7D for motorsports?

[gloch]

I am looking at upgrading my old D30 to another body and I really want to do more motorsports photography. Is the 7D fast enough in AF to be effective?

-gl

[int2str]

Absolutely!

There are so many great examples of that on this forum that I won't even bother posting my mediocre ones of it. Motorsports & sport in general is where the 7D really shines IMHO.

And welcome to POTN!

[GSH]

What are you planning to screw on the front of the 7D? A good camera will always be crippled by a poor lens.

[Pete Owen]

I find the AF on my 7D to be more than upto the job,all these shots below were taken with a 7D & 70-200mm f2.8L
1http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8300aweb800.jpg 2http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8904aweb800.jpg 3http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8162web800.jpg 4http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_9091web800.jpg 5http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8261web800.jpg 6http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8002web800.jpg
7http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8970web800.jpg
8http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/rallyegrale/IMG_8197web800.jpg

[gloch]

Fantastic shots. I just did some shooting with a friend's 7D and the 16-35 and 70-200 and I was in heaven. I have no doubts now...just need to practice more :)

-gl

[gloch]

What are you planning to screw on the front of the 7D? A good camera will always be crippled by a poor lens.

I currently have the 28-105 (first lens purchased and now I know why it's cheap) and the 50mm 1.8. I will probably rent the 70-200 2.8 for races/action shoots and purchase the 16-35 2.8 for a variety of applications.

-gl

[Pete Owen]

Well,since my above post,my 7D has now developed a AF problem (back focussing & sometimes not focussing at all) so it's going back next week to see what's wrong with it :(
When it does focus on the correct area, the shots are tack sharp........just wish it would do it more often!
Pete

[Cadwell]

A 10D's AF was fast enough for motorsport; it's more about how you use the camera than the camera. About the only "recent" Canon dSLR I can think of that was "unsuitable" for motorsport work was the 300D.

[DC Fan]

About the only "recent" Canon dSLR I can think of that was "unsuitable" for motorsport work was the 300D.

Motorsports pictures from a Digital Rebel 300D.

http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/irlmis073006a0191http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/irlmis073006a0191.jpg

http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/robopongkart1015060065.jpg

http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/usnirp20050043.jpg

http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/thextreme2007a0064.jpg

http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/usgpp063006ims0072.jpg

While posting images from a camera that was not part of the original thread is an example of topic drift, there's also a chance that the only limits with 21st-century DSLR's come from the operator and not from the equipment.
http://www.kevinlillard.com/online/robopongkart1015060065

[Pete Owen]

When i moved over to digital ,i started with a 300D & found it very good as a 1st digital camera,which i used mainly for rally photography!
Obviously things have moved on a bit now & when i got my 7d in January,it was great but in the last quople of weeks it seems to have developed a problem with tracking moving objects & not locking on to the AF point that i select!
Hopefully get it sorted soon
Pete

[timberlakephoto]

just upgraded to a 7d from my 50 because of the video side, I'm glad to see that it shines as it should for what I shoot. Everything I read made it seem like a worthy upgrade.

Looking forward to the challenge of shooting video somewhat seriously with it as well.

[BlueDog]

Its been a long time since I've posted, but pop in to read from time to time. This thread is perfect for the question I was going to ask.

I've had a 20D for a good number of years and have tried my hand at motorsports work with it. Issue with it aside, I'm heading down to Virginia International Raceway (beautiful country-club like road course) for a car club event. I've borrowed a brand new 7D and 100-400L for the week. The pictures I shoot I usually "sell" for donations to a charity event I participate in during the summer. I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me some tips on settings for the camera that would be a good starting place, and anything I might not think of (like colorspace setting, etc.)

(Note, I am reading through the posts in the sticky at the top of the forum ahead of time also. Just wondered if there's other things specific to the 7D I should know.)

[Pete Owen]

Its been a long time since I've posted, but pop in to read from time to time. This thread is perfect for the question I was going to ask.

