@netkonnexion and whoever else who can answer my question: I work with someone whose son(s) race(s) on a quarter midget track. She came to me a few months back about a possible opportunity to pick up a job as a photographer. The current photographer stunk and in about a year they will be looking to replace him.If I can get the job it would mean great pay. After much "too scared to consider myself pursuing action photography" thoughts, I have decided to start hanging out at the track and practice taking pictures in the hopes i get good enough at it and the people in charge would consider hiring me. Meanwhile i am looking for advice on what i can do to make better use of my practice time. I own a canon eos 5d mark 2 and my only lens is a 50 mm 1.4 Also, I realize that as i shoot and depending on the conditions of lighting etc. my camera settings will change but what would be a good place as far as f/stop iso speed and shutter speed or the like that i should start my camera at. and what kind of things should i work on besides panning . Thank you in advance. Any advice you guys can give me would be helpful.
I typically shoot sports at f/2.8 (wide open on my 70-200mm) and I adjust the shutterspeed to either show motion blur / panning blur, or to freeze it altogether. You will want to shoot at 1/640th or faster to freeze athletes - I suggest 1/1000th.
Your camera is adequate (it is what I use, too), but there are more ideal models. 1D Mk IV would be perfect, if you're inclined to spend the money. The 5D II AF system is not great for sports, so you need to be comfortable with it. I only use the centre AF point for sports, and for just about everything nowdays. Your lens, while fast, restricts you a lot, and if you can't get close enough you'll be cropping out a lot of lovely pixels. I highly suggest a 70-200mm f/2.8 IS at the very least, for any kind of sports shooting. F/4, in my opinion, is not fast enough except on the brightest days, or unless you want to lose fine detail by upping your ISO. F/2.8 at 200mm gives you beautiful, shallow DOF, isolating your subject wonderfully. F/4 just won't do that for you.
If you have to use your 50mm for now, I would shoot at between f/2 and f/2.8. Being wider than my 70-200, your DOF will be greater for the same aperture, so you can afford to shoot down to f/2. If you go wider than that, you'll probably find yourself missing a lot of shots due to DOF being too shallow.
Try spot-metering, so you expose correctly for your subject and not the (often brighter) background. That will help you a lot. Also use manual settings - the light should not change much between shots, so you should only have to revisit your settings if you shift position dramatically.
Good luck, and have fun! Sounds like a great opportunity!
@keithdavid@eyebrows@killerjackalope@vaderkip@elephantgirl well if it is a quarter midget race then it raises some perplexing questions. If it is only a quarter of a midget that is racing which quarter is it and do some quarters of a midget race better than others =P How do you know which quarter to choose? @jinximages thank you very much it answers a lot of questions for me. As far as the lens i am stuck financially speaking with the 50mm for now. I was trying to decide between the 70-200 mm or the 16-35 mm for my next lens but after what you wrote i think i may aim for the 70 - 200 first. lol as of now i have a whopping 2ish dollar saved up and i am seriously considering standing on a corner with a cardboard sign to get the rest of the money. =P Anyways, thanks again for the info. I really appreciate it.
@jinximages one last question. Looking at b&h photo and video website and i notice there is a thousand dollar difference between the usa version of the lens and the imported version of the lens. Does it matter which one i get The imported lens will be the same quality as of the usa made one right?
@frontporchview It might not be the same lens. There is a Mark II version, if you mean the 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS, so the USA version may actually be the 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II. Grey-market, on the other hand, could be $1k cheaper, but it won't have any USA warranty. I didn't think B&H did grey-market imports, so, you'd need to check that. Other than that, well, they're all imported anyway - AFAIK the lenses are made in Japan (though parts may be assembled in the USA - can't say I've ever looked into it). HTH!
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Your camera is adequate (it is what I use, too), but there are more ideal models. 1D Mk IV would be perfect, if you're inclined to spend the money. The 5D II AF system is not great for sports, so you need to be comfortable with it. I only use the centre AF point for sports, and for just about everything nowdays. Your lens, while fast, restricts you a lot, and if you can't get close enough you'll be cropping out a lot of lovely pixels. I highly suggest a 70-200mm f/2.8 IS at the very least, for any kind of sports shooting. F/4, in my opinion, is not fast enough except on the brightest days, or unless you want to lose fine detail by upping your ISO. F/2.8 at 200mm gives you beautiful, shallow DOF, isolating your subject wonderfully. F/4 just won't do that for you.
If you have to use your 50mm for now, I would shoot at between f/2 and f/2.8. Being wider than my 70-200, your DOF will be greater for the same aperture, so you can afford to shoot down to f/2. If you go wider than that, you'll probably find yourself missing a lot of shots due to DOF being too shallow.
Try spot-metering, so you expose correctly for your subject and not the (often brighter) background. That will help you a lot. Also use manual settings - the light should not change much between shots, so you should only have to revisit your settings if you shift position dramatically.
Good luck, and have fun! Sounds like a great opportunity!
I am disappoint.
Jinx has given some great advice...
On a random note the photography listings for belfast lately included a call for two male midgets for show, must be real midgets apply via...
LOL so glad I'm not the only one :P