f1-fanatic

I am sorry I didn't see this post earlier. I have a pretty good knowledge of the circuit having shot there for the past few years. Depending on where your seats are you can go in two directions once on the Island. If your seats are in the Senna Curve (all the way to the right, turn complex 1-3) then you can get some pretty interesting shots from that sector as well as the rest of the track barring the paddock. But if your seats are anywhere else... you are out of luck as they will not allow you to cross the bridge from the infield to that sector and you will be somewhat limited. Anyway, with regards to film and lens selection, I would say everything depends on what kind of shots you are looking to get. If you are looking to isolate and freeze a part of the action, the faster ISO film would be fine, but personally I prefer panning shots at slow shutter speeds as to isolate the car and/or driver and blur the background so the slower ISO films or digital equalivalent would work best for me. The fastest ISO I have shot since making a mistake at the British GP some years ago when I shot 800 speed Fuji has been 200. I personally found the shots to be grainy, lifeless, and without definition or saturation. As for lenses, the 70-200 f/2.8 L is a great selection especially when coupled with the 2x TC II. I have used this combination extensively at the Villenuve circuit over the past few years and find it to be a very flexible combination having only recently switched to prime lenses to help better isolate the diver in my images. Anyway, I look forward to seeing some of your images and hope that you had a good time there.

 

Check out my page to see a few shots that I was able to capture.. Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

-Norman

Thanks everyone... I am now going to give it a try (especially the blue channel thing) ;)

Hello everyone,

 

I recently upgraded from a 10D to the 1D Mark II N and love it...

Only thing is my workflow has changed with the new file format.

Therefore, I would love to hear from those who are using this body

with regards to their sharpening of RAW images in photoshop and what

settings have worked for them. I know that everyone's technique will

vary and some might not even use PS as a final sharpening solution,

but I would be interested in hearing from everyone and seeing what

has worked for you.

 

Thanks,

Norman

Just a short note to say thanks to everyone who kept me from jumping to conclusions with regards to my sensor problem. After a thorough cleaning there still is only one extremely faint spot on the image and after shooting at both ends of the aperture spectrum have concluded that it can only be dust and not dead pixels. I just couldn't (and still cannot) believe that Canon would let a camera leave their factory like that... My 10D was in better shape after 2 years of shooting!

 

Anyway I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who responded in such a quick and helpful manner. You guys are the best!

 

-Norman

Richard,

 

Actually, the store was backordered and waiting on a shipment. I bought it and had the camera drop shipped to me while out of town. I never would have thought that the camera had problems but it was the people in the pro rental dept who I get my specialty glass from that suggested the possibility of it not being dust at all but maybe part of a bigger problem. This is when I panicked.

 

Andrew,

 

I didn't stare lovingly at it.. But I did lock up the mirror and lick it a few times. ;)

I completely understand that this might be dust. Problem is, in the past I was able to see the crud on the sensor and the camera had 2+ years of shooting airshows and F1 racing where I changed my lenses in the most horrible of conditions. This camera came out of the box and produced these images as some of it's first! It actually left Canon this way? This leads me to believe it might be more than dust.. but if it is, WTF?

Thanks for the help. I have experience cleaning the sensor on my 10D but would never have thought a camera would leave the factory like this. Moreover; I am surprised it's nothing that I can see... Thanks again for the help. Will let you know how it turns out.

Here is an <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/4273428&size=lg">EXAMPLE</a> of what I am seeing. The image has been converted from RAW and saved as a Jpeg for reference and is full size. The spots I am referring to are mostly located in the upper left of the frame but can be found in other areas of the image as well. I have gently blown the sensor with the air from a bulb type duster and cannot see any debris or dust on the sensor plate at all.

It's very difficult to see... Should I crop a section out or post it as an image and link to the full size file?

I decided to upgrade from my 10D to a new 1D Mk IIn. I brought the

camera home, charged the battery and took some pics. Problem was

when I brought them into PS CS2 I noticed something really wrong, the

images had spots all over them. I plugged in the DC coupler and took

a look and there isn't one hint of dust or anything else for that

matter on the sensor glass.

 

What do I do? Help!

I too shoot with the Gitzo G1588. Believe me when I say that bigger is better when it comes to shooting with larger lenses and that's not only because it's sturdier, but it's also more comfortable to handle. The G1588 isn't cheap, but it should last you a lifetime.

Thank you very much for clearing this up for me. I am charging the batteries as we speak.. Can't wait to use the new camera!

Okay, I have a stupid question so please excuse me for asking it. I just got the camera and have yet to even open it. What is DPP and ACR?

Thank everyone for the responses... I just received the camera late yesterday and have not even opened it to charge the battery yet but I am a little confused. Do the in camera functions apply to RAW images or not? (P.S. I don't shoot jpg files at all... Everything is RAW and I have used only PS CS to edit.)

