6D & sport

[rfdesigner]

Hi

question for 6D owners..

I do Parkrun on a regular basis, to keep going they are always in need of volunteers, I do a fair bit of pacing but thought I might have a crack as the photographer. Unpaid and low demand, but a very small step up from pure hobby so would be a good experience.

So with a 6D and my 100f2.0 in hand, what AF settings would you use for runners who are

a: moving at between 3 & 12mph (some walk, some clock ~15 mins for 5k)

b: moving at a constant speed.

I'm assuming I'll use centre point only and will always centre the subject then crop to frame.

(I'lll practice this before going for it of course)

 

[rfdesigner]

I sincerely hope people will refrain from the typical "you should have bought a 5D or a 1D, there's no way to get moving shots with a dumb old 6D"

Sorry I don't have one, I wish I could answer.

Oh I know a 7D/5D/1D would be a better tool, but no one is accelerating or decelerating, so I guess I stand a chance.

 

[GammyKnee]

Shooting at parkrun is great fun and a great way to get some event-style practice. I've never shot with a 6D, so this is largely guesswork based on my experience with the 5DII, which I have used for some parkrun and cyclocross shots alongside my 5DIII. I hope it helps.

- I believe the 6D gives control over AI Servo priority for the 1st (and subsequent?) images. Make very sure that it's set to "focus"
- Put accel/decel tracking at 0 as most 5k runners will be steady pace
- Lower tracking sensitivity one notch; arms, marshals, and other things could temporarily obscure the current focus target
- Use that excellent center point ONLY, obviously
- Give AI Servo as much time as possible to track each runner prior to firing the shutter. There'll be certain points on the course where runners will be bunched, and where they'll be more spread out. Spread out is going to be easier!
- Shoot mostly with a generous aperture to give you more DOF as that center point will often force you to focus on torsos not heads
- Set up one of your custom shooting mode slots for slow shutter panning and don't forget to use it

Finally, I'm a firm believer in rear button focus for this kind of thing, but if you haven't tried it before, be aware it'll take a while to get used to.

 

[SUNDOG04]

I bough my 6D primarily for landscape but help out with photos of runners at several events. This can be walkers to fast runners.

The camera works great at this.

Definitely want to use AI-Servo as it changes the focus as the runners run toward you. Don't use one-shot as your focus will be behind the runner.

The frame rate of a 6D is not that fast, but I find that even if I take a half-dozen photos, all will be in focus and I really need only one. A high frame rate may be necessary in wildlife photography, but the 6D is more than enough for this type of photography.

I generally use a 70-200 2.8 but have tried my 100 macro and it works fine. In fact, I tried the 50 Compact macro and it worked surprising well. One time I had only that 50 macro and tried the awards presentation after the race, and focusing was horrible as it hunted for focus. I also borrowed a friends 24-105 f4 IS and it was fine also.

Other suggestions would be to not be afraid to get your shutter speed up, 1/2500 if possible. That is a bit higher than necessary, but using the ISO high enough to do that gives excellent results.

Using this method has given me sharp enough photos to read the runners name on the name tags and that is put on in fine pen, written in ¼ in script.

Use center point and make sure it is on the runner when focusing. I focus on the name tag.

Finally, when I process, I may give extra processing to the name tags as sometimes they are overexposed when reflecting sunlight, but reducing exposure, highlights and whites on the overexposed area of the name tags helps considerably.

 

[rfdesigner]

Thanks GammyKnee & SUNDOG04, that's exactly the sort of information I was after. I now have a good starting point to practice with.

The posted images for parkruns generally only amount to about 1~2MPix, so it makes things rather forgiving.

Our parkrun is now attracting over 500 runners, so one session will give me quite a lot of practice as there seems to be an effort to get at least one reasonable image of everyone.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi rfdesigner.
Wow so you have a couple of assistants keeping a spreadsheet and whispering in your ear, this one, this one, not this one, this one!
Have fun with this, if you are not getting paid this is still for you so do not stress the situation, you get what you get and they should be happy with what you do get.

Cheers, Graham.

Our parkrun is now attracting over 500 runners, so one session will give me quite a lot of practice as there seems to be an effort to get at least one reasonable image of everyone.

 

[mnclayshooter]

Good on ya!

I have 2 6D's currently and used them to shoot a charitable bike ride. I set my capture size to be Small RAW to keep the memory usage down and to help speed up the shooting. I set my AF to center. Shutter speed at 1/2000 or 1/4000 depending on the sun/clouds. I shot with my 70-200 f2.8 so I could control the range a little better. But once I got set up, I just kept the tripod camera down the track from maybe 75 feet away from my target and then I could track them closer and get shots from 30-40 feet away. I put a piece of ribbon on a tree branch so I could keep a gauge on where my key area of focus was so it would be easier to know when to get ready.

Back button focus and one-shot worked pretty well, but servo-AI worked better (or so it seemed at least). With back-button, I could roll my thumb on and off the button pretty quickly to re-focus.

My handheld camera was the backup if the tripod one went crazy or I also used it for those passing/panning or detail shots. I had either a 24-105 or a 17-40...I can't recall. I also had a speedlight on it to help freeze motion a little better. I jockeyed between 1st and 2nd curtain to get different motion effects and for some general fill light. Overall lighting was was better when the clouds were out and when it was early morning or late afternoon.

I had pretty good success rate. The first few riders were out of focus while I hunted down the right means/methods - the key was shutter speed. Because of the 6D's great high ISO and because you don't care too much about the super fine detail for these kinds of things, a little grain isn't a bad thing - I think - not that you'll probably even notice, as my ISO never went above 800 from what I recall. I used the initial pass of the cycles as my test case and then took a bit of a break, and then got ready for the last legs of the ride to catch riders as they were coming to mid-point water break area, and at the finish line.

Also- memory cards! bring a few (goes without saying, I think) but just have a couple handy and batteries!

Good luck! Let us know how it went.



edit: had my focus modes backwards. Servo AI seemed to work better (as you'd assume). The only reason I say "Seemed" is that I had pretty good success rate with one-shot as well and I'm not sure I got more/less with one method or the other.

Edit2: one additional thought - F2 is great to get more light in... but you don't need razor-thin DOF. Stopping it down a bit will help you with the overall focusing plan (plus probably some additional sharpness) and hitting focus on pairs/groups running together while still separating them from the background or other runners.

 

[tolusina]

I like a step ladder set up 10 to 40 meters (variable according to the focal length you choose) set up so the chosen shooting position shows the full finish line and, most importantly, including the clock.

To the vast majority of runners, the finishing time is THE Thing.
Offer the runners a shot of the finish and their time, they'll love you.

Generally, there will be some wanderers through the area just past the finish line, the step ladder gives you an unobstructed view above and over those administrative wanderers.

 

[rfdesigner]

I like a step ladder set up 10 to 40 meters (variable according to the focal length you choose) set up so the chosen shooting position shows the full finish line and, most importantly, including the clock.

To the vast majority of runners, the finishing time is THE Thing.
Offer the runners a shot of the finish and their time, they'll love you.

Generally, there will be some wanderers through the area just past the finish line, the step ladder gives you an unobstructed view above and over those administrative wanderers.

ah.. never been to a parkrun?.. they're not that posh (no big finish banner across the line, no big clock, but they do manage to time 500+ people crossing the line, half of which come through in 10 minutes flat). The big thing is they are FREE to participate in and so long as you have your barcode (zero cost) you get a time.

They are also populated by 99% runners, very few hangers on getting in the way.

here's a link to my local parkrun photo pool, I'm in there somewhere but I won't admit where.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/salisbury-parkrun/pool/