Which lens to use for Bike Tour?

The "Tour of Pennsylvania" bike tour is coming through my town today and tomorrow. Looking for opinions on which (see my sig) lens would have the best chance of success. First time shooting a bike race. Not sure how much time I'll have, if any, to changes lenses.

Thanks!

john

Out of those, I'd probably use the 200 as my primary lens, but bring along the 135 and the 17-40, they'll help. Of course, if you can rent a lens for a day, try grabbing a 70-200.

I would use the 17-40 and your 580 most of the time. Cycling is very accessible and you can get very close to the action. Try pans thru turns and straight aways like these.

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Great shots, Dan!

ok, just got back, here are a few shots. This was much tougher than I thought! Ended up using the 135, didn't have time to make many adjustments. I did miss focus a bunch of times, that I know.

They are coming through again tomorrow morning, so I'm looking for advice/CC.

Thanks!


1

I like #4 best John. What are you using for focus point. I usually use top middle single point in Al Servo. Post some exif for some of the shots.

Exif is there, I know in Firefox I had to scroll down a little to see it. But it's there.
They are all in the f/2.5 range, iso200, s/s - 1/3000 to 1/6000 - is this too fast???


I did try Al Servo as well. Let me know what you think of the settings.

Here are the settings for #4. And again, the exif should be intact on those pics.

# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/3200 second = 0.00031 second
# Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 25/10 = F2.5
# ISO Speed Ratings = 200
# Original Date/Time = 2008:06:25 13:14:23
# Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 761856/65536
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/3158.45 second
# Aperture Value (APEX) = 172032/65536
Aperture = F2.48
# Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
# Focal Length = 135/1 mm = 135 mm

How would use flash? I'd be afraid to blind them!

John, I hope you are offended by my saying this but they seem to be a bit oof, soft or both to me.

namasste wrote in post #5792767
John, I hope you are offended by my saying this but they seem to be a bit oof, soft or both to me.

You "hope" I'm offended? uh... ok. I'm just looking for some tips on how to take better ones tomorrow.

Ahh I never did install my exif plugin since I got my new comp. I wondered why no one seemed to be including and exif data. As far as settings I use for flash. For inside turn like in the second photo I will set shutter at 200-250 (use a ND filter most of the time) manual @ 1/8th and dial it in from there.

For pans it is just a matter of how good your tech. is. the top photo was @80s but you will have a better keeper ratio at 125 or so and still get a good affect.

Have fun John and post some more photos.

jdaly wrote in post #5792832
You "hope" I'm offended? uh... ok. I'm just looking for some tips on how to take better ones tomorrow.

no, no, no...hope you're NOT offended. sorry man, bad typing on my part. naturally this place isn't to go around offending people on purpose and I've always tried to go out of my way to offer helpful crit and/or knowledge of things I've learned myself. apologies for the poor typing skills. I DO hope you understand.

I typically like using shutters between 60-1200 just a rough range? Maybe go ISO 100 and the F2-F6 and see what works best???

namasste wrote in post #5793642
no, no, no...hope you're NOT offended. sorry man, bad typing on my part. naturally this place isn't to go around offending people on purpose and I've always tried to go out of my way to offer helpful crit and/or knowledge of things I've learned myself. apologies for the poor typing skills. I DO hope you understand.

no, I figured that was a typo

getting ready to post some from today... no laughing now....

jdaly wrote in post #5796144
no, I figured that was a typo

getting ready to post some from today... no laughing now....

post away man, I'm sure I'll come up with something completely inappropriate and insulting to say!!

ok, so I pretty much had about 10 seconds to "try" and get some shots this morning. They were all together in one pack. Ended up using the 17-40 and "attempted" some panning shots. Yes, this is my first try at this, go easy. Tried some practice shots on the motorcade.

1.

namasste wrote in post #5796176
post away man, I'm sure I'll come up with something completely inappropriate and insulting to say!!

fire, aim, ready