rolling car shots, any tips?

lexie

lexie

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keith
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a mate has asked me to take a few shots of his car and along with the usual static shots i'd like to try my hand at some rolling shots, but i've no experience of them so if anyone has any tips i'd love to hear them.

i have a sony a390 with the 18-55mm kit lens, minolta 50mm f1.7 and minolta 70-210mm f4 at my disposal, and i'm thinking that the 70-210 will be the best lens for this because of the range it offers.

continuous af mode because it's a moving subject and use the center af point due to it's increased accuracy?

and use ap mode to give the desired motion blur whilst keeping the car resonably sharp? i'm guessing a bit of trial and error will be used at this stage.

as for getting myself in a position to shoot i'm guessing either out a window or sat in the boot of the leading car will be the best options here, i'm leaning towards the boot option because it'll offer a more stable platform with less buffeting.
 
If you want a rolling shot then either the 50mm or the kit lens will be the best bet. If you use the 70-210mm then you will need to be fairly far away to get the car in some kind of decent composition.

Set to shutter priority and set it to around 1/60th speed. Then adjust that to suit. It will depend on how fast both cars are travelling.

Also, consider the legalities of sitting in the boot of a car if you do this on the public highway.

Be safe.
 
Dual carriageway, 40mph and 1/60th sec with a wide lens works well
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Or find somewhere like a corner/roundabout and pan as they drive past,
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or rig the car
 
lexie said:
Nice one byker, i'll try that out. A rig might be a step too far though lol.

Should i keep the in-body stability turned on or switch it off for panning shots?
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Switch it off, it will be trying to fight against the panning motion and will be useless.
 
lexie said:
Nice one byker, i'll try that out. A rig might be a step too far though lol.

Should i keep the in-body stability turned on or switch it off for panning shots?
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I've bought a rig setup. Used it three times so far, plus another time at work to film stop motion setup of new production kit getting delivered (1 shot every 15 secs over 8 hours).

It's on my list of stuff to do, but I just never get time at the moment.

Keep an eye out for bargains. A lot of people get them, never really use them and shift them on.
 
Byker28i said:
I've bought a rig setup. Used it three times so far, plus another time at work to film stop motion setup of new production kit getting delivered (1 shot every 15 secs over 8 hours).

It's on my list of stuff to do, but I just never get time at the moment.

Keep an eye out for bargains. A lot of people get them, never really use them and shift them on.
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I don't think I'd ever sell my rig :D
 
Byker28i said:
Keep an eye out for bargains. A lot of people get them, never really use them and shift them on.
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Any idea where to look for said bargains, I haven't seen one come up in the for sale section? Is ebay a better bet?
 
I like TVR's, a Freelander or something with a lowering rear window is good, you can sit in the back quite safely and get better angles than out of a side window.
 
mj4456 said:
I like TVR's, a Freelander or something with a lowering rear window is good, you can sit in the back quite safely and get better angles than out of a side window.
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I hope you do that in private land as that would be ilegal on the public road so be careful.
 
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