What it takes for a good panning shot?

[MSIGuy]

So, I'm going to go off to take some pictures at a motorcycle stunt show, and I thought I'd try my hand at some panning shots. But what are the best settings to use?

I was guessing a 1/60th or 1/30th shutter, AI Servo and center point AF in Tv mode? Sound about right?

[J Rabin]

...And well-practiced long lens technique.
...And long focal length. Longer the focal length (narrower the FoV) the more apparent degrees of motion blur to background). Then higher shutter speeds are possible to keep foreground sharp without blur. With a 300mm lens, you can use up to 1/160 and get good blur. It takes endless practice, and keeping good mental notes on the event, subject speed, relative FoV angle of motion, etc. At 1/60 or 1/30, it's hard to keep foreground subject sharp from handhold or mirror slap blur, unless you're using IS in Mode 2. Jack

[PhotosGuy]

It depends on the distance to the subject, the angle to the subject, the focal length, the speed of the subject, & the effect that you're trying to get. Sometimes when I'm playing with blurs, I throw a lot away! ;)

first shoot with moving cars need advice. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=358481)

[MSIGuy]

Well, I just got done shooting today, and well, it's kind of depressing!

I shot just over 1k pictures over a few hours time and there are maybe 20-30 pictures that are "usable" the rest for background is nice and blurred, but so is alot of the foreground. Even the ones that I thought I nailed seemed a bit OOF.

I think I've nailed down my problems as these:

Handholding, big mistake. I was trying to get ALL of the action, too frantic, I need to slow down and think more.
Not zooming enough. The comment about the narrower FoV makes perfect sense and is defiantly going to make a difference next time I shoot.
Position, I was too close to the action most of the time.

And probably a bunch of other things I don't know about... lol

I'll post some sample images in a bit, if not tomorrow to get some opinions, I'm tired now... lol

[ryant35]

1/60 is really slow. I would start closer to 1/125 and go from there. Check your lcd and zoom in to make sure the bike is sharp and the background is blurry.

[Fotoshooter]

In order to get the subject relatively sharp at slow speed it is important to pan in sync with the speed of the subject. Therefore, you must keep the subject frozen in the frame position during the pan. If you can do this, the slower the shutter speed the smoother the background; 1/15 to 1/30 sec is my lower limit with large birds in flight.