Film for Athletics and F1

Just wanting to know the best film(s) for doing athletics and F1 racing.

 

Will be using an F5 with 20-200/2.8 and maybe a 1.4x

 

Cheers

Matt

You need to provide more information. Best bet is take a few rolls of ISO 100; ISO 200; ISO 400; and ISO 800. Weather changes, so go prepared. [My skill at forecasting the environment in your part of the world is not so hot!]

I'd use the lowest-ISO/finest-grain film I could get away with, which for me means K64/Velvia 50 (only slide film). You want the ability to shoot at slow speeds to show action and that means slow film. Shots like these need slow speeds <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/jonesw1.jpg"> 1 </a>, <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/ros.jpg"> 2 </a>, <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/mass.jpg"> 3 </a>, <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/bss.jpg"> 4 </a> .

I shot the British GP a few years back (when the nutter ran across the circuit) Anyway I shot the race with a friends camera for some fun and used some Fuji 800CZ film in the recommendation of a friend. Now, I know film technology has come a long way from where it was 10 years ago, but let me tell you... I will NEVER shoot 800 speed film again for F1 or anything else for that matter. I would rather leave the camera home then shoot with that garbage again for sports. The lack of detail in my images was horrifying not to mention flat. I agree with Jay when he says use the lowest speed film you can get away with.

Thanks everyone, here is a bit more about my "hoped" shooting conditions:

 

The athletics will be late afternoon/evening and under lights...it is summer here so there should be light till about 8 or 9pm

 

F1 i am hoping the year I finally get out there and take some shots I will get good shooting conditions

Jay great shots..very nice work

I'd like to expand a little on Jay Hector's comments above if I may. By action Jay means movement and at a minimum you have to show movement in the wheels. In Jay's link number 2 the main image contains a lot of indicators of motion because it's a panning shot. But you won't be doing panning shots all day so take a look at the smaller inset image on that same link. There's no panning here to indicate motion, but Jay indicates motion nonetheless by showing the rotation of the wheels. You can learn a lot from Jay's work. He's a racing pro and an award winning photographer.

Fred, thanks for the kind words, and you do a fine job on motorsports yourself. The inset shots in the Rosberg photo are not mine, but DPPI or Bernard Asset (I don't think the one shot is slow-speed enough). It's tough trying to show movement/action as you'll make more shooting errors, but when one works that's all you need. When cars are coming or going more directly at/away from you you can use higher shutter-speeds like this <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/villb01.jpg"> 1 </a>. Body-lean by the car and placement of the car on the track in the photo let's you know it's not sitting still. The biggest prob for me with digital is shooting slow shutter-speeds with ISO 200 as the min. I ended-up getting a Vari-ND filter for 340 bucks to use 1/30th in daylight.

Matt, regarding the track/field shooting, you might have to use a 400 or higher film, and I'm not an expert on what films are right there. One other thought is to rent a D2H/D70 where you don't pay the same penalty that high-speed film creates. Use auto-iso (the best way to reduce noise with the D2H or D70 which is still much better than HS film) and shutter-priority to stop the action. Try a test shoot with your F5 in the same conditions as the event you plan to shoot to see what problems you'll really have, and then make your adjustments before the event that counts.