Shooting a ski race....few questions

[gdelena]

Shot plenty of sports before, but never an alpine ski race. Will be doing one at the end of the month. It's going to be fast paced, unknown lighting and weather conditions (Colorado mtns this time of year run the gamut of sunny and 35 to dark overcast and snowing at -10). I'm not real sure how wide the course is and how close I can get. I'll have to ski and hump my gear on chairlifts and over the mtn...foot and skis.

I want to bring something f2.8 and moderately long. It'll be on a crop body (40D). Can't decide between the:

Canon 70-200 f/2.8 with 1.4TC
or
Sigma 120-300 f/2.8

Was thinking the Canon because it's light (relatively) and super fast AF....might need to get open if the light sucks and can take off the TC.....but i'll loose f2.8 if I need to stretch it's legs for shots....The Sigma gets me 40mm closer and a constant 2.8 but it's the size of a cruise missile and doesn't focus or handle as quick....can't take both.

For those who shoot snow and steep terrain....think i'll need a monopod if I go with the Sigma? I should be shooting 1-2 stops over the meter to get good snow right? Besides a big plastic bag to take for trips into the nice warm lodge, any other gear I might need?

Thanks for the help!

[christisdale]

I'm not sure about other peoples experiences, but when I've shot ski races, my 70-200's AF is not anywhere near fast enough. I'd ask primoz though, he's the guy to talk to about this kinda thing.

[primoz]

It depends what kinda race it is. I shoot World cup races with almost exclusively with 300/2.8 and 500/4, depending on discipline and course. 70-200 might be long enough for slalom, but to get better shots (like they are heading straight at you) it will be too short. I have no idea how Sigma 120-300/2.8 is, so I can't say anything about it. As far as length is concerned, I'm sure it would do fine for SL and GS races (especially if coupled with 1.4x converter), and you can do something also on SG and DH races, if you find right position.
For 300/2.8 lens, monopod is ok, but for 70-200 you don't need to bother with it. Plastic bag? Naah... just keep camera in backpack when you come in and it will be fine. Personally I never bother, and most of time I never bother with leaving it in backpack either. And in all these years, it never failed so... :)
Oh and one more suggestion... go manual, don't rely on program modes like AV or TV. Cameras are not smart enough to handle this kind of scenes, so shooting manual is pretty much only option.

[gdelena]

Thanks for the info Primoz. The races are a long forgiving slalom but not quite GS.

Was planning to shoot manual too :) Guess I'll just rock the 70-200 and if it gets dark, take off the 1.4TC.

[Big Bull]

Thanks for the info Primoz. The races are a long forgiving slalom but not quite GS.
We call them glalom courses! I have found that I must shoot at 1/1000 or faster to freeze the action, and I usually only photograph beer league racing. Depending on the light, i shoot at 400 ISO or 800 ISO, and manually focus on the gate that the skier will be turning at. I have been using my Sigma 18-200 for these photos(not really the best lens), but I'm within the fences of the course, so am pretty close to the racers. I usually do some test shots to get my approximate exposure parameters, and then switch to manual, and change my settings as the light changes. Try to have the sun behind you. I sideslip the course before the race, and try to pick the best gate for lighting, direction, and action!
PS - Please post some of your shots for us!