Sometimes 500mm is too much...

[Cadwell]

Yes, having a 500mm prime is great - I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me ;) - but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing! I could have done with a lens that was just a little bit shorter for this incident at Mallory Park on Sunday.

#1 Going into the gravel trap backwards
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/LJ8J4019.jpg

#2 Bit further
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/LJ8J4020.jpg

#3 Oh Lord, where's the zoom ring on this blasted lens!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/LJ8J4021.jpg

#4 I don't think the arrow means "this way up"
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/LJ8J4022.jpg

#5 Quick swap to the other camera (which had the 120-300mm on it - hurrah!)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/CRW_7167.jpg

#6 Every driver's best friend at a time like this, the marshals are quickly on the scene.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/CRW_7168.jpg

#7 "You all right mate?"
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/CRW_7170.jpg

#8 Soon have it back on it's wheels. - The boys in orange get their back into it!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/CRW_7171.jpg

#9 A REAL racing driver. Here's the car patched up and out for the race in the afternoon. Who needs a front windscreen and duct tape will do a good job of keeping the front end together? Great stuff!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ukmotorsportpics/mp/LJ8J4558.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[nevets2001uk]

Very nice sequence Glenn. One of the disadvantages of a prime demonstrated very well. Did you consider running backwards very fast as you took the shots to effectively zoom out? :D !!

Nice clear shots. Did you have a good weekend at Mallory?

Thanks for sharing,
Steve

[Dave_G]

Nice work Glenn!

Like you say a real racing driver. on the 8th day I think the big man made fibreglass!

[Cadwell]

Hi Steve,

Yeah... Mallory was good. Very photographer friendly.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Wow.. what a sequnce! I like the tension even if the 500mm cramped it a bit. Great timing.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Very nice sequence Glenn. One of the disadvantages of a prime demonstrated very well. Did you consider running backwards very fast as you took the shots to effectively zoom out? :D !!

Thanks for sharing,
Steve

Running backwards with thousands of dollars worth of glass in your hand? oh HELL no!:lol:

[Klippie]

Fantastic captures Cadwell I'll bet he got a fright, good to see he got it going again though.

Those shots of yours are so sharp is this down to the 500mm or simply the man behind the lens.

Quality stuff...

[Brands]

Running backwards with thousands of dollars worth of glass in your hand? oh HELL no!:lol:


would be a laugh to see though ;) :p


nice shots Cadwell :cool:

[MTalley]

Nice work, considering the circumstances.

Good thing the car has red arrows on it to alert the track crew which end should be down. :D

[KennyG]

It is when you feel the thump on the Armco after they fill your lens you realise just how close they are. That's why my 500 stays at home as much as it does, but then I stick a 2x on the 300 and make things worse. I fancied experimenting at some of my favourite gravel traps with the MK-I and something wide, fired by a Pocket Wizard for just such incidents.

Now, those rear lights really take me back.

[RockOne]

Great series. A real racing driver indeed :-) !

[Skip Souza]

That was a great series, Glenn. Your 500 just about put him right in your lap. Glad to see the driver fared well enough to rejoin the fray.
If it can't be fixed with duct tape it's way too broke!!! :-)

[rklepper]

Great shots. Really show the action. Thanks for sharing.

[MDJAK]

Excellent, tack sharp photos.

How far away was that car?

And I'm really sorry for you that you have to suffer with that lens:o .

Also points to the fact that it's time for Canon to step up to the plate and match or surpass N*kon's offering of their stunning 200-400F4 zoom.

[pcasciola]

Nice series, Glenn.

[Simon Harrison]

Nice series Glenn. I actually quite like the 3rd shot in the sequence - it's probably tighter than you would have liked, but it's pretty symmetrical and that seems to work for me at any rate.

Cheers,

Simon.

[Carzee]

Good job - I always thought the Marcos was the ugliest abortion of a carbody. The Cooper engines were great... but I prefer them in the timeless Mini body. You have accidentally documented that 'before prang' and 'after prang' looks of a Marcos are not so easy to tell apart.

[PhotosGuy]

That's an excellent series!

[mediamanrit]

Awesome shots man! Tells the whole story really well...even considering part of the "event" was cropped out due to the 500mm lens. Just curious, how long did it take for him to resume racing that car?

[storeman]

What made the car flip though. Looks like he was simply stuck in the graveel and trying to get some grip to get back on the track then next shots - he's upside down.

