Im heading to wacky wednesday tonight, any tips

[Rachelsne]

Ok so I am heading to Wacky Wednesday which is a small car racing track near by, its wacky because they allow any one in to race there car-be it stock corvette or ricered civic, they have a burn out session too. it starts at 7 (i think). and goes on into the night

So I shoot with a canon 30d, i have the sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 APO Macro DG and the canon 50mm 1.8. I am not sure how close I will be sitting to the track. I expect it wont be close.

Do guess I want a nice fast shutter speed accompanied with a high ISO-whats the highesst il want to go without it getting too noisy? am I correct in thinking if I used the nifty fifty at 1.8 and was far away the DOF should not be too shallow, so it would be good for the low light?

I also thought I would try the sigma out in these conditions, to see how it performs in the low light and fast moving subjects

anyone got any tips for me?

Thank you

 

[Heck]

Drag race? if it is you can play slick and try and hang out in the staging lanes and kinda tag along up to the line on the track. Keep in mind to stay out the way lol. This will work on a off night at the big tracks so Im thinking if its a smaller track try and talk your way onto the sides of the track It may be really laid back attitude at the track.

 

[Rachelsne]

small circular track

 

[Rachelsne]

Circuit Length .5 km (0.395 mi) Banking Turns: Approximately 8 degrees
Straightaways:- minimal banking

 

[Hawaii Five-O]

I think an 800 iso would probably work well, tracks are usually lit well with those big flood lights. A faster shutter would be good, unless you want to show motion by panning the camera.

 

[MACollum]

I have the Tamron version of your 70-300mm lens so I can't compare brands but I've found that if you have light, mine works beautifully. Do you have an external flash? I've used it to take pictures in the cafeteria of my kids' school but could only go to 105mm before the flash became useless. I had the ISO cranked up to 800. My XTi has noise issues, I think, but I have never used another SLR so I don't know how bad to expect it anyway. The school cafeteria was very dim also.

At the motorcycle rally we went to last month I tried to get pictures in the burnout pit but it was dark and I was close (actually IN the smoke). I used my 50mm. They were all too smoky and the flash made the smoke look weird.

 

[Heck]

If you got a mono pod it could be useful even if your sitting in the stands.

 

[asfixiate]

sounds like fun rachel. without saying what everyone else is saying HAVE FUN!

 

[Hawaii Five-O]

have a wacky time

 

[asfixiate]

how did it go?

 

[Hawaii Five-O]

I imagine it was so wacky, that she quit photography and races ricered civics now.

 

[Rachelsne]

not that great, I ended up taking pics after sun down and I just wasnt impressed with my pics I should have taken then while there was still more light, but at that time my hubby and I were at the top and at the back of the stands and he was talking to people he knew, so we got side tracked-next time we go-prob next week ill take pics while there is more light

 

[Heck]

Leave hubby in the stands and move aroud the track or if hes trying to help you get the best shots let him follow you around lol. I find if I really want to get good photos I need to feel free to roam around on my own. You may find that the best shot you got was when you were by the porta pottys and the garbage cans. lol