low light panning

I am going to the drag strip friday night and I need some advice. I am looking to take some shots of the cars doing burn outs and also panning as they pass by. What settings, ISO etc should I consider using? I will be using a 5d2 and a 70-200 or 17-70 possibly. Thanks!

bakedcookies wrote in post #9958876
I am going to the drag strip friday night and I need some advice. I am looking to take some shots of the cars doing burn outs and also panning as they pass by. What settings, ISO etc should I consider using? I will be using a 5d2 and a 70-200 or 17-70 possibly. Thanks!

Um... use the setting appropriate for however the burnout area is lit?

Thanks for the non-advice Tiger.

You don't seem to understand that even if we could give you an exposure for part of the track, which we can't, the exposure for 30' away would probably be different. So see if this helps, & good luck: Need an exposure crutch?

bakedcookies wrote in post #9960600
Thanks for the non-advice Tiger.

Ummm, maybe I can be more helpful.

In a poorly lit situation with the awesome 5D2 I'd start at ISO 1600 and wouldn't hesitate to go higher.

You need a slowish shutter speed to make your panned shots look right, maybe 1/125 or so. And you need a fairly small aperture to get the action all focused. This all suggests a high ISO.

And your 5D2 can do that well...

-js

number six wrote in post #9960784
Ummm, maybe I can be more helpful.

In a poorly lit situation with the awesome 5D2 I'd start at ISO 1600 and wouldn't hesitate to go higher.

You need a slowish shutter speed to make your panned shots look right, maybe 1/125 or so. And you need a fairly small aperture to get the action all focused. This all suggests a high ISO.

And your 5D2 can do that well...

-js

Thanks! I figured this out on my own before reading your post actually! lol. I was a bit afraid of going higher than 500 ISO The pics came out a tad noisy but I was able to get a shutter speed that would work better. The track now has crazy lighting and I couldn't go to the wall so I had to shoot from the bleachers. ugh. And plus I was using my 17-70 f2.8 to get the whole track as well as the cars drag racing. Next time I will jack up my ISO and I will get better results! Nothing like a real time experience to learn! Thanks for everyones attempt the help the best they can. I know its difficult to guess on exposures like that without knowing the real time conditions.