I've had a 20D for a good number of years and have tried my hand at motorsports work with it. Issue with it aside, I'm heading down to Virginia International Raceway (beautiful country-club like road course) for a car club event. I've borrowed a brand new 7D and 100-400L for the week. The pictures I shoot I usually "sell" for donations to a charity event I participate in during the summer. I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me some tips on settings for the camera that would be a good starting place, and anything I might not think of (like colorspace setting, etc.)

(Note, I am reading through the posts in the sticky at the top of the forum ahead of time also. Just wondered if there's other things specific to the 7D I should know.)

Bluedog
This might be a useful starting point for setting up the AF on the 7D,originally posted by Simon Harrison on another 7D thread (hope you don't mind Simon?)
Below are the settings he uses for shooting motorsport & he takes some stunning shots :D
-----------------

I mostly use a Single AF point and Evaluative metering. .
These are all within C.Fn III

1. Moderately slow
2. AF Priority / Tracking Priority
3. Continuous AF track priority
4. Search off
5. Disable
6. I've already said the focus modes I use.
7. Stops at AF area edges
8. Auto
9. Disable
10. Enable
11 Disable
12 Same for horizontal and vertical shooting
13. Disable.

[andrewc]

[QUOTE=Pete Owen;10001873]
7. Stops at AF area edges
[quote]

I have this set to continuous as its easier to go from one side to other. One move of the joystick rather than 4 or 5.

[MT Stringer]

Yessir, In my humble opinion, it works just fine.

I shot a lot of pics this past weekend at the NHRA Spring Nationals in Baytown., Tx. All of the race pics were shot from my seat (all seats were reserved) on Friday during the first day of qualifying.

I used the 70-200 f/2.8L IS for all race pics. For the shots in the pits, I used either the 17-40 or 24-70. Pop up flash was used some in shady areas. I am still going through the pics, but you can check for yourself and decide.
Mike

www.mtstringer.smugmug.com
Click on "Motorsports".

[Simon Harrison]

[quote=Pete Owen;10001873]
7. Stops at AF area edges
[quote]

I have this set to continuous as its easier to go from one side to other. One move of the joystick rather than 4 or 5.

Mine was originally set like that Andrew, but after much experimentation, I found that setting as above gave much, much better AF performance.

Geoff's (GSH) experimentation gave the same results. Could of course be down to our shooting styles.

Simon

[andrewc]

[quote=andrewc;10002385][quote=Pete Owen;10001873]
7. Stops at AF area edges


Mine was originally set like that Andrew, but after much experimentation, I found that setting as above gave much, much better AF performance.

Geoff's (GSH) experimentation gave the same results. Could of course be down to our shooting styles.

Simon

Curious. I'll experiment.

[GSH]

7. Stops at AF area edges


Mine was originally set like that Andrew, but after much experimentation, I found that setting as above gave much, much better AF performance.

Geoff's (GSH) experimentation gave the same results. Could of course be down to our shooting styles.



I took an instant dislike to that particular setting as it just didn't seem to work for me. However, as with the 1-series bodies, 2 people shooting the same subject might have different settings.

There's more than 1 way to skin a cat etc.

[Lowner]

The 7D is an excellent choice, only camera better than that would be the 1D3.

I'm hoping the 1Ds 4 will do a passable job with motorsport as well, simply because I have ther photo interests as well. I do see a lot of 1Ds 3's trackside, so it must not be too bad at it.

[BlueDog]

Thanks Pete! I got to the track a little early today and did a few test shots before I remember to adjust to your settings. Played with various ISO from 200-400 and shot in Tv mode stepping it from 1/125 to 320.

Best rests seemed to be around ISO 320 and 1/160. Below are two sample images, straight out of the camera, untouched except for resizing. Any thoughts, suggestions?

http://www.follylane.org/trackpix/ACNA/_MG_0089.JPG

http://www.follylane.org/trackpix/ACNA/_MG_0090.JPG