Donnington Track Day

[antc]

went to a track attack day at donnington yesterday morning. though i would post a few picks and get some feedback on whats good and bad. this is my first attempt at panning so be gentle










all images were panned at 1/125 and all were roughly at 200mm focal length handheld. was set to ai servo and centre waited focusing. (exif data seems to have been lost when uploading the pics)

came home with a couple of hundred images and a lot were blurry, probably had around 50 really sharp ones.

i found my lens hunted a little sometimes and i missed the shots i was after. it could just be me of course but i have a feeling its down to the lens not being fast enough.

 

[antc]

From where those shots were taken he was both inside the first corner (Redgate) and also on the outside of this corner.

Tom

i was on the inside of redgate for a lot of the pics i took including the ones i posted apart from the mini shot i was at the second corner on the outside

@SDK^ - the bmw was infact white yes

what is the best way of focusing in moving objects guys?? i set the focus to be on the middle red dot only and tried to make sure that was in the middle side of each car i shot. not sure if this is right. at the camera set on tv mode so i just had to concentrate on that.

 

[antc]

Yup - that's pretty much it.
To achieve the perfect panning shot you should take it as the car passes parallel to your position.

For example like the photo below. (This has not been cropped).

that is a stunning shot SDK^, unlike mine its very very sharp. are you handholding that or are you on a tripod or monopod?

im thinking i need a monopod as i find it quite hard to hold the lens steady (70-300) handheld, gets a bit shakey.

im thinking its possibly time to upgrade the lens as well

need to try and decide on something if i can by the time the F1 testing comes around as i really want to get some good shots of the testing

 

[antc]

it's the lens that isn't fast enough
not the camera, although a better camera does help I think
donnington park??
nottingham local?
if we get a few people together we can test out diff lenses
the one I got for this sort of thing was the 100-300 USM
pretty fast all round I feel

agree with you on the lens front. im just not sure what to get next. looking at the sigma 70-200 F2.8 and the canon 70-200 F4L. for an extra £100 quid im thinking of the sigma as its a stop quicker. other than that im sure they are both gret lenses tbh.

yeah i would be up for meeting, i had noticed recently there are quite a few of us from the nottingham area.

 

[antc]

agree with you on shot number 4. its definatly my steady hand thats an issue
very nice shot btw, thats is pin sharp great work.

well that was my first and last practice before the F1 testing arrives so will see if i cant do a little better and will post up some results.