BSB Cadwell, Bit late

[dunganick]

I popped along for a few days at cadwell last weekend, despite the initial thrill of the mountain on reflection it would seem that over the weekend i had a bad case of 'photograph-nothing-but-the-mountain-itus' , As such ive tried to mix it up a bit with some shots i accidently took else where in the circuit.

1. Lets get some Mountain shots out of the way first,

2.

3.

4.

5. Levitating

6.

7.

8. Some nice clean backgrounds,

9. Got a tad bored at one stage...

10. There was some interesting antics Monday morning for track inspection...

Anyway, C+C appreciated,
Nick

 

[Ian]

Lol! #9 for me, closely followed by #10. I don't think you were the only one stuck at the mountain; from what I can tell most of TP were huddled around there as well. I know a lot of people were hoping to get the angle you got in #3, but I also like the blurred crowd in #4 and the reflection in #8. They're all great though, as usual!

 

[Jungle_Jim]

stunning pics buddy, i must explore some other circuits than silverstone looks like you can get much more interesting shots.

what lens were you using mate.

cheers
James

 

[dunganick]

Cheers guys,

These were all shot with the 100-300 F4 Sigma, which is for sale currently.

Silverstone is one circuit i swore i would never return to as a spectator. Its the big load of guff when it comes to taking speccy pictures ever.

If you can try either Brands, Oulton, Cadwell, event Thruxton and Snetterton are good (if a little limiting as although you can get near to the action its only in very specific places)

 

[Andy.]

Awesome shots! What are you replacing the 100-300 with?

 

[dunganick]

Either a Canon 300mm f2.8 (the old non IS one) or a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8

The Canon is the better Lens, but if i buy that then i will need to get a 70-200 f2.8 to go with it. Which if im honest means i would want a second body (changing lenses at a track isnt the ideal situation.... im a bit anal about trying to keep the sensor clean so i can do my slow shutter speed stuff, and cleaning is a Pain in the arse during a race day)

Unfortunately im in a chicken and egg situation in that i need the funds from the old lens to fund the new. But i dont have more than 2 week gaps between events i need to have the lens for.

Nick

 

[Jungle_Jim]

have you thought about just running the canon 70-200 f2.8 with a teleconvertor. You can get a kenko one which is just as good as the canon one but works on all lenses. Best of all its much cheapers rrp £80 however i picked one up on ebay for £28 as the guy listed it as 1x4 convertor rather than x1.4 lol

 

[Paul_G]

Lovely shots! Good luck on the lens hunting!

 

[jamesp24]

Awesome,karl Harris is the best one.

 

[Rob Clark]

phenomenal nick, are you panning via hand (or hip) or using a monopod / tripod ?
I get far too much vertical movement in mine.
Keep it up

 

[Gaz.]

Quality shots. I love BSB at Cadwell, although everyone tries to cram onto the mountain lol.

 

[dunganick]

have you thought about just running the canon 70-200 f2.8 with a teleconvertor. You can get a kenko one which is just as good as the canon one but works on all lenses. Best of all its much cheapers rrp £80 however i picked one up on ebay for £28 as the guy listed it as 1x4 convertor rather than x1.4 lol

For the price the canon 70-200 f2.8 is even used i can pretty much get a 300mm f2.8 (either old canon or sigma)

Personally i dont really rate teleconverters. I keep meaning to try them again, as i did have a sigma 1.4tc and it was useless. An awful lot of the guys at BSB events prefer to shoot crop sensors and then crop down rather than teleconverting their 300mm's

Wolf359,

All shot hand held, i have a monopod but dont get on with it, im lucky the lens is light enough that i can shoot without one all day. If i get a larger lens i will get a ball head for the monopod and a waist pouch.

Nick

 

[Jungle_Jim]

yeah the 300mm f2.8 is good, when i went to silverstone to shoot the European drift championship i got chatting to one of the speedhunters photographers - john brooks. He was using one, only down side i can see is that a fixed focal length maybe be restrictive but then again its being a prime lens which makes it good quality. I wouldnt really know where to go next at the moment i am using an canon F4 70-200 L series with kenko x1.4 teleconvertor and it seems pretty good (and seeing as i got the lens new for £300 and the TC for £28 you cant really complain). I know a few other people using this setup with the F2.8 and F4 IS version. Even with the teleconvertor it is far superior to my old tamron 70-300. I have heard the canon 100-400 L series isnt that great, which is a shame as the add focal lenght over the 70-200 would be usefull.

I hear what you are saying about the cropping and i guess for me a new body would be next on the cards either a 5dmk2 or the new 7d as im only using a 10d i couldnt crop it as much without the image degrading.

could i have the EXIF data for images 4 and 8 please buddy

ps: will you be at the BSB at Silverstone

James

 

[dunganick]

BSB Silverstone is unlikely, but not certain atm, i need to attend a certain number of events this year to earn my BSB Media pass so i dont have to apply 1 event at a time like i currently am.

If you want to do motorsport photography forget anything that is full frame, typically the fps are too slow and the full frame massively limits lens choice. Or rather massively increases lens cost.

I have to say ive seen some good images with the 100-400L its probably the most common motorsport lens about, so its worth a look.

Will PM you regarding EXIF

 

[Jungle_Jim]

cheers for the pm.
ive never shot bikes so was interested to see the difference, and going back to what wolf359 it seems you can get away with faster shutters speeds on the pans and still get a good sense of speed.
some of mine i have had to shoot down as low as a 1/60

even this one doesnt show that much of a sense of speed and it is at 1/90, but then again shooting at silverstone only really has grass in the background which doesnt give good definition when blurred.

As for the press pass for BSB i have already emailed them about Silverstone and BSB arent doing them direct you have to do it through the circuit which is a bit of pain. I find it easier getting them when there is a third party organiser. Like the European drift championship or Silverstone classic grandprix

 

[dunganick]

Ive only ever dealt with meetings where the press pass is issued by the track so i couldnt comment. You will still need 2 published images typically and a media outlet to work for. Its not too much trouble 5 mins of form filling. Not sure i will bother though found Silverstone massively uninspiring last time i was there.

Bikes are easier to shoot in the sense you can get away with faster shutter speeds, however there is a reason for that, they are going faster so you dont need such slow shutter speeds.

Shooting anything lower than 1/200th on bikes is v difficult and tends not to look quite right:

1/40th