what lens for nurburgring ?

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thesmileyone

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John
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Some people i know go to the ring around 3 times a year, i narrowly missed going last time due to not enough notice, but next time ill be going, but with my camera.

I currently own a D70 and pretty soon a D3s

I was going to convert the D70 to IR but i think for the meantime untill i can afford a d300s aswell, i will keep it for long range.

Now has anyone been as a photographer ? What lens did they use ? I have a 70-300 non vr which im thinking of replacing with the vr version, i have used this borrowed from UNI and it is superior to my one, which the price reflects. Not sure it will be long enough however, even on a 1.5 crop sensor ? Also my camera only shoots 2-3fps though not sure if this will be a problem either ? I have the option of renting from lenses for hire, and the one that stands out is the 200-400mm VR.

In about three months I will have myself that 8foot high gitzo (buy cheap buy twice eh, better to have it and not need it...etc) and most likely an arca swiss Z1 DP ballhead. Will this head be fine for panning both horizontally AND vertically ? If you see this shot, this is where you shoot from :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Nurburgring_lap.jpg

as you can see its up high so as the cars go round to your left, you have to dip the lens down and left, then up again as the track swings round and disappears.

This is also why i feel a zoom is more applicable, as you can get cars on all focal lengths, with a quick prime your limited to what fits into the viewfinder.

Im guessing 120/s - 160/s will be perfect to get the motion right on the cars ?
 
That is Brunchen, a 400mm will be fine, I've shot plenty there with a 200mm and been able to crop what I've wanted successfully. If you fancy using a bit more imagination, walk up the hill along the track to the right (keeping the track on your left), there are some nice spots further around that don't get crowded because most people can't be bothered to walk anywhere.

Also consider Adenau bridge (where the other entrance to the circuit is), getting the cars coming down the hill to the bridge can be good too. Also, nice and easy to park near, and get access to. Again, I've used 200mm (as that is all I had), 300+ would be brilliant.
 
I'd hire a decent lens thats 200-400 range, when I went I used my cheapo 70-300, did ok but I could have used a bit more range and certainly better quality.

Cannot remember where I got my shots, it was an open area where you could see a decent strech of track, cars coming downhill, through some small bends, was great as was about 100m of track.
 
Went out today for some practice, think im going to need a longer lens, was using 70-300 non vr F4-5.6G + D70, when pixel peeping there isnt enough for 100% crops, so im thinking about not getting a D3s now and getting the D300s instead, the money i save £2k ish can be used to buy the 200-400mm mk1...
 
Good luck on the 200-400... loadsa money and pretty rare second hand...
 
Hi been to the ring loads of times, but not with my camera I would recomend 100-400 range, hire a mountain bike in Adenau then all parts of the track are within your reach, I'm going in late july and thats the lens i'll be hiring, have a great time, where are you staying?
 
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