I using 800-1000 unless it's damn near dark :) Way too grainy, even with the good dslr's.
On higher-end cameras.. shutter priority mode = Tv by the way.

But yes... it's it've dark and fast action, using ISO 1000 or even 3200 on some DSLR's is your only option.

Kawidude · Mar 28, 2006

Okiewan said:
No way am I using 800-1000 unless it's damn near dark :) Way too grainy, even with the good dslr's.
On higher-end cameras.. shutter priority mode = Tv by the way.

But yes... it's it've dark and fast action, using ISO 1000 or even 3500 on some DSLR's is your only option.

I should have added that I typically shoot with a Fuji FinePix S2 Pro, which is a high-end camera, and it seems to work well for me. I shoot a lot of sports candids for my studio and I can get away with iso 1600 when I'm in a gym that isn't very well lit. For outdoor stuff with nice, daytime lighting I won't go any higher than 800. Like I said before though, with digital you can just do a lot of bracketing and see what you like the best. Shoot at all possible settings and see what you really like!

Philip · Mar 29, 2006

Thanks guys you've been helpful. I post some for judging when I return. :cool: :cool:

Chili · Mar 29, 2006

Based on the lighting at St. Louis you'll likely be unable to go below ISO800 at 2.8 to keep your shutter speed at about 400 which will still see a bit of motion blur depending on the type of shot. Okie to use the 1.4 you're very likely going to need to be at ISO1600 since the 1.4 costs you one stop doesn't it? Philip if you are on the floor for practice firstly I envy you and secondly borrowing his flash would be a huge help to your results and give you more flexibility on setup. On the floor I'd likely not even bother with the 300 as I'd likely have 2 bodies, 1 with a 70-200 and one with a 24-70 on it. Have fun fellas.

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