Motorsport and flash?

[Pete-eos]

Basically there is a night stage rally coming through my town in 6 months and would be great to get some shots. Would the flash be any good shooting moving objects say 10-30 metres away.

Will it work with the 70-200 f/4L, as I note it states "The flash head zoom covers the range 24mm to 105mm".


thx Pete

[DOverton]

I did a 24 hour race 2 weeks ago, and to be honest Flash seems to annoy the hell out of the drivers, I just boosted ISO to 400 shutter speed of 100th of a second

Pictures can be found in the Link below

http://www.ddslr.com/cadwell/gallery...s.php?album=32

Best to ask the organiser if its possible to use flash, if not try and find a well lit area, or maybe rallys are different to circuits with flash regulations

Dan.

[Pete-eos]

Yup annoying the drivers had crossed my mind but its the opening stage of the Sunseekers and I seem to remember lots of big cameras using flash last year (when I was there with my p&s, how it flopped lol). I'll probably be buying the flash for macro and general use, so if it can work at such distances will be a bonus and help sway my decision to buy..

[pswillies]

I think shooting rally cars with flash is quite common... probably still best to check on the etiquette when you get there though.

[Swaffs]

I shot at the sunseeker in February, and there was plenty of flash going on.

I would expect that will see plenty of other prople with flash.

[Rick Wong]

Professionals expect flash and amatuers are flattered by it.That's from experience as a former racer.Hope this helps.

[InfamousDX]

I've helped a friend shoot a rally and MANY people use flashes and actually just huge lights on poles to follow them as they pass through the turn.

[maxyedor]

Using flash is very possible, the zoom head just condeses the beam of light, the same thing can be done using black foil to form a snoot. I have shot rally at night and use flash all the time, I prefer to use manual mode, and do the guide number math. By ISO 800 my 580EX's have plenty of power to light up the night.

[Pete-eos]

Originally Posted by maxyedor

Using flash is very possible, the zoom head just condeses the beam of light, the same thing can be done using black foil to form a snoot. I have shot rally at night and use flash all the time, I prefer to use manual mode, and do the guide number math. By ISO 800 my 580EX's have plenty of power to light up the night.

thanks, thats the info I'm after, so the 430EX will work with a 200mm lens and is long enough to illuminate the cars

[Ian_H]

Pete to answer a couple of your questions, yes it's OK to use flash when shooting a night stage, most of the drivers I have spoken too say they don't even notice it. Personally I try and get as close as possible to the cars, so I don't know how effective the flash would be from 30m away.

Here are a few shots from the last 2 Sunseeker rallies










The settings I typically use are set the camera to manual, iso 200, f5 - f5.6 at about 1/160 and the flash also on manual at 1/2 power.

Cheers
Ian

[Jimages]

I think typically trackside flash isn't going to bother the drivers that much, Because it isn't right underneath their nose, and they are going to be concentrating on the track, and not at some ramdom point behind the tyre barrier of public fencing.

I think it's reasonable to assume that if you see the pros using flash, then you can to. Mind you I learnt that it's also better to putt off using flash for long as possible.

[Cadwell]

Flash photography seems to be generally accepted in rallying. It's rather frowned on in circuit racing and I have seen (and heard) spectators (and pros) being told to "stop it".

[KennyG]

For circuit racing it is more than just frowned on and you will be told to turn it off or leave. I raced myself and when the P&S cameras with automatic flahes started popping at dusk it was a nightmare as you could miss a flag or be distracted approaching a bend with other cars inches away. For rallying I always used flash, including some that would burn your eyebrows off at 50 yards.

[vwpilot]

Originally Posted by KennyG

For circuit racing it is more than just frowned on and you will be told to turn it off or leave. I raced myself and when the P&S cameras with automatic flahes started popping at dusk it was a nightmare as you could miss a flag or be distracted approaching a bend with other cars inches away. For rallying I always used flash, including some that would burn your eyebrows off at 50 yards.

They must do things different in the UK or the drivers arent as good there cause we use flash all the time in the US for endurance racing. Also use it quite a lot at Le Mans.

I've been told by the drivers they dont even notice it.

I dont like to use too much of it though. If you use it to fully illuminate the car it looks like its standing still, like in the images above. When there is no light, like at a rally, there isnt much you can do and you get what you get. But at an endurance race, or something else that has some available light, I like to use as much as possible of that light and only use flash to accentuate the car.

[Cadwell]

Originally Posted by vwpilot

They must do things different in the UK or the drivers arent as good there

Nah, I think it's just that UK drivers need to concentrate more because they have to know how to turn both left AND right