Nascar

gojo · Mar 8, 2005

This weekend I will be in Las Vegas taking picturtes of the Nascar Race. I have a Cannon 20d with a EF 100-400mm lens. The cars will be traveling between 140 to 160mph. I am looking for recommendations for the best settings to use?

Big Mike · Mar 9, 2005

Welcome to the forum.

It's hard to say what setting to use. It depends on where you are, what you are shooting and what you want your shots to look like.

If you want clear shots of the cars in motion, you will either need to have a fast shutter speed or you will have to pan the camera as they go by you. If you pan the camera and use a slower shutter speed, you can get shots where the car is sharp but the background is blurred...giving the impression of speed.

SLOShooter · Mar 9, 2005

Practice your panning before you go!

a_scayola · Mar 10, 2005

Hi,
I'll be shooting Nascar this sunday also. It should be a pretty sunny day. I'll be using a manual Zenit with a Tamron 75-220 f4, 2x teleconverter, PL filter (yes or no?), and Fuji Provia 400 film. I'm very new to photography so any advice will be welcome.
Thanks,
Andres

Rob · Mar 10, 2005

Get a good spot - the bends are generally the best as the object is off-set from the chasing pack. You'll most likely get motion-blur with 400 (unless you pan or it's really sunny), so consider carrying a roll of 100 as well if that isn't the effect you are going for.

Bends are great because the object car will normally (perhaps not with Nascar?) be slowing down and therefore will be sharper then at the end of a straight.

My only experience with this is Formula 1 where we have bendy tracks, not ovals, so it might be better to listen to someone from the US or with experience of these cars. I seem to recall they have lop-sided wheels and only turn in one direction or something?

Rob