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01/13/2005 06:25:03 AM · #1 |
Hi
Going to a supercross meet at the weekend with the D70
any one have any ideas on the best ISO settings or general settings for the below.
Nikon D70
kit lenes and nikon 70 - 300mm standard lens
SB600 Flash
Large Arena indoor with large flood light.
I am looking for some good action shot and mid air jumps with out motion.
Any help would be sweet.
Cheers
D
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01/13/2005 06:53:50 AM · #2 |
I would suggest that you spend some time shooting objects with similar velocities until you understand what shutter speed is required to stop their motion. Once you know that, you work backward with ISO to get what you need.
Using the Nikkor 70-300G you have a variable max aperture of f/4-5.6 which isn't very fast. Sports shooting is typically done with faster galss (f/2). You will probably be looking at ISO 400 if the indoor lighting is bright, or 800 - 1600 if there are shadows. The D70 has a fairly granular indexing on ISO, so you should be able to get exactly what you need if you start knowing the required shutter speed.
If you shoot raw, you'll have a bit more latitude, but at the expense of image quality. You are always best off getting the exposure right, and using the minimum ISO that allows the required shutter speed.
Good luck!
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01/13/2005 06:57:19 AM · #3 |
First and foremost, flash will be nearly useless, unless you are able to get with 50-75 feet of your subject, and in an arena scenario, I don't think this will be possible.
Arenas are almost always poorly lit. Your ideal situation would be to have an f/2.8 (or faster) lens. Even @ f/2.8, to stop motion, you'll need relatively fast shutter speed, and that will imply high ISO. With a slower lens, you will really be fighting to keep the shutter speed up even with the highest useable ISO.
Your best bet with a slower lens is to use the slowest manageable shutter speed, say 1/250s, and highest ISO that's useable (ISO 800?) at your widest aperture. You still may be underexposed, and you will need to pan with the subject to minimize motion blur. If you can get close enough, your flash may provide enough fill to be useful.
Sorry I can't provide a more positive outlook, but a fast lens is pretty much a requirement for best results in these situations.
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01/13/2005 07:02:04 AM · #4 |
I've not done much action type photography like I would expect you will want to do at the supercross thing - but I would approach it like this:
Decide what shutter-speed you are going to need (probably pretty fast).
Decide what DOF you want (probably not too narrow, but I expect you would be willing to sacrifice shutterspeed for DOF).
At the event, put the camera in "M" - set your settings and do some metering, matrix and spot, see what ISO you need to come up with for your min requirements.
You can have "auto ISO" set on the D70, I think that is actually the default.
Common sense would say to use the camera on shutter-speed priority, but I've read elsewhere that some people would use apeture priority for this - the theory being that you've set your DOF and then trust the camera to choose the fastest shutter speed that will work.
For me, I don't know what "probably pretty fast" needs to be to stop the action. I'd suggest looking at some DPC pictures from some past challenges - the shutter speed should be listed which might be helpful. Also, consider a monopod to help, especially with your longer lens.
Good luck!
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01/13/2005 07:21:25 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by joebok:
I've not done much action type photography like I would expect you will want to do at the supercross thing - but I would approach it like this:
Decide what shutter-speed you are going to need (probably pretty fast).
Decide what DOF you want (probably not too narrow, but I expect you would be willing to sacrifice shutterspeed for DOF).
At the event, put the camera in "M" - set your settings and do some metering, matrix and spot, see what ISO you need to come up with for your min requirements.
You can have "auto ISO" set on the D70, I think that is actually the default.
Common sense would say to use the camera on shutter-speed priority, but I've read elsewhere that some people would use apeture priority for this - the theory being that you've set your DOF and then trust the camera to choose the fastest shutter speed that will work.
For me, I don't know what "probably pretty fast" needs to be to stop the action. I'd suggest looking at some DPC pictures from some past challenges - the shutter speed should be listed which might be helpful. Also, consider a monopod to help, especially with your longer lens.
Good luck! |
To difference is that in this case, the ability to stop motion is of primary concern, so it's critical to start with the minimum shutter speed which will accomplish that. Once you know that speed you can use just about any mode (excepting auto) to get what you want.
I don't like the idea of using auto-iso at all. You always want to be in control of image-degrading settings like this unless you are shooting in absolutely wildly varying and random situations. Indoor lighting shouldn't be so uneven as to require this (in fact, I've never seen a situation that does, but I'm sure one exists). The D70 default is ISO200, but it's easy enough to change with a quick thumbroll.
Work on figuring out the required shutter speed and everything else will fall in line.
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01/13/2005 08:30:32 AM · #6 |
Cheers for all the replys on this,
I plan on getting fairly close as i have a press pass for the event at track side.
I am arriving early for the trail runs so will have a few chances to get a decent set up on close u-bends and the high jump on the finish straight.
Again thanks i can at aleast plan something now.
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01/13/2005 08:42:06 AM · #7 |
To my experiemce ISO 1600 in D70 is pretty much useless. It generates way too much noise in the image. If you convert those images to BW, then it adds a nice grain, but in color images the noise is just too distracting in my opinion.
I havent actually tested ISO 1600 with fast shutter speeds. But with 1/10 - 1/60 sec shutter you get a lot of rgb noise. It does not matter if you do challenges, since resizing images tends to blur out the noise, but what come's to print stuff I just could not think using that speed. But it's a subjective matter ;D.
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01/13/2005 11:05:36 AM · #8 |
| I am an avid motocross fan and I am getting into photography. I have been looking at the D70 for my setup and was wondering how you like it. I hope you show us your shots from the coming weekend. |
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01/16/2005 10:54:01 PM · #9 |
//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=161772
Cr12500 here is a link to a thread with some pics from the event i was at on saturday.
hope you like
On the ISO settings i really learned a lot while playing with the camera on Saturday, The event while indoors was dark even with heavy lighting and t took a good 30 shots to get a decent shot.
Please by all means have a look and if you can think of improvements let me know.
There maybe a slight haze to the pictures i belive this to be exhaust from the bikes, nothing i could do about that :-(
thanks anyway
Cheers
Message edited by author 2005-01-17 03:56:32.
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01/16/2005 11:33:13 PM · #10 |
I took my camera to a speed skating World Cup yesterday, and tried panning as the light was very bad. You may want to give the technique a try. Turn your ISO to 100 and adjust aperture until you're getting shutter speeds from 1/30th to 1/100th or so. Try a range, and use contunuous shooting. It's fun. Here are some shots.
     
They were moving at about 60 km/h so really quite fast in front of us. It's a good way to convey the sense of speed too.
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01/16/2005 11:40:27 PM · #11 |
Hi
Great speed shots, I do not think the ISO hits 100 on the D70, will double check this though. The problem i had was the confined space of the track itself, while i was in the middle of the track the turns were so tight the speed dropped from the bikes so no movement was to be had.
Got some nice air shots from the jumps though
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01/16/2005 11:45:24 PM · #12 |
Ah...didn't realise you'd been already. As for the ISO, just set it to the lowest ISO you have. Also, good situation to use Tv (shutter priority) instead of aperture priority. I almost always use aperture priority but this is one of those cases not to. Anyways...on that note I need to go to bed.
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01/17/2005 03:24:59 AM · #13 |
Back in college i was on the newspaper and basketball was our school's prime sport. I could get close, but flash was not permitted - so i pushed ISO 400 film to 800 and used shutter speeds of 1/250th or so.
I would say with a D70 you could safely use ISO 800. You'll need shutter speeds of 1/125-1/500 - depends on your angle - head on shots will need less shutter speed than when they are passing directly across your field of view. If you can get shots with them in corners or in mid flight that will be a little easier.
If yo uuse the long lens, you'll need 1/500 just to avoid camer shake (inverse of lens length, so a 300mm on a 1.5x crop camera isa 450 lens, so you need 1/450th/sec). Add that to the Fstop and it'll be dark.
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01/17/2005 03:46:32 AM · #14 |
Hi
I was using ISO600 and a speed of 1/500 or 1/400 with the kit lens with the D70
I think the shots turn out ok, any less of an ISO number and the pictures were just not good enough
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