Hi, all
Right Im fairly new to this but here goes. Im off to the pirrelli international on Saturday with my new canon 400d. I aquired some lenses from friends and not sure what to use. I have a 70 -300 and a 25-90 both canon lenses and the stock 18-55 kit lense. I have spectated for 20+ years so know the dangers and all that but I wanted to start taking picies. What setting will work best for fast moving cars? I took some at the humberside rally and got a mixed bag. Most frustrating was that on a lot of the shots the cars some how were half blurred and half pin sharp! I was using a mix of P mode and TV set at 1/75 but it didnt seem to make much of a difference. Advice and ideas would be warmly welcomed.. Stu..:luvlove:

Try the action mode, or just leave it automatic, but if any of those don't please you leave it on manual.
Cheers
Colin

never shot rally, I suppose it really depends on the conditions - shade and so on

AI SERVO focussing mode
shutter priorty mode
shutter around 1/250
adjust ISO if necessary.

It depends on what sort of action you are capturing, and what you want to convey.

If it's sunny, you can stick to the highest shutter speed you can to get shapr pics of the cars (as long as the cameras focus is on) but the cars will look parked.

So, use a slower shutter speed and try to follow the car, in a smooth panning movement (around 1/125 should do) It takes a bit of practice, but the results will be better. Carry on the pan after you have pressed the shutter too, for a smooth action, you'd be surprised how much better your results will be.

Alternatively, go to a slow speed corner where it's easier to photograph the cars, and shoot them from behind. The shutter speed will be less important, but you can capture all that glorious gravel being flicked up from the wheels to convery movement. You can also (marshalls permitting) stand on the inside of a hairpin with a wide angle for a dramatic pic of them, a viewpoint below the car works well.

If your autofocus can't keep up (and my D70 struggles), use manual focus and pre focus on the point where you want the cars, and then all you need to do is depress the shutter when it arrives. If you use a tripod and remote release, you can watch the rally like a normal person too!

There are people on here who take some fantastic rally shots, I'm sure they have some very good advice.

At the end of the day, just take loads, digital costs nothing, and see what type of results are best, or which you like the look of and what works best for each type of situation.

Good shooting

Geezer

Many people leave the EXIF data embedded into their shots, which can be used to learn from.

I was using a mix of P mode and TV set at 1/75 but it didnt seem to make much of a difference.

I think the problem seems to be your shutter speed. 1/75 is too slow to stand a chance of getting some in perfect focus. I wouldn't use anything slower than 1/125th set on TV. If this causes your pictures to be too dark (depending on what f number your lenses go to) you will need to turn up the ISO (but try to keep the ISO as low as possible).

You will also need to pan the camera at the same speed as the car to get the car in focus and the background nice and blurred (sense of movement).

Hope this helps a bit. Post some of your pictures so we can see what they come out like.

Gaz

Right Im fairly new to this but here goes. Im off to the pirrelli international on Saturday with my new canon 400d. I aquired some lenses from friends and not sure what to use. I have a 70 -300 :

I'm going to the Pirelli too with my new 400d with a 100-300, as everyone says try shutter priority with a faster speed 1/250 etc and increase the ISO if you need to. Also try manual focus on a spot where you want to take the photo if autofocus seems slow....

I'll be at one or two of the Kielder stages, which ones are you heading to ?

Took the following three paragraphs from various forums:

Normal setup for the camera, 'P' mode (not the green one ), ISO800, Continuous Focus, centre spot focus ( keep it on the car ), Multishot, Centre weighted exposure, AWB. and of course AS 'on'. Colour mode Natural+

Aperture Priority and set it as wide as possible. See what shutter speed that gets you. If it's too low for the focal length, then you'll have to boost ISO, maybe to 400.

Stick the camera in Shutter Priority “TV” mode, evaluative metering, 1/3rd of a stop of negative exposure compensation, AI Servo auto-focus. Single focus point (the centre one is best). Shutter speed of 1/320th for head-on or three quarters shots and start your panning at around 1/200th. Set your ISO to get you an f-stop of around f/8. If you’re getting good results whilst panning at 1/200th (don’t be afraid to chimp ;) ) then work your way down to around 1/100th. Don’t forget to track the cars with AF active for about half a second to give AI Servo time to sort itself out. On pan shots don’t forget to follow through.

Thanks for all the advice,
Not sure what stages we are going to (just a passenger on a need to know basis) probably the first of the day though as we are setting off early!!
Will try what has been said above and see how it goes. I will look out for anyone with a camera and look knowingly at them!

Thanks again and have a good rally to all who are making the trip.

Stu...:thumb:

Not sure what stages we are going to (just a passenger on a need to know basis)

Aren't we all? I did hear Ste mention something about a shortcut through a wood :eek:

If you want some camera tips Bob will have his 20D on him and knows about that kind of stuff (so he reckons ;) ), after all we'll be standing with you all day :D

Sal

I think the problem seems to be your shutter speed. 1/75 is too slow to stand a chance of getting some in perfect focus. I wouldn't use anything slower than 1/125th set on TV. If this causes your pictures to be too dark (depending on what f number your lenses go to) you will need to turn up the ISO (but try to keep the ISO as low as possible).

You will also need to pan the camera at the same speed as the car to get the car in focus and the background nice and blurred (sense of movement).

Hope this helps a bit. Post some of your pictures so we can see what they come out like.

Gaz

Gaz,

If your pictures are too dark on shutter speed priority (TV), you need to dial in some exposure compensation to over expose what the camera suggests to increase the aperture (smaller number - sorry if thats obvious to all), not up the ISO.

Upping the ISO won't make your pictures brighter, but may give you more latitude on aperture.

I suspect if you've got dark pics, its because at, say 1/125 the lens is too slow and the exposure required is outwith the aperture capablity of the lens.

HTH

Curious as to why some are suggesting high ISO's here - only do that if the light is so bad that you need to to get 1/125 or higher shutter speeds

Stu how did you get on, I got some fairly decent shots and for a first time out with a DSLR I think they are acceptable, was using a high ISO as it was a dull morning and speeds around 1/250 - 320 but I suppose with practice I should get the speeds down a bit, pics here (http://www.dansanderson.co.uk/pirelli2007.htm)

http://www.dansanderson.co.uk/pirelli2007-18.jpg

Hi dan,
had a great day at the rally, my pc decided to go apesh.t and have only just got it sorted.. Here is few of my pics that I managed when I wasnt ducking flyingrocks.(camera already has an impact mark on it!)


[URL="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t193/srw_photos/PirelliRallyApril21st200744.jpg"]

Not sure if this is how you do this though..

Cheers Stu..

nice, here you go
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t193/srw_photos/PirelliRallyApril21st200744.jpg

Cheers dan,
how did you do that as I have another 6 shots in my photo bucket I wanted to show you,

photobucket URL

If you click on the IMG link in your Photobucket gallery page it copies itself to the clipboard, then paste it straight into your post.

Here's a couple of my "action shots" from WRC 06.....

http://www.dan.armstrong.dsl.pipex.com/solbergwrc06.jpg

http://www.dan.armstrong.dsl.pipex.com/gronholmwrc06.jpg

Think I've included the exif data - just chopped em down to 640x480 :)

Hope this helps :)

Dan