Best lens for Sprint Cars

slamothe

I will be shooting alot of Sprint Car racing this year and wanted to get some user feedback on what you all think is a good second choice lens. I currently have a 70-200 2.8L Non IS and it's awesome for most situations although I find myself at ISO3200 most of the time under the lights.

I wanted to look at an intermidiate lens say 85-100mm that was super fast,say 1.8 or 1.2 for infield corner shots. I had a chance to buy a 85mm f1.2L but read that the DOF is very shallow and AF is really slow on the lens's. Is that going to be the case on any fast short lens? Would I just manual focus and close the lens down for greater DOF? Seems self defeating.Perhaps using the 580EX as fill?

Any suggestion and feedback would be appreciated

I shoot with 1D & 1D MKII, I was thinking MKII for the 70-200 and the 1D for the shorter lens. Any suggestion on this?

Thanks Steve

crockett

slamothe wrote:

"I wanted to look at an intermidiate lens say 85-100mm that was super fast,say 1.8 or 1.2 for infield corner shots."

Thanks Steve

I don't know anything about sprint cars but you really can't go wrong with a Canon 85mm f1.8. An incredible lens that everyone raves about, as they should. Used they go for about $275-300. Quick AF. Another consideration would be the 135 f2 L ~ $800. Both will gain you one stop over your 70-200.

With the cameras you have and the fact you're considering a 85mm f1.2 you've got some cash to spend. You could own both the 85mm 1.8 and the 135 L for the price of a 85mm 1.2. You could always switch later if you felt the need. But I think for sports/action the the 85mm 1.8 would be the way to go.

The downside of this is that my advice fee is the same as used 1dII. Just PM me for an address to ship it to.

Take care....

LuckyBob

I'd stay away from the 85mm f/1.2 strictly based on its focus speed; everything I've read says it's AF is dirt slow and what with the manual focus ring being electronically connected the MF is a bit slow/dodgy also. Depth of field may or may not be a problem: with the 85mm f/1.8 shot wide open on the 1D at 10m subject distance, the DoF would be 1.14m deep. Further away, it gets even deeper: 100ft subject distance nets you just under 36ft DoF. Lightbuckets like the 85mm f/1.2 and the 50 f/1.2 have DoF "issues" (shallow DoF can be good to ) if the subject distance is really close, but they can be totally usable when the subject is far away.

apexonephoto

get a good flash
Hello Steve,

With those bodies and the 70-200 f2.8 you should be ok. If you are shooting at night I have the 580ex, which is good, and depending on how much I want to carry and setup I also have a quantum qflash 5d with the wide angle teleflector. I power both with the quantum turbo 2x2 battery. I shoot with the 20d and I really wish I had the ability to split my iso between 400 and 800. Besides that I have shot a ton of races, being non-winged, winged, dirt, asphalt, 360, 410, midgets, sprints and silver crown, USAC, WoO, All-Stars, HOSS, and AVSS Super Sprints. I shot last year at over 30 tracks and if you have any other questions, thats why I'm here. I just bought the 24-70 f2.8 and it is kinda soft. I don't have any primes, but I am thinking about trying some out soon. With real sharp photos and a high res body, cropping after isn't such a big deal. Check out my site and let me now if you have any questions. And for all of you who have never seen sprint car racing you should check it out. I have a quite a bit on my site at http://www.apexonephoto.com

James

HarveyMushman

apexonephoto wrote:

Hello Steve,

With those bodies and the 70-200 f2.8 you should be ok. If you are shooting at night I have the 580ex, which is good, and depending on how much I want to carry and setup I also have a quantum qflash 5d with the wide angle teleflector. I power both with the quantum turbo 2x2 battery. I shoot with the 20d and I really wish I had the ability to split my iso between 400 and 800. Besides that I have shot a ton of races, being non-winged, winged, dirt, asphalt, 360, 410, midgets, sprints and silver crown, USAC, WoO, All-Stars, HOSS, and AVSS Super Sprints. I shot last year at over 30 tracks and if you have any other questions, thats why I'm here. I just bought the 24-70 f2.8 and it is kinda soft. I don't have any primes, but I am thinking about trying some out soon. With real sharp photos and a high res body, cropping after isn't such a big deal. Check out my site and let me now if you have any questions. And for all of you who have never seen sprint car racing you should check it out. I have a quite a bit on my site at http://www.apexonephoto.com

James

The drivers and organizers are okay with the flashes? I'm hoping to shoot a couple AMA flattrack events this year and I'm wary of using a flash in part because I'm concerned (maybe unnecessarily) the flash will be bothersome to the riders. I also don't like flash pictures, but that's another matter (and maybe unavoidable).

apexonephoto

For Sure
I have probably shot over 10,000 shots at night with a flash last season. I have never had a driver, promoter or anyone say a word about the flash. Remember photos are great for publicity, which is great for sponsorship, and on and on. I recently just started to try using ISO 800, at an indoor midget race, and was suprised at how much I liked it. I would suggest using the ambient track light to your advantage, but sometimes they are greenish and reddish and really leave a horrible cast on your photos. I would try shooting a black bike, at a poorly lit track with a real dark dirt without using a flash. Then try it with a flash at ISO 400 and see how they stack up next to each other. Reflective decals at night are the only time I would try it.

LuckyBob

apexonephoto wrote:

[...]I shoot with the 20d and I really wish I had the ability to split my iso between 400 and 800.[...]

The camera may not have a setting for ISO ~600, but you can fake it. If you intentionally underexpose your images by a half stop at ISO 400 and boost it in post, you've just created an ISO 600 shot. Granted, there may be some black clipping, but RAW can usually get more than a half stop of detail out of the shadows that do remain.