Hi,
I have been given a pass to shoot an indoor arenacross motorcycle race and don't have a clue about what I should expect. I am shooting with a 1D MkIII and I was thinking that my 70-200 f/2.8 might be a good choice. If anyone has any experience with indoor shoots such as this and can share with me any helpful points, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Peace & Blessings,
Stuart
Thanks TM, I thought about putting the 24-70 on the 20D but was not sure if it would be good under these conditions? I will make sure that I have it one way or another.
I am a HUGE fan (Blog Stalker) of Mark Rebilas and his sports shots, he's off the chain and is always trying something new.
One of the things I like best is how he walks you through what he has done...... check out his X Games shots. He talks a lot about remote trigger but you'll see his stadium work as well.
The 70-200 will be excellent and the 24-70 will be good too. If you aren't very experienced with shooting motocross then pay special attention to where you can/can't go. I've shot a good bit of AX racing in the past few years and they generally don't limit you like they do in Supercross. Be sure to always keep your front to the track and pay attention to the riders (especially around the whoops section). It doesn't take much for one of them to lose control and take out you and your equipment. I know from experience. Most of the arenas that I shot in had poor lighting. I generally used my 1D with 70-200 and 550ex flash.
70-200 will do just fine, but if you have a 300 2.8 I would bring it as well. Crank the iso up (like 3200-or better) for head on shots and try to keep your shutter around 1250. You can pan from the side with a shorter lens and use much slower shutter speeds.
If you can crank up the ISO and shoot wide open all the better - especially if you are able to get in close - avoid the flash if at all possible the racers will appreciate not being blinded by a flash.
redrider1197 wrote:
If you can crank up the ISO and shoot wide open all the better - especially if you are able to get in close - avoid the flash if at all possible the racers will appreciate not being blinded by a flash.
Me being a racer myself.... i have never once been affected by a flash. And also taking pictures at all the races i attend (every weekend) not once has anyone ever been bothered by a flash. just my 2 cents.....
redrider1197 wrote:
If you can crank up the ISO and shoot wide open all the better - especially if you are able to get in close - avoid the flash if at all possible the racers will appreciate not being blinded by a flash.
I have always shot with an iso of 200-400 and always used flash. All of the riders that I have ever talked to said they do not even notice the flash.
Which Arena are you shooting at? I shoot the MX at Qualcomm every year and I gear up with a 24-70, 70-200 and a 300 2.8. That usually covers everything. Also, just about every shooter there uses flash.
arenacross tracks are pretty tight and usually in small venues, so the 300 might end up just being extra luggage, depending on your access level. when i shoot supercross, i rarely even use it on the floor. don't worry about flashing the racers - i've been on both sides of that, and it's not an issue. as has been mentioned, though, high iso is your friend! shooting mx at anything below about 1/500 will challenge you, especially as a noob. one thing not said is that white balance will probably be hassle. the lighting will be dim, but it will also probably be weird colors, sometimes changing in different track sections.
oh....and lastly, don't listen to a thing squid31says. he's canadian!!
I've only shot indoors at 1600ISO with fill flash at 2.8 to keep shutter speeds up and have somewhat fair results, but I'd love to shoot lower ISO to rid the noise.
Full flash at lower ISO, but a limited 1/250 shutter speed?
What other typical settings are used? IdII is what I am using with a 440EX flash.
