Looking for a little advice please.

Scud

Scud

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Martin
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Ive recently bought a tokina 80-400mm lens ready for silverstone next week, the problem i got is ive been using the canon 55-250 IS and the new lens doesnt have any IS at all.

Can anyone give me a little advice on taking shots without the IS, the tokina seems ok but isnt as fast with the AF as the rest of my lenses.... is this normal because of the focal length ?

Thanks
Martin
 
If you are taking photos of moving objects ie F1 cars IS will not make any difference. The more experience car togs on here may be able to give you more advice.

Ian
 
I expect your new lens does not have as wide a max aperture as the other one you mention.
That can slow down auto focus.

Try to use a minimum shutter speed of 1/800th sec to counter camera shake (your 400mm lens becomes a 600mm equivalent if your camera is not full frame). Some folk can hand hold better than others so you'll need to experiment to see what is your minimum speed to get sharp pics.
 
there is a switch on your lens (IS switch) for panning. It stabilizes from left to right, the first switch is for subjects coming towards you.
 
Some of the Canon IS lenses have a mode switch which, when in mode 2, stops the IS from trying to correct for horizontal panning. I'm not sure if the 55-250 has such a switch. Given you are shooting motorsport I would have thought that your panning shutter speeds will be close to 1/500 or 1/600 anyway. The rule about 1/focal length become less true with longer lenses, and most people can hand hold a bit slower especially if you use your monopod. In balance I would say unless you have a mode switch on your 55-250, and have been using it, you'll probably get better results without IS.
 
The 55-250IS doesn't have a switch, but the instructions claims it can sense when panning and turns off horizontal or vertical stabilisation. Its an f4-f5.6 lens.

The 80-400 has the same maximum aperture which is sufficiently wide for most motorsport. The key is how fast the AF motor can adjust.

Bigger lenses have bigger pieces of glass, which takes more energy to move, and once moving is harder to stop. The lens will be optimised as best as Tokina can given the price point of the lens.
 
These are a couple of shots from monaco with the 55-250 IS, not really sure if the IS can be turned off.

I have bought a velbon tripod today from jessops, think im gonna need to find a good spot at silverstone :LOL:

Would i benifit from using a remote ?

These shot were done around 1/250'ish ( cant find the details )







Shame about the fences.:shake:
 
If your panning technique is good then you only really need a shutter speed of 1/120 or so (assuming AF can keep up).
 
andrewc said:
Leave your tripod at home for F1 at Silverstone, waste of time and space.
Click to expand...

Great just spent 50 notes on a new one, can i ask why ?

I thought if i was to set up and focus on the bend as they come into beckets i think, then maybe i could catch some shots on the tripod.
 
Your first shot was taken at 1/160 second the other two at 1/200 second.
its in the exif data.
 
Scud said:
Great just spent 50 notes on a new one, can i ask why ?

I thought if i was to set up and focus on the bend as they come into beckets i think, then maybe i could catch some shots on the tripod.
Click to expand...

Tripods are cumbersome and the place will be heaving. You rarely see tripods at motor racing events - monopods yes, tripods no.

Work handheld, pick up the car before the corner, allow AF to settle down, track car, squeeze shutter, job done.
 
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