[mccririck]

I'm going to a motorsport event tomorrow and will take my K-70. Which focal lengths will be most useful? Any tips?

[pres589]

You've not provided any information about the shooting situation. How close will you be to the motoring things? Lighting/location? Camera you plan to use? Lenses available in your kit to pick from?

[Kerrowdown]

Which focal lengths will be most useful?

Without knowing any of your details, my standard stock answer to these type of questions is... "long and fast"

[C_Jones]

If you want to be able to crop out scenes afterward, you may want to give yourself a little space in your shots (a little less telephoto). Also, that may be a good idea if you are dealing with very fast moving subjects if you find that your subjects are getting away from your field of view before you can get a shot. If you find a field of view that is comfortable for you, and that is close enough for your wants, and you use a proper shutter speed, you should be fine.

[ismaelg]

What lenses do you have available?
Without knowing more details, a safe bet is a 55-300 combined with a little bump in ISO to about 400-800 range.
A fast 50 is very versatile depending on distance.
But it all depends on the conditions. Will you be close enough to the action? Is there a chance of rain? (For a WR setup) What lenses dp you have available? etc.

Thanks,

[Racer X 69]

I'm going to a motorsport event tomorrow and will take my K-70. Which focal lengths will be most useful? Any tips?

I built this back in the mid 1980's for shooting auto racing. Not shown is the cale release for the shutter, that was mounted where the trigger would have been. It is seen here with a Ricoh XR2S, and a Sigma 600mm f8 mirror.



I plan on modifying it for my K-1 digital camera, and a 300mm Sigma and A*600mm Pentax lenses.

I also carry a couple of shorter lenses for shots in the paddock. Focal lengths that are more suitable are 28mm, 50mm, and 100mm.

[Aaron28]

tighten up the aperture slow down the shutter and pan with yer subject...….Motion Blur!!!! not everything has to be completely frozen

bet a quarter you'll dig the blur

[dbs]

Hi Mccricrick

Have fun
A steady hand or a monopod or tripod depending on viewing area

At least a 70 - 200 even at 70 mtrs away the cars look small

Dave

[mccririck]

I built this back in the mid 1980's for shooting auto racing. Not shown is the cale release for the shutter, that was mounted where the trigger would have been. It is seen here with a Ricoh XR2S, and a Sigma 600mm f8 mirror.



I plan on modifying it for my K-1 digital camera, and a 300mm Sigma and A*600mm Pentax lenses.

I also carry a couple of shorter lenses for shots in the paddock. Focal lengths that are more suitable are 28mm, 50mm, and 100mm.

Looks cool but I could imagine being arrested by armed police here in UK if I tried using that in public!

[Racer X 69]

Looks cool but I could imagine being arrested by armed police here in UK if I tried using that in public!

Well, there is no barrel, action or magazine.

But.

I must admit it has raised eyebrows on many occasions. Once the security guards or cops at the races saw it was a camera and telephoto lens, on a rifle stock, they wanted to chat about the setup, and building it.

I got the idea from ads in the back of Popular Photography magazine for similar devices made for wildlife photography. I looked at them, and thought, hey, I could make something like that for little or nothing.

And I did.

The rifle stock was free, from a gunsmith. The aluminum bits came from Boeing Surplus, notice the green part has a part number on it. I paid aluminum scrap price for that part, at the time about US $2. A few machine screws, knobs and other hardware, again, about US $2.

The units from the magazine ads were running a few hundred bucks at the time.

There was also a setup from Zenit in Russia, the Photosniper. It came with what looked like an automatic pistol, with a camera and telephoto lens.

[Aaron28]

And I did.

bad ass!