Landscape and road racing

[afshin_erman_rifat]

I am just getting back into shooting again. And have gotten my hands on a D80.

Love the camera and have used the last 3 months brushing up on things.

 

But, before I now start shopping the bits and bobs I need as in extra lenses,

filters and so on I would like to have some advice if you can offer me some.

 

Like the subject line says, I am mostly interested in landscape (sunsets, ocean

and mountains are my thing) and beiing an avid biker I love Moto GP.

 

What lenses and extra kit would you reccomend to me for this use? I know I need

a wideangle lens, but there are so many to choose from. Have my eyes set on

Nikon 24Mm F2.8D Af Nikkor among others.

 

Any tips?

 

yeah, need a tripod as well. But it needs to fit in my backpack since I do ride

every weekend.

 

Thanks for any tips you can offer.

 

Afshin

Spain

[todd peach seattle, washi]

As you may or may not know, 24mm isn't very wide on a D80. Many of us have gravitated to one of three wide zooms: Nikon or Tokina 12-24 or Sigma 10-20. I have owned the Tokina and the Sigma. The Tokina seemed to be a tad sharper with 'tamer' distortion, but the extra 2mm on the wide end of the Sigma make it a pretty potent tool.

 

In a relatively compact tele, I'm fond of the 70-300 VR.

[Rene11664880918]

Afshin... I'm a rider also and my camera is a D80. For landscape, a wide angle lens the first

thing I would recommend is 17-55 f2.8. It is a great lens. I considered buying the 17-35

f2.8 instead but since I'm not interested in FX I decided to go for the extra zoom to 55.

For GP I would say 70-200 VR another great lens but it might be too short. You could go

for a 80-400 which I hear is good or even a 30. Anything longer would be to difficult to

carry by bike. Tripod, more than paying attention to the tripod think about your bag. I use

a Lowepro Mini Tracker AW. You can carry the tripod on the outside of the bag. You can

get another bag that type, there are many but depending on the bike you ride the lower

part of the tripod might be hitting the sit on your bike and it is a bit annoying. So you

have to make sure the size of the bag and the riding position on your bike fit OK. Also all

the Lowepro bags AW come with a rain cover BUT if you carry the tripod you can't use the

rain cover at all. If it rains I just tied the tripod to my rear sit and then cover my pack.

 

Rene'

[Rene11664880918]

Sorry, I din't mean 30! I meant 300 mm f4 or if you have the cash 2.8 but that is heavy.

[Rene11664880918]

You mentioned bikes and cameras and now I'm all exited! Also a very compact set would be

Sigma 10-20 and 70-300 VR as Todd told you. Just remember the 70-300 is not as fast as

the 70-200 2.8 and with bikes you need speed and you might run into trouble there. I

almost forgot. I also have a mini tripod. Silk Pro. It is strong enough to hold the camera and

these two lenses. That tripod is always in my bike and since I don't see it much I forgot. OK!

That's it! I won't write anymore! Cheers!

[ellis_vener_photography]

My advice is to start learning and practicing your raw processing technique.

[eric_mudama1]

I'd concur that 24mm won't be very wide on a D80, it's actually very close to the "normal" 30mm DX /50mm film perspective.

 

I have a sigma 10-20 and love it. The nikon 12-24 for DX and the tokina ultrawide zoom are both also popular lenses. None will be as fast as the 14-24 2.8 from Nikon, but that's a huge lens, very expensive (~$1800), and not nearly as wide on a DX body.

 

As for the zooms... the 70-300VR is great on a budget. If you're rich, the 200 f/2 w/ TC should fit the bill.

[eric_mudama1]

Oh, another thought:

 

superbikeplanet.com doesn't strip the exif data when they post their jpegs online, so find some of their racing pics that you like and examine their settings. It'll often tell you exactly what hardware and setup is being used for their photos.

[lolver]

On the Moto GP side you will have to make some careful decisions. I haven't done bikes but my (ex)girlfriend is an F1 GP fan, and uses a D80 with the 80-400. If our experience is anything to go by that lens is sufficiently long and reasonably crisp, but slow - which calls for creative image-capture techniques. That suggests a faster lens, but I suspect the 70-200/2.8 for instance isn't long enough (depends how near to the track you can get). However the 80-400's not a bad lens and quite compact. Worth a look if you have that sort of budget.

[howard_houston]

I have shot road racing events from SCCA to ALMS I use the 70-300mm VR on my D80. I'm very happy with it. It tends to hunt a big in darker environments, but you'll have that.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/superbrd15/MidOhio0133.jpg

[howard_houston]

whoops lets try this

[johnw63]

Nice shot, Howard !

 

I may have to drive up to Laguna Seca, this year. :)

[afshin_erman_rifat]

Thanks for all the great advice guys.

 

I will be at Jerez and Valencia this year and probably Donnigton as well. Since I ride a GsxR 750 K6 I will take that advice on the bag Rene :)

 

And well, if any of you are in Spain let me know and lets take a ride. Will be riding from Spain to Norway this summer and plan to take many great shots on that trip.

 

Shoot well and ride safe

Afshin

Spain