Originally posted by vatiAH
What lens do you use for shots like those? I just bought the 10D's little brother, the EOS Dig Rebel 300D, and would like to be able to use it to it's fullest. Also, are you shooting in .RAW or Jpeg?
Vati
I would recommend:
1) Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L along with the 1.4X extender (turns the lens zoom range from 98-280mm f/4.0). Really a good combo for those formation shots.
2) Canon 70-200mm f/4.0L also with the 1.4X extender. As long as it's fairly light out, this combo will be just fine. Sharpness extremely close to the above (without extender).
3) Sigma 100-300mm F/4.0 EX IF HSM Although I haven't tried it myself, seems to have good reviews.
For most of my action shots, I'll shoot in highest res jpeg instead of the memory hogging RAW. Waaay too much time writing those files. Your Rebel will really suffer in those instances where you need to shoot a lot of shots in a short amount of time. Save RAW for scenics and portraits.
Here's a link to Rob Galbraith's CF database page (I have the DRebel page loaded for you):
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6425 A fast card is essential for those repeat shots.
Tips for action shots:
If you wish to show blurring of wheels on cars/motorcycles, and the prop blur on aircraft (much more desirable rather than the 'frozen' look), shoot on 'Shutter Priority' @1/125 to 1/250th depending on the situation and your panning skills. For a set distance from your camera to the vehicle (such as in a car/morocycle race), prefocus (MF) to that area. Your hit percentage will go up.
One extra thing to worry about when shooting motorcycles over cars, make sure the riders are set in their lean angle for the sharpest shot. Any change in any direction (from your angle) during the shot will usually give you less than satisfactory images.
Bring a tripod and/or monopod with you so you can try panning with either of those for extra support. Try panning handheld as well. Your panning accuracy is better and more intuitive handheld over supported as using a support, one has to move the camera body in the opposite direction AND have to pivot at the tripod mount.
Panning by handholding results in having the whole camera and lens 'following your eye/face' as your pivot point is your neck. The most intuitive and natural
For shooting Jet aircraft or sports action where you do not want blurring, shoot in 'Apeture Priority' mode. Set your apeture to its widest opening (smallest f-stop number) for the fastest possible shutter speed.
Set your ISO at 100 for very bright and sunny days. 200 for fairly bright and somewhat cloudy days. 400 for cloudy moderate light. 800 if darker. Go to 1600 if necessary (experiment).
Set your exposure compensation based on the color spectrum as follows: Bright white and bright light blue vehicles/planes set your EV to -2/3 to -1/3. For bright med blue/bright light green,
-1/3 to 0. All the way to the dull black of a stealth fighter to +1 to +1 2/3.
These figures are starting points only, you'll need to experiment and find what you like. It is better to slightly underexpose than to slightly overexpose as you can't get back details lost in the overexposure (blown out).
Also strive for the sharpest shot possible. You can adjust for exposure (as long as details are not blown out), white balance, etc. You can not make a blurry shot sharp.
Whew! What started out as a lens recommendation turned into a rather big entry going all over the place. I hope these tips help.
Regards.
BTW check out my gallery's section from my website at:
http://www.LarsenPhotography.comI'll be updating it many, many times before I'm truly satisfied with its being complete. It's not 'there' yet.
**edit**
Don't forget to constantly check your histogram often! Most important to meter your exposure.
Also shoot in 'Standard' (sRGB) mode for most of your shots. You want your shots to 'pop'. Shooting in Adobe98's larger color gamut is useful only for professional, commercial jobs and might result in desaturated, faded images if your lab is using sRBG.
I'm going to stop here for now....waaay too much can be posted.
