Karting shooters - How long in focal length do you use?

Hey all,

I'm gearing myself up to become a karting photographer in the not too distant future, and I'm trying to plan my gear accordingly. The question I have is about how much focal length I'd need. I have shot a couple of events, one with a 70-200 and one with a 100-400, both on crop sensors. The first time I felt like I didn't have enough length, and the second I felt that I didn't need as much, so I'm trying to get a feel for what others might be using.

I've been looking through some metadata of some old shots of myself (former racer) by some pro's and seeing a lot of shorter lengths than I expected, yet a lot varied. From 200mm on full frame up to 600mm on a 1.3x crop.

I had pre-set my mind on a 300 f4 on a crop as my main camera, and either a 24-105 on a crop or a 70-200 on FF as my backup, but now I'm not sure.

Any advice to help me find my feet would be greatly appreciated

Adam.

Any decent telephoto lens should be okay. Actual examples.

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adam.willison wrote in post #17881637
Hey all,

I'm gearing myself up to become a karting photographer in the not too distant future, and I'm trying to plan my gear accordingly. The question I have is about how much focal length I'd need. I have shot a couple of events, one with a 70-200 and one with a 100-400, both on crop sensors. The first time I felt like I didn't have enough length, and the second I felt that I didn't need as much, so I'm trying to get a feel for what others might be using.

I've been looking through some metadata of some old shots of myself (former racer) by some pro's and seeing a lot of shorter lengths than I expected, yet a lot varied. From 200mm on full frame up to 600mm on a 1.3x crop.

I had pre-set my mind on a 300 f4 on a crop as my main camera, and either a 24-105 on a crop or a 70-200 on FF as my backup, but now I'm not sure.

Any advice to help me find my feet would be greatly appreciated

Adam.

Thanks, I understand you're point, but still searching for an answer to my conundrum!

I use 7D and 70-200 F/2.8 combo as my main setup when I shoot karting. On most tracks it's enough, on some I've wished for something longer - 100-400 would probably be perfect. The other 7D holds either a normal or wideangle zoom. I prefer zoom lenses over fixed ones for racing, but that's purely my choice.

Yeah, maybe I just didn't get close enough when I used the 70-200.

New line of thought, a 70-200 on the 7D (plus a 1.4 extender for when I feel i need more reach) as my main camera. And then as my walk around camera (something like a 5DII fits the budget) a 24-105.

Thoughts? Should get me by on a reasonable budget, and if I feel I'm being limited by anything I can still make some money (hopefully) and work towards anything else that I might need.

adam.willison wrote in post #17883210
Yeah, maybe I just didn't get close enough when I used the 70-200.

New line of thought, a 70-200 on the 7D (plus a 1.4 extender for when I feel i need more reach) as my main camera. And then as my walk around camera (something like a 5DII fits the budget) a 24-105.

Thoughts? Should get me by on a reasonable budget, and if I feel I'm being limited by anything I can still make some money (hopefully) and work towards anything else that I might need.

I run the 70-200 with 1.4x on a 60D when shooting short course Karting. Works great. Same lens setup on the 7D would be even better, just because the camera is better.

As far as the walk around goes I question the need for the 5D. Do you really need the full frame body? I have had Karters use my images from the 60D, enlarged into skins for their Kart trailers with no loss of image quality. Unless you use the walk around camera to do landscapes and portraits (the two genres that really benefit from the full frame), save the money and get either another 7D or go with the 60D or 70D. Many of the international pro motorsports shooters live by the 7D. As far as the walk around lens, the 24-105 is about perfect.

veritasimagerynw wrote in post #17895717
I run the 70-200 with 1.4x on a 60D when shooting short course Karting. Works great.
-snip-

As far as the walk around goes I question the need for the 5D. Do you really need the full frame body?
-snip-

Hey there.

One question I have for you, how often were you at full reach of that combo? 280 is very close to the 300 I'm considering.

As for my thinking for a 5DII, I want something that is very similar in ergonomics to the 7D, with similar a storage set up. The full frame camera would also give me flexibility to change up the lenses crop factor. I feel it would also be good for indoor trophy presentations etc. Sure, it wouldn't be a big difference but surely a good backup to the 7D.

adam.willison wrote in post #17895796
Hey there.

One question I have for you, how often were you at full reach of that combo? 280 is very close to the 300 I'm considering.

I really depends on the track I'm shooting at. For the short courses I would use the whole range of the lens (but I shoot without the 1.4x on it), and sometimes switch to the backup with the 24-105. At the full road courses then I am pushing the full 200 plus 1.4x (280mm).