Hi everyone,

 

After shooting with a 10D for the past 2 years I have decided to make

the jump and buy a camera that I feel would be better suited for

shooting sporting events. Problem is I have become proficient with a

digital workflow based on my 10D and now need to re-evaluate how I am

going to approach the RAW files from the new camera. Therefore, I

was hoping someone could offer up a little bit of help with what

works best with the in-camera settings such as sharpening and all of

the stuff that I have previously turned off in the 10D and adjusted

in Photoshop. Also could someone please give me a starting point for

settings for this camera in "unsharp mask"?

 

New Canon 1d Mk IIn coming in mail today... Can't wait to start

using it!

 

Thanks again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

-Norman

I have read about this myself in different photo magazines. What the reviewer was stating is that the chip in the 1Ds Mk II was picking up imperfections in the lower end lenses and to really get the best images the better lenses were needed. That holds true for anything if you ask me... But the effects become more dramatic the larger you output your images and a 16.7mp file lends itself to larger prints and cropping.

Simple answer.. It all depends on what you intend to do with the image. If you were to tell me "I want to make posters" I would say do as little cropping as possible. If they are for newsprint, magazine, or web.... Go nuts and crop as much as yo uthink you need to.

 

I try to get the shot I want in camera because I make posters. But that doesn't always work. Some art directors want to be able to crop the image as they see fit after I take them. One even went as far as to say he wouldn't use me again if I didn't give him enough room to crop the images (commercial shoot). So it all comes down to what you are going to do with the shots.

Patrick,

 

I personally agree with Dan Smith on this one.. but it's all personal preference. I personally like the Canon 400F/2.8 for sports. The speed of the lens and ability to isolate your subject in a shallow DOF is important especially when you consider that your promary subject might be shooting from within a gallery of spectators. My suggestion would be to rent a few lenses and see which would suit your needs best.

 

-Norman

As far as the dust/sensor issue. I am of school of thought that if I cannot see it, it isn't there... Does that mean I don't have dust on the sensor? Absolutely not. I know for certain that I not only have dust, but one large cruddy piece of junk which shows up at around f/11 or so. Being that I don't close down past f/8, I rarely see it.. If I do, I use the clone tool to remove it in PS. So I really don't worry too much about changing lenses... In fact, I change them often over the course of a race.

 

As far as the monopod goes... For shooting races, I don't use a head but rather opt to attach the threads directly to the tripod ring on the lens. I find it faster, easier to handle, and less bulky this way.

 

Hope this helps.

It all depends on available light the day you are there and how good your access will be. My suggestion would be to bring them both if you can.

I have shot a few air shows recently and can offer this advice... Spot meter everything.

Definitely pan with every shot trying to keep your subject stable.

Never use a faster shutter speed than 1/250 sec for props unless you want to freeze them and make the plane look static. (not recommended)

1/750 is definitely fast enough to get a crisp photo.. think is remember to keep the lens moving. Remember you don't want to make the plane look static so a little bit of blur to your environment is desireable... I have shot the Blue Angels at 1/500 sec and slower at times... But the most important thing is to spot meter because the sky has a tendency to trick the in camera metering and underexpose the planes. As far as lenses... I almost always use a TC for capturing single planes... and that is WITH the help of a digital crop of 1.6 in addition to whatever lens I am using! I find that primes are the best and rent 300's and 400's. So the longer the better.... IMHO.

 

If you have any questions or if I can help in any way, please Email me.

My suggestion would be to rent. You can get pro-level glass for the event and make up your mind from experience. I purchased my 70-200 (canon) f/2.8 and use it with the 2x TC for panning shots between 1/60 and 1/250 sec with the aid of a monopod. But nothing beats a prime lens for this kind of work. I wouldn't be too hung up on the speed of the lens unless the weather is going to beat you up. The lens most likely will not be as sharp as it could wide open anyway and given your distance to your subject will most likely not be shallow enough to isolate.

 

My staple has become the 300mm f/2.8 with the 2xTC and the 1.6 crop of my 10D (until I can upgrade and then most likely will be shooting primarily with a 400mm lens.)

 

Rent the two and see what works for you. It is in my opinion however that the IS lenses are also overrrated for this kind of work as for me I am panning most of the time and the IS isn't working with the monopod on to begin with. Let us see the photos when you are done and feel free to Email me if I can help at all.

 

-Norman

 

P.S. Thanks for the kind words regarding my photos BTW

I am having the same problem... Andrew could you please explain where to adjust these values?

Thanks for the advice.. I am going to do some shooting with the 1d2 & 1ds2 at the US Open. From what I hear the 5D will not have the same AF system which is what I really need here. As far as the shot above with the 500mm and softness/contrast. I had to manually focus the shot and I have really bad eyes... Not having focus confirmation I was guessing so I attribute the softness to my eyes rather than the hardware. Also, as with your first press pass, the weekend I was shooting the bikes in my folder, it pretty much rained all weekend long.

Thanks Beau. It might be either my 10D or the older 500mm lens that I occasionally rent. But I found that I lost AF and even focus confirmation when using that lens. The photo shown below was taken with the 500mm f/4.5 (non-stabilized) lens and my 2xTC on the 10D. I had to manually focus and (because I am pretty much blind) guess if I was in focus or not. Do you know if it is possible to change the focusing screen on the 1D2 or 1Ds2?<div></div>