Rally Advice

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iain67

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Iain
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Hi,
Looking through the motorsport section there are some brilliant shots of Rally cars and its given me the bug to try it myself,but i don't know if my gear is up to the job of catching the shots ive seen.
my gear is :

Canon 400D
70-200 L f4 Lens
NiftyFifty
Monopod + Tripod
1 Newbie Photographer
Many thanks
 
You should be fine with that I should imagine.
Off to the forrest with you!
 
I'd imagine that setup would be fine! The 70-200 would probably be best. I find the nicest shots are with a slightly slower shutter speed, (look up 'panning'), which gives a nice blur and a sense of motion, often around 1/100, 1/60 sort of speeds, and requires a lot of practice to get right!

You might want to invest in a GOOD UV filter as well, purely for protection purposes, there could be a lot of flying dust/dirt/gravel to watch out for!
 
Agree with chris321 about the UV filter and the only comment I would make on your gear is that an f2.8 70-200 would be better (it's dark in the woods!), other than that it's fine.
 
And now you need someone to come along with a link to a rally calendar so you know where to be and when.

Don't look at me, i'd quite like that link too!
 
Too early for rally calendars as of yet as the championships are still sorting out which events the want to do or they've alreay been sent to the MSA for confirmation.

As to the OP the gear you have would be fine, as long as the body will with stand a reasonably high ISO. Leave the monopod and tripod at home, there is very rarely a smooth plane the cars travel through to have the camera sat at a fixed height. f4 glass won't be too heavy to be holding all day.
 
70-200f4l is fine, i use one of those on a 20D

personally i dont shoot with a monopod but alot of people find them useful for motorsports, wouldnt bother with the tripod, it'll just get in the way.

filters are a must, as is good warm clothing, a flask of tea and a bobble hat.

panning can make some shots work really well but other times you might want a fast shutter speed to freeze everything!
 
not a great deal more to say to be honest!

couple of things from me:

cooker (gas stove) if you have one is nice for a nice brew or pot noodle/cuppa soup, on the further away event's we've been known to knock up a good chicken pasta bake!!

waterproof's, must be waterproof as well, alot are water resistant, make sure they're breathable, you get what you pay for!

layers, it can quickly go from very cold to hot, especially if the suns out on a winters morning, cold to start then the sun breaks through and it can get hot!

50mm prime, really need something wider than this to be honest. the 70-200 will be fine for most things, apart from inside shots.. an 18-50 kit lens will be ok, although the faster the better!

good waterproof covers for camera and lenses is essential, don't want wet gear!!

start of at 1/250 f4 and see what iso you need, pan the cars in a smooth plane!

avoid ugly backgrounds where you can, tape, high vis jackets etc at all costs!!

hope that helps

charlie
 
Well thank you all very much for your help and advice,im really buzzing now to give it a go,also thanks for the links very useful.
It helps to know that at least my camera and lens are capable if not the user.
Again thanks.
 
Have a look at the British Rally Forum allways news on events who's entered ect also have a monthly comp for rally shots.
 
To save being totaly downhearted at your first results, I wouldn't be tempted to try and nail too many panning shots with anything slower than 1/100... Chances are the background would look nice and blurred, there would be plenty of movement in the wheels, BUT the rest of the car is likely to be blurred as well (unless your a natural). 1/200 to 1/125 should give a reasonable keeper rate for panned shots, whilst showing some motion in the background and wheels (depending on the speed of the car). By all means, give it a bash down to 1/60 and see what happens, just don't forget and leave it set there :(

Shutter priority (Tv) and let the camera sort out the aparture is the easiest way. If the camera tries selecting an excesively large or small apparture, maybe tweek the ISO to keep around f4 to f8.
 
i use a 20D and a 70-200 2.8 sigma, works perfectly. dont bother with a monopod or tripod, if you need to shift quickly due to an out of control rally car they may hinder you. plan your escape if that does happen too, i always like to have a sturdy tree nearby lol

take waterproofs + wellys/boots, warm clothes, thermos etc. keep your eyes open at all times. LISTEN to the marshalls they will shut the stage if people arent in safe places etc, dont stand on the outside of corners etc. watch out for flying stones, they hurt.

personally id bin panning in favour of 3/4 shots on sweeping corners (sideways action) or other obsticals like jumps, chicanes, water etc.

oh and while we're on the topic, if anyone is doing the sunseeker in feb theyve binned the bournemouth night stage in favour of a ceremonial start on poole quay.. :(
 
neil_g said:
oh and while we're on the topic, if anyone is doing the sunseeker in feb theyve binned the bournemouth night stage in favour of a ceremonial start on poole quay.. :(
Click to expand...

NO.****ING. WAY. Atmosphere wise, that was one of the best bits of that rally, both for competitors (I've done it 4 times) and spectators. Could be something to do with the incident that happened last year I guess but that is a bloody shame!
 
NO bobble hat, take lots of shots, practice makes perfect. As said, panning on sideways action, high shutter speed on very loose,wet surfaces, at yumps to freeze flying stones, water etc.
Oh, and listen to advice from the marshalls, you don't want to get flattened by a car, although you may get an interesting shot or two in the process.

Circuit action can be good too.
 
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