Lens for Far and clear shots

[pinholecam]

Got those seating at the Pit stop entry, It's a good point to see the race but it lacks of an big LCD screen (cant see their position or news of other activities at other part of the circuit). I bought it online from HWZ, think it's some free tickets for suppliers or other reason, that's why lack of the SCREEN!

To take the pictures is tiring, got to move to top of the stands, so that to avoid those fences. Then got to balance as i had to stand on the seat railings to take. Only can take during practice session as those seats are not fill up at all. There's alot of phototakers taking from there too, think their picture would look better than mine :sticktong .

Thanks for the info. I think many will find the info useful.

 

[Recoil3d]

Last year when i went I found a spot about 1.5m long without a fence :bigeyes: It was the turn into the floating platform road . ill post a pic soon

EDIT* haiz its a video and for some weird reason i can pause and cut the image ...​

 

[crazybugger]

Went to see F1 race last year w/ Ben. To be honest, Singapore F1 isn't great for taking photos unless you have a VIP seat w/ great location. Most time you'd be seeing the race like this:

Your view is not only blocked by the fence, but also by people infront of you, unless you get there 5hr before the race starts (so you can have a better spot).

At such close distance, you don't really need a very long lens, and probably you don't need AF either 'cause the fence might make the camera confused about where to focus.

I used DA*50-135 for the entire 3 hours, manual focuse only, but most time I wasn't shooting but looking, listening, and enjoying the race. Since your view would most likely be blocked by the fence, you'd better try some pan-shooting. It's not so easy 'cause most time the speed is above 200 or 300 km/h. But after some try, you sure can snap some good ones.

Here are a few of what I got there (took these w/ my legs fully extended, heels lifted, camera raised in the air, used live-view to compose, because I was too short to look at viewfinder w/o being blocked by guys in front of me) :

WOW!! ... how did you time your shots to catch the cars!! you must have reflexes of fighter pilot!!! ... i tried till i gave up ... always catch either just the front or the back of the car!!

 

[otc]

isn't either lens price around the1.3 - 1.4k range ?:think:

Yes, that's about the price range and I don't own any except tokina 80-200 f2.8 pka, a much cheaper version, manual one.

marcus

 

[fengwei]

WOW!! ... how did you time your shots to catch the cars!! you must have reflexes of fighter pilot!!! ... i tried till i gave up ... always catch either just the front or the back of the car!!

Well, actually I missed a lot too These are just some of the better ones. You might have noticed that I shot most if not all photos at 50mm, because we were so close to the track, the crop/view was really tight for a lens like DA*50-135.

 

[polantics]

hmmm, Fw, did you set u pre-set your focus to the judged distance so you just snap as the car came along? I think that might work right?:dunno:

 

[istDeS]

reading this thread reminded me a quote from Robert Capa..."if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough".:bsmilie:

 

[fengwei]

hmmm, Fw, did you set u pre-set your focus to the judged distance so you just snap as the car came along? I think that might work right?:dunno:

Yes, I preset the focal distance, use M mode to set the exposure, then just fire away

 

[cubicon]

Yes, that's about the price range and I don't own any except tokina 80-200 f2.8 pka, a much cheaper version, manual one.

marcus

how much cheaper ? that is the zoom range i'm saving up for a f2.8 .... at the rate i'm saving most prob i can get one by next cny ... lol

 

[zoom3]

Hi Luckywin,

All the kit zoom lens (50-200, 55-300 etc) can perform quite well in daylight, but if shooting night time events like the Sing F1, you will need all the help you can get i.e a fast lens of least f2.8 & good high ISO camera performance.

Although the track is brightly lit, it's still a challenge to take very fast moving objects. The cars on certain sections of the track are brighter than other sections but it's hard to get a spot there. And the positions there are not really suitable for taking nice pics.

Here are 2 pics to share. The first one taken by my son with the K10D & Sigma 70-200 f2.8. The other one taken by me with the K7 & DA*300mm.. As can be seen from the photos, the 300mm has a longer reach but it was very difficult to get sharp pics to fill the frame properly. The sigma at 200mm on the other hand performed much much better. It is a more suitable lens for where we are standing. He had a very high percentage of good shots but mine we mainly trash (I think maybe its my skill that is lacking

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pics I took at the 2008 F1 at the same location with the Pentax 50-200. The pic quality were very poor in comparison. Not to say these 2 are great....

1. 1/500s f3.5 ISO1600 200mm

2. 1/500s f4.0 EV +1.3 ISO1600 300mm

 

[ranchy]

Hi Luckywin,

All the kit zoom lens (50-200, 55-300 etc) can perform quite well in daylight, but if shooting night time events like the Sing F1, you will need all the help you can get i.e a fast lens of least f2.8 & good high ISO camera performance.

Although the track is brightly lit, it's still a challenge to take very fast moving objects. The cars on certain sections of the track are brighter than other sections but it's hard to get a spot there. And the positions there are not really suitable for taking nice pics.


Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pics I took at the 2008 F1 at the same location with the Pentax 50-200. The pic quality were very poor in comparison. Not to say these 2 are great....

Damn.. i was hoping i can try the 55-200 WR for this year F1 if i can afford another tickets to go and see again. :cry: Last year, had to borrow a camera to take but wasn't good enough. Haiz.

70-200 f2.8 kinda of Ex.. and i don't usually use it that much.. too invest in one just for F1. Zzzz Must really go rob a bank :bsmilie: