Truck Pull Lens

caseystejbachphoto · Jul 22, 2014

Hello All!

This is my first post but I wanted to see if anyone had any experience shooting truck pulls or tractor pulls. I'm just starting out and I'm really having trouble trying to get the best picture when it becomes night time. Can ideas would be VERY helpful! Also, at the current moment, finances are a little bit of an issue for the time being until I can advance!

runnah · Jul 22, 2014

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...-fire-tips-getting-good-advice-equipment.html

Please take a look at this and respond.

sscarmack · Jul 22, 2014

What do you have?

astroNikon · Jul 22, 2014

well it's in the Canon forum. So he must have some sort of Canon camera.

Maybe.

lambertpix · Jul 22, 2014

In addition to runnah's link, which covers general hardware inquiries, in this case, you've got dust to deal with. This implies that you either go high-end (dirt-and-weather sealing) or low-end (low enough that you won't be sad when it's trashed). I think it would also be helpful to know where you're shooting from (distance, perspective) and see examples showing the problems you're experiencing right now.

More better input == more better advice.

caseystejbachphoto · Jul 23, 2014

I have a canon rebel t2i. My budget is nothing more than $500. Im usually standing at the end of the track at about 300ft. I use my canon 55-250mm lens but it has a hard time focusing and comes out blurry mainly at night. Using the flash makes it stall and I end up missing the whole pull.

astroNikon · Jul 23, 2014

What is the max ISO levels are your photos being taken at ?

robbins.photo · Jul 23, 2014

caseystejbachphoto said:
I have a canon rebel t2i. My budget is nothing more than $500. Im usually standing at the end of the track at about 300ft. I use my canon 55-250mm lens but it has a hard time focusing and comes out blurry mainly at night. Using the flash makes it stall and I end up missing the whole pull.

Well what you need is a fast telephoto. Unfortunately those are not cheap. You might want to poke around and see if you can find a 70-200 mm F/2.8 used in that price range, you might get lucky and find something used in that range but it might take a lot of looking. I paid $700 for my Sigma 70-200 mm F/2.8 OS HSM for my Nikon - used, and at the time I bought it that was a steal really.

astroNikon · Jul 23, 2014

well at best with that lens it is at f/5.6 on the long end.
Assuming it was wide open ....

Can you provide a sample photo with EXIF data ?

in low light you need what is called "fast" glass which are lenses with very wide open apertures such as fixed aperture lenses like 70-200/2.8 which has a fixed aperture at any focal length of 2.8.

of course if it's still too dark you can push up your ISO to compensate for a faster shutter speed.

caseystejbachphoto · Jul 24, 2014

I tried to post a picture last night but it was too big, I will resize it and try to post it tonight. I have really been looking into the 70-200 f/2.8 lens but there are so many options it's almost overwhelming. I see other brands like tamron, sigma, canon, etc but I am just not sure which one is the best to choose. Oh and btw it's a She not a he

caseystejbachphoto · Jul 24, 2014

What should my ISO ideally be? I've tried messing around with it and it's either too bright or too dark. The lighting in the stadium is what really effects the whole picture when I mess with the ISO

lambertpix · Jul 24, 2014

caseystejbachphoto said:
What should my ISO ideally be? I've tried messing around with it and it's either too bright or too dark. The lighting in the stadium is what really effects the whole picture when I mess with the ISO

ISO is part of the "exposure triangle" Give this site a whirl for a bit and see if it makes any more sense:

Play | Canon Explains Exposure

The short answer to your question is that the ISO should be as high as you need it, but ideally, no higher. When I'm shooting, I try to figure which of the three exposure elements is most important to me and set my camera accordingly. Almost always, ISO is the least important to me (in the sense that I automatically want it as high as necessary, and as low as possible), so that often leads me to shoot in Av or Tv.

When shooting in low light conditions, I'd probably opt for Tv, with shutter speed chosen to stop action to the degree I want. Aperture is probably going to be wide open, or nearly so, because you want to let in as much light as possible (not necessarily because you want a shallow DOF), and then ISO is as high as you need it to support that shutter speed. In these conditions, a faster lens and higher ISO capabilities just give you a larger performance envelope to play with.