[ajtour]

Hi, all -

I've had the opportunity to shoot a bit of thoroughbred racing and pro tennis, but those events were held in decent light. In June, I'll be shooting a charity stock car event with a press pass (hopefully including pit access as well). The day will include everything from a wine & cheese reception to the finish of the race under the track lights. In short: every type of lighting condition, focal length, and subject imaginable all in one day.

Here are a few photos from a past event (not mine, so I've linked instead of embedding) so that you can see the lights we're dealing with:

Prelude '06

I'm comfortable with my 85mm 1.4, but it's manual focus. It's brilliant for getting good editorial shots in a crowd, and I use it for concerts as well. Might be fun in the pit, but won't be ideal for trying to capture the race.

I also have the Tamron 70-300mm. It has the reach and will be good for daytime events, but it won't be fast enough once the sun goes down.

I will not be mounting any sort of remote setups on fences. Someday, maybe! For this first try, I'd really like to capture more of the flavor of the event and will feel lucky if I get two good shots of the cars on the track .

I like the idea of renting one wide angle to capture a few panoramas of the scene, and then one fast telephoto for everything else. I'll be using my K20D and also have a K110D if I decide to go with a two-body setup.
I plan to rent from Camera Lens Rentals . Com. Of what they have available, I think I'm narrowing my selection to two lenses from this list:

Pentax 14mm f/2.8 ED AL (IF) smcP-DA
Pentax 28-70mm f/2.8 FA* AL
Pentax 77mm f/1.8 Limited (Black) smcP-FA
Pentax 100mm f/2.8 Macro smcP-D-FA
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 II EX APO Macro HSM
Pentax 50-135mm f/2.8 ED (IF) SDM smcP-DA
Pentax 200mm f/2.8 ED(IF) SDM smc P-DA *

* I'll also be shooting a pro golf event a few days earlier, so whatever I rent will get double-duty during the rental period.


Suggestions for which of these would give me the best coverage / bang for my buck?

Thanks so much!

[Ari]

I would go with one fast wide zoom and one fast tele zoom. From the list, it seems ike it would make sense to rent the Sigma 70-200 and the Pentax 28-70. Though I think it would make more sense if they could get you a slightly wider zoom, like the 16-50.
I wouldn't mess with primes too much (the 14 or 77). You'll need flexibility in such a fast - paced environment and you won't want to miss any shots while you're switching lenses. You should definitely go with both bodies and have each respective zoom mounted to one of them. This will also give you a better chance of capturing some magic on the track.

This setup will also DEFINITELY serve you well on the golf courseWill you be shooting at The Memorial in Muirfield?

[Just1MoreDave]

I think the race is the easy part. You will be more restricted to a particular location and have to shoot from there. You can practice on every lap as the cars pass by at a nearly fixed distance, where all the lights are. It is the easiest situation for a manual focus lens.

If you have confidence that the press pass will get you reasonably close, the DA* 50-135 might be better than the Sigma 70-200. One of these two would be my first choice. With no tripod, the extra reach of the Sigma might be unusable later at night. If you're in the infield, getting an unobstructed 200mm track shot is going to be difficult anyway.

I like your idea of getting the scene with a wide angle, and the DA 14/2.8 is a logical choice from your list. I would definitely bring a second body, even if it only had the kit lens mounted, just to fill in between the 14mm and telephoto zoom. (I'd probably bring everything I could cram into the bag but that's not the point.)

[ajtour]

Thanks, Ari and Dave. Great suggestions, and I will definitely take both bodies as you recommended.

I played around with the Sigma 70-200 at a photo show and really liked it, so I'll probably choose that for the telezoom. I may even buy it rather than renting since it seems so versatile.

That leaves the "setting the scene" lens. I'll need to decide between 14 and 28-70. I'm a fan of Canon's PhotoStitch program, so I could probably get away with the 28-70 for panoramas and have more versatility than the prime.

And, yes, Ari . . . definitely shooting at Muirfield! Can't wait.

[Ari]

And, yes, Ari . . . definitely shooting at Muirfield! Can't wait.

Wow. That is awesome! What a GREAT course! I've been out there but never got chance to go(or even see) the place
While you're renting some stuff for the shoot, you may want to think about renting a panoramic head for the stadium shots. Whether you go with a prime or a wide zoom, it will do a lot to help make a better end result. And since it is such a large area, you don't really need to be finicky about finding the nodal (or focal, or entry) point with the lens and the head. You can also take some really cool panoramic shots of the golf course with it.

[ajtour]

Thanks, Ari. I think the lens rental outfit does have a panoramic head available, so I'll look into that.

Muirfield is what I like to think of as the "little Augusta." You can tell Jack patterned it after a certain course in Georgia (ha). I had my camera there two years ago, but it was high noon, too sunny, no polarizer, not a great lens, etc. I got some decent shots, but nothing to write home about. I ended up switching everything to sepia to cover up all the brightening I did in post processing.

Here's one:



and another:



Looking forward to going back with better glass in-hand.

Okay, back to the topic! So, if I have the 70-200 2.8 on a K20D, what would the best settings be for panning of cars under the lights? I'm guessing something like f/4, 1/500, and no higher than 1600 ISO? I do like that with car racing you have time to play with all the trips around the track. Horse racing is like a "one chance" endeavor if you're trying to get a good capture of each race on the card.

[Ari]

Great pics from Muirfield! I think Jack had some allusions to Augusta when he built it (I played a couple of his courses in North Carolina and have always been impressed).
Back to topic - so you are going to shoot a panorama of moving cars? Sorry 0 I have no experience with car racing.