SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Fool, welcome to the world fast cameras and fast lenses, where the big boys live.
Are the close-ups at 200mm and the others at 70? Or are they just different locations?
You've gotten some good advice, given your situation.
What is not obvious to some is that coming straight at you fast is almost impossible to get sharp. Side to side, a little girl can get with a phone.
Like most, your biggest aperture with a high speed and prefocussed on manual is your best bet, with what your shooting. I haven't shot cars but at least they are big, making them a better focus-lock target, that's good. Assuming different equipment is not in your future, that's probably the best plan of attack.
I shoot a lot of bicycle racing comming straight at me fast and it's very hard to get the eyes dead sharp, but on manual I can get baseballs coming straight at me at 90mph through a 2" mesh, but because they are so small and the razor thin DoF of a long lens, my keeper rate is only about 5%, or less.
I live very close to Infinion and 2 hours from Laguna Seca and want to do cars and motos when I get a chance.
I like your tight shots w/o the fence. ;-)
Fool, welcome to the Hog,
SS

Bob.J Loc: On The Move

Try contacting a local TV station sports department
They can request press/photo credentials on your behalf on their letterhead
I have been on the other side of the fence many times at Daytona and Sebring
F1 is probably much harder to get credentials though
These days they may require that you wear a fire suit/drivers suit which you'd have to buy

Glider Loc: Austin

I, too, went to Fi in Austin. I shot from the stands, 30 rows up and use a 300mm f/2.8 with a 2X converter on a full frame body, which gave me 600mm at f/5.6> Plenty of light on Sunday, so my exposures were at 1/2000 with an iso of 280. My camera handles noise really well, better than anything else out there, so ISO is never an issue. Additionally, it will focus down to f/8 in low light, so that's never a problem. Another thing you can do with Nikon is lie to the camera, and tell it to shoot like it is a cropped sensor. That gives you another 50% in focal length, so with your 70-200, you could have been shooting at f/5.6 at 600mm. Here are a few results...

DwsPV Loc: South Africa

Hi stereofool!

My favorite shoots these days are motor sport and the challenge of getting the pics!

1. Nothing you can do about fences. You will not get the shots 99% of the time. So get above or get inside.
2. I shoot Nikon, but also with a 70/200 lens. I believe your lens should be fast enough to get the shots.
3. I see suggestions here of high shutter speeds to freeze the action. Generally, in most moving sport something needs to show movement, either the subject or the background. So in motor sport, the wheels should be spinning and the background blurring. So try and get the panning right. I have never taken a mono/tripod with unless I want videos.
4. Shoot in shutter priority (Tv on Canon I believe). Depending on the speed of vehicles anywhere from 1/100 up to maybe 1/500 on F1 should give you wheel spinning action.
5. ISO as low as you can. In RAW, you get something back.
6. Use image stabilization - you will get more keepers.
7. Use AI Servo mode for focus.
8. On the Nikon I have Continuos High and Continuos Low frame rates. The low setting helps me get more shots as I believe this allows focus and image stabilization to work together nicely.

I try and avoid straight sections, because they can put your neck out of joint due to the speed. Corners slow drivers down and give you a chance of getting the shot. More chance of slips and errors occur in the corner, and they make for wonderful pictures!

I hope you don't mind me posting some examples here. I will include the original so that you can get the EXIF info off them. Shutter speeds are shown.

Picture 3 shows you can get shots from the front - this is at probably 150mph plus and coming at you at about 70 yards a second. Here the 1/800 only just manages to show wheels in motion, but other than that it's a stationery vehicle.

Hope you don't mind all the info above?

1/100


1/320


1/800

amehta Loc: Boston

If anyone objects to your suggestions and pictures, they're completely missing the point of this forum.

Amazing shots! These are excellent example of skill, equipment, subject, and light all coming together. :-)

Do you use predictive AF?

kschwegl Loc: Orangeburg, NY

I pre focus at a point on the track, (Camera on a tripod) and use continuous exposure mode. Sift through all the pictures and you'll have several that are tack sharp. Needless to say very high shutter speed. I shoot a lot of racing (road racing) at Lime Rock Connecticut and got some great shots that way.

amehta Loc: Boston

It would seem that image stabilization and mono/tripod fit the "use one, don't just handhold" philosophy.

DwsPV Loc: South Africa

Hello ametha!

Thanks for the compliments..

I se you use a D800? I have a D3s and had a D600 for a while.

For these shots, no I did not use predictive focus. I was using the 9 point setting on my menu in order to limit the area of where I wanted it to focus. Giving it a choice of 51 points to focus slows it down a bit too much to my liking and I miss shots.

I will not kid myself or others here - be prepared to still miss more than 50% of the shots! If I cannot clearly see 98% or more of sponsor names / bolts/ nuts or detail on the photo, I consider it a miss.

Portraits and people can be softer, racing machines are sharp cutting edge devices and I prefer to display them that way.

amehta Loc: Boston

I may be using the wrong term for the D3s, but predictive AF is single-point, but the point can move, and it also factors in the time from calculating the AF distance to the actual shutter actuation and adjusts the distance for that. Since your subject is moving smoothly, this would work well, especially for the head-on shots.

Yes, I like the D800, though it's not the high ISO/high AF sports gem. Part of me wishes I had gotten a used D3s instead of the D800, but it's not such a big deal.

DwsPV Loc: South Africa

Anand,

Yes and no, depends on what you prefer. I find that a mono/tripod lock me in a vertical position. When I pan I don't just swivel the camera, I try and move my upper body in the same direction as the moving object with my legs apart and as steady as I can plant my feet.

Fortunately I have big hands and good strength in my arms and chest so it allows me to drag the D3s and 70/200 combo around for a whole day, although the aches are there the next day!



:-D

amehta Loc: Boston

It's not so hard to tilt with a monopod. And the D800/300mm combo is tough to hand-hold for long. :-)

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

I have a friend who also shoots motor sports he has the Sony a77 and the Sony 400 prime he would focus on a particular spot and take the picture when the cars hit the spot. He was in the stands and so missed the fencing.

FL Streetrodder

Come to Sebring for the 12-hour race in March. A general admission ticket will provide you with many excellent vantage points without chain link fence interference. For the few areas where such fencing exists, use of a lightweight stepladder will easily get you above the fence line! In addition, you are free to roam the pit area for close up shots of the many classes of cars that compete in the race.

Toby

You have several good things going for you, not to mention a good camera & lens. You are shooting at a corner so panning is not required, although if you can get the timing set correctly a good shot with a blurred background from panning makes a great photo. Shooting head on requires less speed.

I shot some NASCAR at MIS last summer from the pits and here's what I recommend. Use spot focus so you can be sure to hit the car. I used a Canon 50D with a Canon L f2.8 70-200mm at f2.8. In hind site I would now close it down to slightly to increase DOF. Speed was near 1/1000. Being a bright day you should be able to easily get that speed or higher without setting the ISO very high.

Have fun

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Photos #1 and 3 seem to have a fairly shallow depth of field which may give the impression of being out of focus, or motion blur, when they actually aren't. Check out the driver's helmet on #1. Probably not possible to stop down more, especially on a cloudy day. Good job on a tough subject!