Some nice shots nonetheless

[Belmondo]

Outstanding. You couldn't have done better than these under the circumstances.

Either that is a very small car, or you have very large safety crew workers over there. The thing looks like a toy.

[despot]

Now who's the spray-and-pray merchant? :p
I had the same problem when a fBMW sapn infront of me on Sunday - all I managed to get in the frame was the nose cone!
Nice series. Just off to check the rest of the gallery.

Andy

[Cadwell]

Spray and Pray? All "single shot" mate :p

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated :)

[Belmondo]

This is interesting for me because I have both the 300 f/2.8 and the 500 f/4. I've often felt that if I have to take choose just one or the other, I'm almost as well off with the 300 and the two TCs (1.4X & 2X). It's just a little more choice without a terrible sacrifice of image quality at the long end. For sure, the 300 is a little easier to handle.

I've heard similar comments from other people who owned both lenses, so I know it's not my imagination. In fact, I'm not entirely sure when I'd use the 500, especially when on foot.

The 500 is a great lens---don't get me wrong. It's just not as adaptable as the 300 with the TCs.

[Ian_H]

Nice sequence Glenn, glad to see they got him back on his wheels and continued racing later in the day



Now, those rear lights really take me back.

MKI Cortina weren't they



Cheers
Ian

[pcasciola]

This is interesting for me because I have both the 300 f/2.8 and the 500 f/4. I've often felt that if I have to take choose just one or the other, I'm almost as well off with the 300 and the two TCs (1.4X & 2X). It's just a little more choice without a terrible sacrifice of image quality at the long end. For sure, the 300 is a little easier to handle.

I've heard similar comments from other people who owned both lenses, so I know it's not my imagination. In fact, I'm not entirely sure when I'd use the 500, especially when on foot.

The 500 is a great lens---don't get me wrong. It's just not as adaptable as the 300 with the TCs.I agree. I've been contemplating selling my 300/4L IS and Sigma 500/4.5 in favor of the 300/2.8L IS and TCs for the reasons you stated. Given unlimited money I'd like to own all three, but I think the 300/2.8L IS with TCs gives you a lot of options in a reasonably sized package, and for not much more than I paid for the two lenses I have now.

The 300/2.8L is also the only lens I've seen with good results from the 2x TC, giving a very usable 600 f/5.6. Just look at some of KennyG's great examples using that setup.

[Cadwell]

Perhaps so. Right now I'm happy to carry the 500mm f/4.5 and the 120-300mm f/2.8 around with me. I don't like using the 2x TC with the Sigma 120-300mm. The optics are OK but the drop in focus speed is too severe to allow me to track a fast moving race car. It's OK with the 1.4x but that's not quite long enough.

I've been known to stick a 1.4x on the 500mm too from time to time... I don't have Ken's trackside advantage so I need a longer reach sometimes!

[pcasciola]

I don't like using the 2x TC with the Sigma 120-300mm. The optics are OK but the drop in focus speed is too severe to allow me to track a fast moving race car. That's a good point. I wonder how much slower the 300/2.8L IS focuses with the 2x TC? That could make it rough for tracking fast moving subjects like you said. I notice the slowdown on my 300/4L IS with the 1.4x TC, but I've never really tried the 2x on it.

[Cadwell]

That's a good point. I wonder how much slower the 300/2.8L IS focuses with the 2x TC? That could make it rough for tracking fast moving subjects like you said. I notice the slowdown on my 300/4L IS with the 1.4x TC, but I've never really tried the 2x on it.

Well there will be a drop, Canon is quite definite about that, but the 300mm f/2.8L IS is probably Canon's fastest focusing lens so I am sure it copes. Ken's one seems to manage OK ;)

[DwightMcCann]

Yup, I'm curious how he got the botom side up, too, but wonderful, though close, captures!

[Cadwell]

Oh well... he'd spun it on the track so in the first shot you see him going backwards into the gravel trap at some considerable speed. If you look at the first shot you'll see the front wheels are turned just a little. In the next two shots you can see that there's still a bit of clockwise rotation going on with the car. What happened was that it got fully sideways and then the right hand side wheels dug into the gravel. This caused the car to flip over.

An all too common problem with gravel traps I am afraid. They do a wonderful job of slowing cars down but they also make a roll more likely.