Hire lens for F1

HouR

HouR

HouR

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Hertford
Hi guys,
Going to Silverstone this year for my first live F1 race.
I have a Cannon 400D but only the stock 18-55 IS lens off the 450D.

I was thinking about hiring a lens to take with me to get some better shots and also to allow more zoom.

Can anyone recommend a good lens for motorsport use and also recommend a lens hire site?

Budget is £100 absolute max but would prefer lower.

Cheers,

ash
 
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http://www.lenspimp.com/ is where I just booked a bigma for my holiday, no experience of actual rental yet, it arrives on Saturday but could be an alternative if most sites are booked out, which I found to be the case. I got a good quote from hireacamera but it needed to be returned a day earlier than I could.
 
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I think you should buy a Canon 55-250mm from FlashCamera.co.uk - £120 all in (usually about £250) and an absolutely awesome lens!
 
Addicted said:
I think you should buy a Canon 55-250mm from FlashCamera.co.uk - £120 all in (usually about £250) and an absolutely awesome lens!
Click to expand...

tis a great lens especially for the money but depending on the spectator area may well be a little short! Personally I'd either rent a 100-400L or not bother and just enjoy the day watching the race without the hassle of an SLR.
 
It's you've got a branch near you it might be worth giving Calumet a ring. If you collect late on Friday or Saturday and return on Monday they only charge for one day.

However the don't seem to hold much stock in branch so book early.
 
The rental places tend to be booked up quite fast for telephotos when the Grand Prix comes around... no doubt because everyone is getting them for just that. I'm actually myself just looking into renting a Canon Extender for the weekend.

I personally reckon you want something with IS.
In the past I used to use a 70-300 with no image stabilisation and the shots I took are noticeably less sharp compared to when I started using a better lens.

Remember you are also shooting with a crop factor of 1.6x, so a 200mm becomes a 320mm, something that works in your favour for distance shooting.

Other tips I would add are that Friday is without a doubt the best day for shooting. Its the most quiet day of the weekend (albeit nowhere near as quiet as it used to be). It means you can have a really good walk around and sit in different grandstands and shoot from areas of the track with less people about getting in the way of your shots.

Saturday you can still get some good shots, its obviously much busier, especially during F1 qualifying. P3 tends to be in the morning before the circuit is full so can be alright. Again you can pick your favourite grandstand spot due to the roving tickets.

Sunday is obviously really busy with full seats, and if you are in a grandstand, you are locked down to the actual ticket you purchased, which might not be the best place to be sat from or whatever. So its usually the day I take the least amount of photos.
 
Been to F1 @ Silverstone and Barcelona a number of times, using my 450D and hiring a lens each time. Ive tried a number of different lens and extender combinations but the best lens I could recommend for you is the 100-400mm L. Its perfect. And yes, IS is handy!
 
For Silverstone, I'd say rent the 100-400mm. 70-200 is fine for tracks with closer access, like Oulton Park, but it would be too short for Silverstone.

As above, focus on doing photos on Friday mostly, and maybe Saturday. Personally, as much as I love motorsport photography, I wouldn't even bother on race day...rather soak up the atmosphere!
 
thanks for all the info guys, especially Nexus.

Will look at the 100-400 now to see if any are still around.

It is tempting to get the 55-250 as I know I would use it a lot.

Decisions decisions...
 
Conundrum is between hiring a quality lens, or buying a low quality lens you will keep....

Think about how important the pictures at Silverstone would be to you compared to having the 55-250 for everyday use. I can tell you the 100-400L will focus much better, be MUCH sharper, and give you significantly more reach than the 55-250. So if getting some good photos at the F1 is important to you, I would hire the lens.

However, you may not be that concerned about capturing some quality images at Silverstone only; and having the 55-250 to keep might sound like a better option to you. However, slow focus, softer images and less reach will leave you with a completely different set of pictures captured at F1 than the 100-400 L would.
 
Its the focus above anything that I feel is the most important.

I used to use a Sigma 70-300 on a crop, it gave me great reach, but its slow and the auto-focus hunts, especially when you drift the lens past a head that might be obstructing part of your view. It was also another reason that shots were sometimes soft, because it wasn't quick enough to track focus properly. I actually think I mainly bought the lens to use at F1 when I got my DSLR.

I have had no such issues with an L series lens though because its lightning quick.
 
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