Lens for racing?

[Robin Usagani]

overcast is much darker as you think. You need really fast shutter so you probably will bumb the ISO on overcast days. How fast is the shutter? Really depends on what you are shooting. You will be the judge. Check your LCD playback often.

 

[Joey_Ricard]

"Schwettylens; overcast is much darker as you think. "

We can't stress this enough.

And this was the point I was trying to make with that guy that questioned why youd want "stop action" at the track.

Go outside on an overcast day, set your ISO to what you think is max acceptable, aperature to widest and then shoot your dog running around and see how bright/dark the image looks at 1/320 (which would be at the slow end to stop the actions of a quick moving dog)

I can assure you that with the 70-200 F4, you'll want to immediately want to bump that ISO up. That's great if your camera can do it without a lot of noise.

Bright day? no problem, but I raced for 20+ years (drag racing) and you know as well as I do that you get to the track and then there are clouds and a threat of rain.

 

[MLeeK]

Lots of good info and things to think about. Thanks!

Ok now I've had one of my racing buddies say that I'll want something longer than 200

Yes, you'll want something longer. and faster. and better. The wanting never ends.

Are you drag racing or road racing?

What lens's do you have now?

I know all about the "wanting". But the good thing about lenses is that they hold their value very well. So if i pick up a used one and decide i need something else most likely id be able to get almost as much back for it.

I'll be doing road racing.

I just have a 50 1.4 right now.

It will be stupid to take L out of the equation. 70-200 f/4L is not that much and it is sharp!

Agreed.


I have this lens
The only drawback is, at F4 wide open and a decently fast shutter speed to capture stop motion for something such as racing, you will need decent light unless you bump the ISO way up. Keep that in mind. Some cameras can get away with low noise at high ISO, some can't - of course it depends on your acceptable levels.

Motorsports/Wildlife is one of the reasons I have a 2.8 version as well.

Even in daylight? Motorcycle racing doesnt happen at night. Darkest condition would be cloudy and rainy, but since this is just a hobby i doubt id be doing anything is bad weather (body isnt sealed anyway).

Go outside with your lens. Set it at 7.1 (sharp range for the f/4) and set your shutter at about 1/320 to 1/500. Even panning you will get blur at those speeds. See where your ISO falls then... The problem isn't so much the light as where that sharp spot falls AND the light together.
You'll be able to use possibly a bit slower shutter as you get good at panning, but at first you'll be using a pretty high shutter. It's not as easy as you'd think.