Comments on Shooting Wide Open: Shooting Through The Wire

Well, you may have a dud body if the focus isn't t...

2008-10-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well, you may have a dud body if the focus isn't tracking properly--this does happen, and I was just talking to a pro who buys 3 40Ds (or equivalent) a year, and he was saying one of his current three has a similar problem.

As for IS, I have it on setting 1 for non-panning shots, and off for panning shots. Setting 2 is a nice idea, but when panning I've never had good results with it for some reason.

Thanks for the reply Scott.Phillip island is a fan...

2008-10-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the reply Scott.Phillip island is a fantastic spot to shoot,usually over a wire fence 3 feet in height and fairly close to the track.
I have shot there before and had great results but this new setup may take some getting used too!
I was using a mono pod and no wind (which is a rarity at Phillip Island)
I have a feeling that a mixture of settings and a tracking problem with the IA servo has contributed to my problem. Thanks for your help.
Might see you at the island one day.
BTW do you turn off your IS when shooting on a pod or the #2 setting?

Hi Rowey,Sorry to hear you didn't get any you like...

2008-10-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hi Rowey,

Sorry to hear you didn't get any you liked at Phillip Island--of all the GP tracks, that is one I would love to photograph some day.

The shots above were taken with a Canon 30D and either a 70-200 f/2.8L IS, or the 100-400 you used. I have since switched to a 40D and find it much better than the 30D is almost every way, though. Unless you have a dud, I suspect the blurriness you mention was caused by problems other than the 40D itself.

I believe that that the fences at PI are fairly low, so I'm guessing you weren't shooting through them, right? I'm also guessing you were some distance from your subject, though, which probably means that the 100-400 was zoomed in all the way. At 400mm, even a little bit of camera shake during exposure can cause blurriness. And the wind off the ocean can make it harder to hold the lens steady. This is why you rarely see pros using long lenses without a monopod and a left arm draped along the length of the lens for stability.

So next time try to keep the lens as still as possible, and adjust your shutter speed to keep it as fast as possible for the type of photo you want. If the shutter speed is too fast when a bike is moving horizontally, it will freeze the wheels and ruin the photo, even though the focus is sharp. But if the bike is coming toward you, go for a very fast shutter speed, like 1/1500. You will likely still freeze the wheel, which may give you a visible logo on the sidewall, but that's not as noticeable as frozen spokes.

Also, take A LOT more than 300 shots. I bring 24 gigs of storage to the track and in a full day of shooting come back with thousands of photos to sort through. I throw away a lot of images because of small flaws, and hope to get 40-50 really good shots for the day.

Finally, if this was your first try with your new camera, don't be discouraged. Racing photography is very challenging and takes a lot of practice. Hang in there!

Went to the Australian Motogp equipped with a new ...

2008-10-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Went to the Australian Motogp equipped with a new canon40D and canon100-400 zoom. After viewing some 300 shots i dissapointd to find not one shot i liked. All photos were out of focus and lettering showed signs of ghosting. I found your site after googeling problems witgh the 40d which there are many posts having the same problem, especially shooting motorsport and usind servo focusing.Really impressed with your shots and hope to emulate some if i can get things sorted. Might try some of your suggestions at the superbikes next year and see how we go!

Interesting read. Looks like you made the best of...

2008-07-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

Interesting read. Looks like you made the best of a track that really isn't very photo friendly.