share some panning techniques

i was wondering in terms of AI focus what type of settings you guys shoot with? i've just shot normally with 1 shot and have a manually AF point selection in the middle. also what speeds do you guys see that seem to work best for you guys. i put this in motorsports primarily because i am looking for good panning settings to use since i wil be shooting at formula Drift this weekend in etown. thanks in advance!

heres a panning shot i took last year to get a perspective of maybe what u could tell me to improve on.

Cliff666 wrote in post #5703654
i was wondering in terms of AI focus what type of settings you guys shoot with? i've just shot normally with 1 shot and have a manually AF point selection in the middle. also what speeds do you guys see that seem to work best for you guys.

-From what I recal AI should be on Servo

-You don't need a super slow shutter speed to show 'movement' gradually work your way down. I think 60-80 is slow enough handheld; sometimes I got a better pic shooting around 100

What were your settings on that shot? Looks like shutter speed may be too fast?

i think it was 1/200 with f8 iso @ 100

An almost impossible question to answer as it depends on what you're shooting, what speed the subject is moving at, your position relative to your target, what you want to achieve etc etc

To answer some of your specific questions......

I use AI Servo exclusively, with the camera in shutter priority (Tv) mode.

I use the focus point that gives me the composition I want - for what it's worth that's hardly ever the centre focus point.

Shutter speed is very, very rarely over 1/320s and seldom below 1/80s. The speed I choose depends on all of the things I listed initally above.

The camera is usually set to single shot.

Cheers,

Simon.

Do you want to capture movement or not?

I mainly shoot surfing and jump between ISO 200-400 and my shutter speed from 1200-1400. My Mark III is more times than not, set on ISO 400 and shutter speed of 1400. This freezes any motion while letting in sufficient light without blowing out my whites.

If your shooting motorcycles you have to bup up the shutter speed. It all depends on what your shooting. I start high and work my way down.

Strnge wrote in post #5706417
If your shooting motorchcles you have to bup up the shutter speed. It all depends on what your shooting. I start high and work my way down.

I got some good panning shooting motorcycles in the 80-100 shutter speed range; however, it was on the flat track where speed isn't in the 100s.

Drifting won't have the all out speed of some events and you're probably going to be getting sorta 3/4 shots so centre point focus should be fine on the grill/radiator area.
I'd start at 1/320th, ISO100, Tv mode, servo focus and multi shot and over the course of the day as you get more comfortable slowly drop the shutter speed a setting every so often and chimp to check.

You shouldn't have to go below 1/125th or 1/150th to get some good blur but do some down in the 1/30th to 1/50th just for fun

What glass will you be using?
What distance will you be shooting from?
What type of shot are you going for composition-wise?