MotoAmerica superbike tips

I plan on going to Brainerd MN at the end of this month for the MotoAmerica superbike races. I've never been to a bike race so I'm looking for any photography tips.
I have been to this track for the car drag races many times but have never been there for a road race event. I doubt I'll find anyone here who has been to this track that can give me tips on the best spots along the course to set up for shots so I know that'll take some legwork. I'll be shooting a 5D Mkiv and plan on bringing a 70-200 2.8 is ii and a 24-105 f4 is ii. Looking for any tips on preferred settings that have worked well for people who have shot some bike races. I usually shoot manual and might try auto iso for this. Maybe shoot at 5.6, center point expansion with the four surrounding focus points? Will be in high speed continuous and I use back button focus. Recommended starting point for shutter speed? I'm sure shutter speed will vary depending on where I'm set up as far as if I'm in a tight corner or more out in the straights. Will probably play around with some single shot also.
Any tips would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Bob

Well, lets start by saying that I have never been to this track or even Minnesota for that matter. In spite of that, I think I can offer some useful general advice. I looked the track up on Google maps, with this limited satellite view, I do not think you will be able to get close enough enough to the track to capture really close action shots with your 70-200, no chance at all with the 24-105. You may want to consider renting a 100-400, I would prefer renting a 300 or even a 400, but you mention you may be doing lot of foot work and those boys are heavy...lol, the 100-400 will give you a lot of versatility. If you are able to have access to the pits, both of your suggested lens will be very useful in this environment. if renting a lens is out the question, do you a teleconverter you can mount to 70-200? My normal starting point for a bright day (primarily for off road racing) is; Manual mode - ISO 100 - f4.0 - SS 1000 - center point expanded. I owned the 5d4 and loved, moved over to the mirrorless side and now shoot with the R5 so I have extensive experience with your camera and lens combination. Someone is likely to poke a little fun at my for next suggestion, if you are going to try some slow shutter speed panning you are going to be most likely in "shutter priority" the aperture will be in the f16 or smaller range (depending on the light) I will often use a "variable density ND" filter to help control "reduce" the amount of light. Have, drink lots of water and and take lots of pictures ... dont forget to share them.

Mark

Feel free to look at my gallery photos on here, or my Instagram "revcophotography" and you will see some taken with 5d for reference. And of course feel free to ask me any other questions.

Never been to the track but most tracks have a lot more run off now, the chances of getting close enough with a 70-200 seems slim with a full frame camera, I agree with the previous poster on renting a 100-400 if you can. I like to start with about 1/250th for panning shots and even slower on a straight, the speed of the bikes is a major determining factor on panning speed, in or right out of a corner the speed will be much slower but in the middle of a long straight you may want to raise your shutter speed higher. For shots look dead on to the bike or close to it i would use 1/1000th normally. Here are a couple of my photos from my much younger days taken on film during the Laguna Seca GP races back in the 90's, ignore the camera data, I had to fake it to add the photos to my gallery.

Photo from Canonuser123's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (914319)

Photo from Canonuser123's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (914318)

mriker wrote in post #19260475
Well, lets start by saying that I have never been to this track or even Minnesota for that matter. In spite of that, I think I can offer some useful general advice. I looked the track up on Google maps, with this limited satellite view, I do not think you will be able to get close enough enough to the track to capture really close action shots with your 70-200, no chance at all with the 24-105. You may want to consider renting a 100-400, I would prefer renting a 300 or even a 400, but you mention you may be doing lot of foot work and those boys are heavy...lol, the 100-400 will give you a lot of versatility. If you are able to have access to the pits, both of your suggested lens will be very useful in this environment. if renting a lens is out the question, do you a teleconverter you can mount to 70-200? My normal starting point for a bright day (primarily for off road racing) is; Manual mode - ISO 100 - f4.0 - SS 1000 - center point expanded. I owned the 5d4 and loved, moved over to the mirrorless side and now shoot with the R5 so I have extensive experience with your camera and lens combination. Someone is likely to poke a little fun at my for next suggestion, if you are going to try some slow shutter speed panning you are going to be most likely in "shutter priority" the aperture will be in the f16 or smaller range (depending on the light) I will often use a "variable density ND" filter to help control "reduce" the amount of light. Have, drink lots of water and and take lots of pictures ... dont forget to share them.

Mark

Feel free to look at my gallery photos on here, or my Instagram "recvophotography" and you will see some taken with 5d for reference. And of course feel free to ask me any other questions.

I do have a 300 2.8 and a 400 5.6 that I can bring just in case.

mriker wrote in post #19260475
Well, lets start by saying that I have never been to this track or even Minnesota for that matter. In spite of that, I think I can offer some useful general advice. I looked the track up on Google maps, with this limited satellite view, I do not think you will be able to get close enough enough to the track to capture really close action shots with your 70-200, no chance at all with the 24-105. You may want to consider renting a 100-400, I would prefer renting a 300 or even a 400, but you mention you may be doing lot of foot work and those boys are heavy...lol, the 100-400 will give you a lot of versatility. If you are able to have access to the pits, both of your suggested lens will be very useful in this environment. if renting a lens is out the question, do you a teleconverter you can mount to 70-200? My normal starting point for a bright day (primarily for off road racing) is; Manual mode - ISO 100 - f4.0 - SS 1000 - center point expanded. I owned the 5d4 and loved, moved over to the mirrorless side and now shoot with the R5 so I have extensive experience with your camera and lens combination. Someone is likely to poke a little fun at my for next suggestion, if you are going to try some slow shutter speed panning you are going to be most likely in "shutter priority" the aperture will be in the f16 or smaller range (depending on the light) I will often use a "variable density ND" filter to help control "reduce" the amount of light. Have, drink lots of water and and take lots of pictures ... dont forget to share them.

Mark

Feel free to look at my gallery photos on here, or my Instagram "recvophotography" and you will see some taken with 5d for reference. And of course feel free to ask me any other questions.

Also, I do have a Canon 1.4 iii extender if need be.

I see a 2 Stroke in the mix of pics....yaaaaa

My brother used to race a TZ 250 up there at Willow, way before I started taking pictures. Amazing that track has have been around for so long. Cool pics!!!

mriker wrote in post #19260536
I see a 2 Stroke in the mix of pics....yaaaaa

My brother used to race a TZ 250 up there at Willow, way before I started taking pictures. Amazing that track has have been around for so long. Cool pics!!!

Thanks.

The top two are both two strokes, the red Cagiva 500GP bike is being ridden by John Kocinski at the 1993 USGP at Laguna Seca, he won the race.
The second photo is of Rich Oliver at the 1994 USGP, he won many 250cc titles here in the U.S..

Quack Me Up wrote in post #19260521
I do have a 300 2.8 and a 400 5.6 that I can bring just in case.

Take the 400 5.6L. You'll need the reach.