Photography - Panning question (Page 1 of 2)

Thanks, I had thought about turning off the VR, but there were so many arguments towards leaving it on as it is supposed to detect the panning motion. Lots of people have success panning with it on, but other say turn it off. I guess it's down to the individual.

I will for sure give it a shot and try turning VR off  next time and pay better attention to what I am doing and take sets of shots. I will have to take a marking shot between settings changes and write it down cause I will forget. I did not see anywhere in the EXIF that shows is VR is on or off. 

The place I upload my photos keeps some of the EXIF info and on the originals I can see data from my Mac.

I will have to look into how/if I can assign my AF to one of the other buttons. I know some things can be assigned so it maybe possible, and having the focus correct and set sounds like a better plan then making the AF work each time.

In my camera's shutter priority mode, I can adjust the ISO but not the aperture, I would have to use the full manual mode which I should learn how to use.

I started off using 1/125 and even went up to 1/160 for shutter speed.  I wont drop any lower till I improve my success rate, I am happy with the good shots that I took with those shutter speeds.

Really I just need to get out there and practice more, like you said it is digital and memory is cheap.  Need to get some more batteries though.

Monopod ftw. I found that's the biggest improvement for these shots, because as you pan the camera, you're introducing a lot of vibration up/down, and varying the position of the car in frame. Having something to steady that out is a great help, whether its a fence rail, a buddy's shoulder, or putting your other hand on the lens itself to try to steady it. I would vote FOR VR or IS or whatever, especially when hand-held, for the same reason.

I'll start higher shutter speed, then take a few test shots and click it down to see how low I can get it with a reliable shot. Depending on your distance to the car, its speed, or how many beers you've had, and how many thousands of dollars you spend on your lens, your going to have mixed results

As for pre-focusing, that works, but only if you're after one particular shot, like trying to catch each car as it goes through a chicane. You can focus on a leading car, then snap the photo of the one you want. If you're snapping away at your car as it drives by, you'll want to lift off and refocus for every shot, since its distance to you will change. USM (ultra-sonic-focus motor) or whatever the Nikon equivalent is important for this, so that you can refocus quickly.

Do any of my pictures turn out? Sort of...

This one's hand-held, with canon T3i and the standard 55-250 telephoto.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= … mp;theater

Same camera/lens, but this is on a tripod...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= … mp;theater

And if you're a pro, with a $4k camera / lens rig, you can even do it in the dark...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= … mp;theater

I do most of my pan shots using a handheld Nikon D60 on 100% full-manual mode. No VR, no autofocus, just focus, set the aperture and shutter speed, and go. If I'm using the 50mm lens and it's nice and bright out, I'll shoot at 1/40th or 1/50th exposure with the smallest aperture (highest f-stop value) I can get away with. With the 200mm telephoto (an old film-camera lens that fits the D60 body but doesn't allow for light-meter readings), I'm mostly using 1/80th, 1/100th, or 1/125th. When I set up to shoot Lemons cars in action, I do a lot of experimenting with apertures until I get images that look OK, which is tough to determine with the camera's LCD display in bright sunlight. When it's rainy and grim, I try to get the shots fairly dark, to show how gloomy it was that day.

Then I go and throw away 2/3 of the images later on. This is an activity I usually do on airplanes.

I am not sure about the higher end Nikon Lenses, but the cheap on I have, the VR is only on or off. But like I said before it is supposed to detect panning..

If you move the camera in a wide arc when panning, vibration in the direction of that movement is
not affected. For example, if you pan the camera horizontally, only vibration in the vertical direction
is reduced, making smooth pans much easier.

Those two shots look good.  You are on the right path.  Practice as much as you can and play with different settings to see what it does for each shot.

Off topic: Were you told about formatting your memory card vs. individually deleting files?  It is best to format your memory card whenever you are done with what is on it.  Individually deleting files can leave little bits of data on the card and potentially ruin future shots.

I think that you will find that you do not need to lift your finger for the camera to stay focused if you are shooting a quick sequence (like a wreck in progress, or just your favorite car going around a corner).  All of my Nikon's are at least 5 years older than yours and each one of them stays focused while keeping the shutter button depressed.

Taking photos is like driving.  Everyone has their own style.  Learn what works for you and go with it.  IMHO it is the photographer that makes the great photo, not the high dollar equipment.  Although it helps to know the technical aspect of photography, you don't have to be a "photo geek" to take good shots.

Make sure you're using AF-C (continuous servo autofocus) mode. This will allow the autofocus system to "track" the object you're pointed at.

This!  Plus in a FILM camera!  With real 35mm FILM!   I shoot races with an old Nikon F4 pro film camera and a collection of random manual and A/F lenses.

That's because it doesn't.

I suppose that you could argue that you lose a small chunk of an image file if you have to "repair" the card when you input it into the computer (from bad sector, removing it from camera / pc while data was being written, etc.). That has the possibility of corrupting one image file on the card at one point in the future, but it's going to be that image that was partially written, not a new picture. Reformatting won't prevent or protect from bad sectors or hardware failures on the memory chip.

It's far more likely to "brick" an sd card by repeatedly formatting it all the time. Power off or crash or unplug or sneeze while the format's going on and you're going to lose the card.

Colin, make sure you have a filter on the lens, especially when you are at the dirt track.  That is definitely one I learned from experience.

I also avoid changing lenses when at the dirt track.  That is such a high dust environment that I just don't risk opening the camera while I am there, other than changing batteries.

I love my rocket blower. And your sensor WILL get dirty if you're changing lenses outside, it's pretty much a guarantee. The "self-cleaning" function is just a clear filter over the imaging chip itself that vibrates ultrasonically to theoretically knock any particulates off.

No thanks, my crappy car racing team is as deep as I want to go..  I enjoy my modern easy to use camera, computer, smart phone.. etc.

My rifle is pretty lemony though.. $80 at Big 5 years ago. Mosin Nagant m91/30.  Gets plenty of use and is cleaned with Windex and wd-40 then kept with w/e gun oil is on sale.. speaking of which it is about time for a desert shooting trip.