Motorsport photography in low light?

[yelvertoft]

Greenbunion's suggestion of flash isn't to be disregarded. Buying a big flashgun will be a lot cheaper than buying a 300mm f/2.8 lens, and you can use it for so much more than motorsport too.

Tifosi, the kind of conditions SDPhotography is talking about are really very gloomy indeed. Getting a fast enough shutter speed with a 300mm f/4 lens at ISO 1600 may still be challenging in Northern England in the winter.

Besides, isn't the Sigma 70-300 wide open at f/5.6 at the long end of its zoom?

Duncan

[tifosikrishna]

i was talking about something like this.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b5...r/IMG_8629.jpg

[SDPhotography]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

Greenbunion's suggestion of flash isn't to be disregarded. Buying a big flashgun will be a lot cheaper than buying a 300mm f/2.8 lens, and you can use it for so much more than motorsport too.

Tifosi, the kind of conditions SDPhotography is talking about are really very gloomy indeed. Getting a fast enough shutter speed with a 300mm f/4 lens at ISO 1600 may still be challenging in Northern England in the winter.

Besides, isn't the Sigma 70-300 wide open at f/5.6 at the long end of its zoom?

Duncan

Im no disregarding the suggestion of getting a large flashgun (Im hoping to buy a 580EX in the new year) but for the moment, I have no finances other than to get me to the event and will be either using the 70-300 of mine, the 50mm of mine (if close enough) or a couple of Mr Woollesons lenses as he will be with me (this is the usual thing) which means either the Sigma 100-300 EX F4 (HEAVVVVYYYY but awesome!) or the 70-200F4L as I dont think I'll be close enough to experiment with the 10-20mm again :lol:

Buying another lens or Flashgun is out for the moment as the next bunch of cash that comes in, needs to go into car tax & some small repairs before I can even think about buying anything to do with photography


I do like panning shots occasionally, but with rally I tend to find that full freeze shots work well

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...ure179copy.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...ure005copy.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...8465bwcopy.jpg

[tifosikrishna]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

Tifosi, the kind of conditions SDPhotography is talking about are really very gloomy indeed. Getting a fast enough shutter speed with a 300mm f/4 lens at ISO 1600 may still be challenging in Northern England in the winter.

Besides, isn't the Sigma 70-300 wide open at f/5.6 at the long end of its zoom?

Duncan

yelvertoft, agree with you 100%, i have no clue of how gloomy it would be. i was just imagining how a gloomy overcast day would be here and was doling out my suggestions.

i am sure you guys will have a better understanding of the situation.

regards
krishna.

[andy153]

Any chance of a convertor on your 50mm 1.8? It will get you close for a small loss of aperture.

[SDPhotography]

Originally Posted by andy153

Any chance of a convertor on your 50mm 1.8? It will get you close for a small loss of aperture.

If Jason isnt using it, then its a possibility

I suppose it all depends on how close we are to the action!!! You never know, we might get lucky and have a lovely bright day :lol:

[Joe]

What about trying slow sync flash?....
It's a good way to get some background detail in with a slow shutter speed, and pick out and freeze some detail in the speeding car. the flash doesn't have to be massively powerful.
I've not used it in motorsports, but I found it works well with action
...or has that been suggested and I missed it?

[SDPhotography]

Originally Posted by Joe

What about trying slow sync flash?....
It's a good way to get some background detail in with a slow shutter speed, and pick out and freeze some detail in the speeding car. the flash doesn't have to be massively powerful.
I've not used it in motorsports, but I found it works well with action
...or has that been suggested and I missed it?

y'know, I might try that regardless of the weather conditions...see how it works out

Thanks man

[Joe]

No problem.
It's always worth a try for something different.
Been an age since I used the technique. Can remember doing some shots for an ice hockey team with some mixed results. Rear curtain sync found on most SLR's these days makes a big difference. Would thoroughly recomend using it to catch the blur at the right time ....got a great shot of the puk spinning in the air.....
Would have added it on here a while ago, but can't for the life of me remember where the negs are!