First motocross in years-also 75-300 example pics

[ron chappel]

Thought now that i had a DSLR and not many places to use it i should pull my finger out and go do some MX photography as i haven't done a whole lot since my pentax spotmatic days.
Man am i rusty! :oops:
I found out pretty quickly that a slow focusing zoom is nearly useless.I had most success just prefocusing like i did with the manual focus camera but ouch,allmost none are really crisply in focus!
...and this is after deleting a large percentage :shock: :oops:


I also thought it a good chance to show some canon 75-300 lens examples as alot of people ask about this lens-and i finally got some reasonably good jpegs online without crucifying them with massive compression.

Sorry,this is my early attempts at making my own website and it's abit crude and disorganised!All of the mx pics are on these two pages

http://members.dodo.net.au/~l8r_ron/index_3.htm
http://members.dodo.net.au/~l8r_ron/index_4.htm


Interestingly '75-300@135mmf4.5.jpg ' is affected by flare-not from any light hitting the lens though, as i was in the shaddow of a huge tree.

While everone says this lens is soft at 300mm (and it's true),the couple of examples at 300mm i've shown are worse than they should be-not the best example of how good or bad it is at the long end

[cmM]

Yes, it is a little bit slow to fucus, and not very accurate a lot of times, but the MX pics you have on there are pretty sharp and.... ok, they're great! But that's the photographer, not the lens...

Where did you take the pictures from? Did you have a pass or something like that, or were you there just as a spectator? I'd really like to give my 75-300 a try and see how I do...

[Mark Kemp]

These are all with the 100-400 L

http://www.m-kemp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/html/motocross.html

at this kind of image size not a lot different. But my camera is only 3 million pixels so the quality limit may be the resolution of the camera not the lens. I have a 75-300 as well, but I don't use it much except when the 100-400 is just too big and heavy. Its not as sharp and quite a lot slower focussing, but as you have shown you can still get good pics with it.

Personally I don't have a pass, but at most UK motocross events track side is very close. The good part of this is that you can get in the right place for a shot. The bad side is that you can get in the wrong place for your own safety. Look where the bikes are, work out where they might go if it all goes wrong and stand somewhere else. Scrambles and trials are also good places to get shots

Try here for events

http://www.amca.uk.com/

[ron chappel]

I didn't have a pass and soon realized i needed one!
I remembered that most MX shots work best with modest amounts of tele and get in close instead.I noticed all the media had flouro vests so i couldn't blag by way out there easily :?
I asked if i could get one but no -legitimate media only :x
So i gradually snuck into some of the better spots,found flag marshals that didn't ask too many questions and tried to look like a pro that had lost his vest :D
At the end of the day i got caught but that was ok
Next time i'll apply for a media pass early on and not give up until they give me one-after all,it's only about safety and i'm an ex racer and club official.Surely they will relent :)
If you want to do MX i can recommend using short tele's or even a normal prime for most shots-try to get in closer when possible.

Hey Mark,what on earth is that wet stuff the bikes are riding through?? :D LOL
We don't see much of that here!

[BigRed450]

Ron .. The 100-400L is one of those lenses where you don't have to get close up and personal for sharp, tight photos... MX pics on the following page were with the 10D (center focus point only) 100-400L...

http://users.air.on.ca/cbjaps/jtphotographic/sports.htm

[Mark Kemp]

Ron,

Your marshals are more contientious than ours, especially at amateur events. At the last one I was shooting from just beside a jump with my 17-40mm, hanging on to the fencing one handed. Not often I use that lens for motorbikes. Not something I would recommend either under normal circumstances, but I was still in the spectator area and the bikes were landing past where I was so I felt safe enough. Unfortunately the pics were no good as I didn't get the focus right, but it was fun trying.

The brown splashy stuff by the way is what we call 'the ground' most of the time :lol: