learning bike shoot

[bearbooth]

Hi again. I am planning to go malaysian Motogp in Oct so I figure I would go out and practise first on my 24-105 before I dive in and buy a 70-200 f4.

BUT, most of my shots came out blur AGAIN.
I was trying to 'pan' a little. exif should be available

any and all comments and suggestions welcome

[Ryan708]

What focus mode were you using? If using single-shot AF with an object moving that fast toward you by the time you hit the shutter he will be out of your focal plane. There is no motion blur on the front wheel's spokes, SO the shutter speed should be enough at 250. Could try bumping the iso to 800 and knocking the f-stop down a stop, see if the increased DOF helps. Hope you figure it out!

[risc32]

i'm not at my "real" computer so i don't even know how to look at exif data with this thing. Are you using the servo focusing mode? what camera body was this shot with? mostly the thing that i see is that nothing is really in great focus. perhaps from your panning? looking at the shot i wouldn't have thought that there was much panning needed. he's not really moving across the frame or anything. i don't have a 24-105f4IS, does it normally handle panning okay? i bet it does, just wondering.
 also, can you take me with you to the race. one of the last with Rossi on the lame duck

[bearbooth]

AI Servo with multiple shots on 5d3,
24-105 f4, TV mode. I selected 1/250 speed at ISO 400, and aperture defaulted to f4.5.

my panning was probably crap

[robbymack]

that looks like a pretty low speed tight corner the rider is heading into.  1/250 was probably too fast. Focus also looks off, but that could have been your attempt to pan. 

[Quasimodo]

I have shot a lot of bikes this summer. I am by no means an expert, but I normally shoot in AV, AI Servo, and use the AF-ON to track and the shutter button to take the picture. I use Shutter priority when I am attempting to get real panning blur, but this is hard as they are passing me in more than 200 km/h.  This picture was taken on Thursday using a borrowed 1DX and the Canon 24-70 F2.8L II.

If you have the chance (and get permission from the ones running the track, try to get a good spot on the track, in a curve where you both have them leaning over with the knee down, also where you can catch them speeding away.

[Menace]

I have shot a lot of bikes this summer. I am by no means an expert, but I normally shoot in AV, AI Servo, and use the AF-ON to track and the shutter button to take the picture. I use Shutter priority when I am attempting to get real panning blur, but this is hard as they are passing me in more than 200 km/h.  This picture was taken on Thursday using a borrowed 1DX and the Canon 24-70 F2.8L II.

If you have the chance (and get permission from the ones running the track, try to get a good spot on the track, in a curve where you both have them leaning over with the knee down, also where you can catch them speeding away.

Love the sparks, well done.

 

[Quasimodo]

I have shot a lot of bikes this summer. I am by no means an expert, but I normally shoot in AV, AI Servo, and use the AF-ON to track and the shutter button to take the picture. I use Shutter priority when I am attempting to get real panning blur, but this is hard as they are passing me in more than 200 km/h.  This picture was taken on Thursday using a borrowed 1DX and the Canon 24-70 F2.8L II.

If you have the chance (and get permission from the ones running the track, try to get a good spot on the track, in a curve where you both have them leaning over with the knee down, also where you can catch them speeding away.

Love the sparks, well done.

 

Thank you I think they use titanium cups on their knees to acheive the effect

[risc32]

now that i'm on my usual computer i can see things a bit better. I don't have any exp with that lens, is that level of IQ normal at the long end of that zoom? it's just that it really would seem to me that 1/250 should be enough to freeze the action, yet nothing looks all that great. isn't not quite apples to apples but from my past exp with panning shots i had to get the shutter speed well below 1/250(dirt bikes at a much slower clip, but at a MUCH closer range) more like 1/50 or slower usually to get a good bit of movement.  but there are many variables.

[bearbooth]

70-200 F4 IS   vs  70-200 F2.8 non-IS?

prices in Hong Kong is about similar, what would you guys suggest?

[Quasimodo]

70-200 F4 IS   vs  70-200 F2.8 non-IS?

prices in Hong Kong is about similar, what would you guys suggest?

I have honestly to say that I don't know from personal experience, since I have the F2.8L IS II, but the reviews of the 70-200 F4.0 is getting an excellent review at photozone.de and the the-digital-picture.com

[KingMotorpsort]

Hi
I shoot a lot of motorcycles (and race cars)  I primarily shoot with 7D and a 7-200 f4 with a 1.2x converter. 

I shoot continuous focus with my a focus point selected to that it will line up with the front of the bike (or car). 

I mostly in Tv because it is more important to control shutter speed than aperture value.  The key to getting a great panning shot is slowing the shutter speed as slow as possible.  This is dependent upon how stable you are when panning.  At first you are going to need a faster shutter speed say 125th but with practice you can get down to a 60th.  This is obviously dependent on how fast the motorcycle is going.  The faster the bike the faster the shutter speed. 

The second key is to  use high speed continuous shutter trigger.  This way when you fire of a burst of four or five shots you will get one in focus.  When you get good at panning so the bike stays in the same relative position in the view finder, you will be able to pick off a single shot. 

I have way too many examples of panning shots so I will just give you the link to my site and you can see as many examples as you like.  The EXIF data should be visible on most photos.

www.KingMotorsportPhotography.com

Let me know if you have specific questions.

JK

[bearbooth]

most of you guys handhold to pan or take sports shots or do u use monopod for more stability?

[Studio1930]

most of you guys handhold to pan or take sports shots or do u use monopod for more stability?

I use a monopod with sports shots.  I pan with a high shutter speed so as to not blur the background since my clients want to see it for dog sports but I use a very narrow 200 f/2.0 lens to knock it out of focus.  For motor sports I would slow the shutter down to allow the panning to blur it when desired.

1DX with 200 f/2.0 - straight out of camera - no editing - shot jpg (just stamped):

[Mr Simpleton]

Darrin,
nice agility shots.... when you use the 200/2 and monopod do you still have the IS enabled??

I find the startup time for the gyros can cause blurry pictures if I try to shoot to quickly...