I've got a Sony DSC-H7, which i will be taking to the rally.

Will the "Advanced Sports Shooting" Mode be sufficient or would a manual setup be better, if manual is better, what settings should i be using?

New to photography and not really familiar with whats what,

Thanks in advance for your help, much appreciated.

Kev

Hi, I'm still learning myself, but as no-one else has chipped in yet I thought I'd put in my 2p's worth!

I'll be at Rally GB this year, I've been a few times now. The first time was with a little Canon compact with not enough zoom and which I had to pre-focus by choosing the spot I wanted a photo of in advance, pressing the shutter half-down and then waiting for the car to arrive. This was the only way I could get a shot in focus and avoid shutter lag.

I then got a Fuji S9500 which was better but still could not focus on a fast moving object so I had to use the same technique as before.

I now have a Canon 400D SLR which is the business! This is able to continually re-focus fast enough to keep up with a rally car, which gives loads more flexibility. I think your camera can do the same - have a read of the manual and practice before you go!

I recommend you set your camera in shutter priority so you can control the shutter speed. If you can pan well (panning is following the car with your camera as it passes) you can use shutter speeds like 1/80th of a second to get motion blur on the background. A speed like 1/160 is more likely to get a sharp car but still slow enough for the wheels to blur, giving an impression of speed. 1/250 and faster is better for ensuring the car is nice and sharp and is good for "freezing" flying gravel.

The biggest problem you'll have is that the light will often be low. This means your camera may have to be set at ISO 400 or 800, leading to grainy images. This can't really be avoided unfortunately. You can only get around this by having a camera with better lenses and a less "noisy" sensor = ££££££££

My other suggestion is to walk around the stages to get varied shots. If you walk away from the main spectator areas you can often get very close to the road for really exciting shots (plus gravel in your face if you stand somewhere daft).

Does that help? Have a nosey round my pages here (http://www.giveitfish.co.uk/rally/index.html), you can see how my photos have changed over the years (hopefully for the better)

Steve

Hi there, Thanks for that, thats the sort of information i was after..

i think as you suggest, i am best to get the manual out and have a bit of a play before i go. I have got some fairly average pictures from the rally over the years on an older canon digital camera, but just wanted to see what i could do on the sony with the faster shutter and better zoom,

and as you say, best to have a wonder around the stages to find some better positions for shots, have been going to wales for a few years now so know of some good places.

thanks once again for your tips.

enjoy the rally, i'm sure you will and i know i will

cheers

Kev.

Maybe go stand by a main road near your house and try it out on passing cars?

You'll get a few odd looks and calls to the police :D but better than wasting your time at the rally itself.

Maybe go stand by a main road near your house and try it out on passing cars?

You'll get a few odd looks and calls to the police :D but better than wasting your time at the rally itself.

Good idea, but I've never had the nerve to try that! :)

Can't wait until next weekend, getting quite excited now. Have a good one Kev.

Maybe go stand by a main road near your house and try it out on passing cars?

You'll get a few odd looks and calls to the police :D but better than wasting your time at the rally itself.

Good advice :thumb:

I`m a relative beginner, but it does come with practice though.

With living in an area where there are many trackdays, 1/4 mile runs. I have had the means to practice.

Get out & start practising. :thumb:

Ant

Its all about lighting on rally gb.Usually its pretty dam poor,blowing a gale and pissing down.lol.
Most of the time higher ISO's have to be used to get a quicker shutter speed but too high and the same as everyone else says you're pictures start getting grainy.If you have a flash gun this will help massively as a fill in flash.

Also a little tip,if its rainig or you are near a watersplash remember to take a plastic bag to stick you're camera in with a hole for the lense.Worked an absolute treat last year for me positiond on the inside of a wet bend.

Heres some I got a few years ago.
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/Pic10.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/Pic9.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/Pic7.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/Pic2.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/scoobwithhazesmallfile.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/sebloeb.jpg

This pic I got at Oulton Park the other week of my mate on a track day.Got ok at my panning skills now I think.
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r34/Andyuk300_photos/OultonParktrackdaystenherdy301.jpg

I have a Cannon 300D by the way,a bit old compared to whats on the market now but still takes some cracking pics

Thanks all for the advice, have had a few practice shots and as some people have said, i did feel a bit stupid taking pictures of random cars, but what the hell...

Wilde 1, some cracking pic there... i especially like the Stobart Ford and SWRT ones.

Thanks again all.

Kev.