Do I need license to shoot car / bike races?

Do I need official license to shoot pictures of grand prix race far from outside the audience?

I heard that car races organizers only allow magazine photographers to shoot races.

Is this true ?

picard wrote in post #10223151
Do I need official license to shoot pictures of grand prix race far from outside the audience?

I heard that car races organizers only allow magazine photographers to shoot races.

Is this true ?

From recent experience, like today...

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I just want to shoot races for my personal album.

The Toronto Grand Prix forbit people for using DSLR cameras. I don't know if that is true.

No problem shooting for your personal use. Sanctioning bodies and the venues themselves do have the right to limit what kind of camera they will allow you to bring. The restrictions generally seem to be on lens size, not so much camera type.

Depends on where you want to shoot from. Most will let you bring a DSLR into the stands, but don't expect to get track access.

Some have a 200mm focal length limit, but that is interpreted at the gate as no big white lenses. Put a black one on as you enter and pull the white one out of its case later on. I used to go with a doubler and some long primes and could get an effective 400mm without any questions.

picard wrote in post #10223151
Do I need official license to shoot pictures of grand prix race far from outside the audience?

I heard that car races organizers only allow magazine photographers to shoot races.

Is this true ?

To gain access to restricted areas, sanctioning bodies and track owners restrict access to credentialed media people. Usually those are magazine or in some cases newspaper photographers.

If you're working from areas that are accesable to the general public then no, you do not need any sort of license or special credential to do so. In some cases there are good vantage points from those areas. At other tracks you might not have a decent vantage point for really good shots unless you have credentials to admit you to what they consider "hot" areas, which are often more dangerous. It is assumed that the working pros have enough experience and sense to not put themselves in unnecessary risk just for the sake of a photograph, but I've seen some "pros" doing some pretty stupid things at auto racing events.
The liability issues of letting the general public into such areas is also something that no track owner or sanctioning body is going to be willing to deal with. I've had debris from a crash literally land within a couple feet of me, and a wheel that broke off a car once rolled by me about 10 feet away. Because I was paying attention I was able to avoid any injury from either incident but the first one could have gotten me if I hadn't seen the incident begining to happen and moved to a position I felt was safer.

One more point that may sound arrogant but really isn't: The guys that are there working for their respective media outlets really neither need or want to have to share their work space with who knows how many spectators. It's sometimes cramped quarters in the photo areas, and in the bigger pro races those spaces are already full to capacity. The guys working NEED to be there, the spectators don't.

Good Luck. Don't be discouraged by this apparent lack of access. Look for spots from spectator areas that can give you some unique shots that can't be gotten even from the photo areas.

picard wrote in post #10223813
I just want to shoot races for my personal album.

The Toronto Grand Prix forbit people for using DSLR cameras. I don't know if that is true.

Never been to Toronto but I have not seen ANY tracks that prohibit DSLR cameras. Hell, a lot of times I see people in the spectator areas shooting with gear better than a lot of the pros are using. I would suspect you're being fibbed to about that situation. I've also seen lots of white lenses in the hands of spectators.

picard wrote in post #10223813
I just want to shoot races for my personal album.

The Toronto Grand Prix forbit people for using DSLR cameras. I don't know if that is true.

You'll be fine, they disallow video cameras being brought into the stands and check at the gates to make sure nobody tries to sneak in video equipment. As far as DSLR's you'll be fine provided you're not trying to haul in a 400 2.8, 500 f4 or 800 f5.6 It's a shame they got rid of the photo pass as for $300 you could get yourself to some of the photo holes all weekend long and get some great shots.

do they allow spectators to use Canon white lens or Sigma 500mm zoom lens?

Considering that Toronto is a street track and I found my 70-200 to be more than sufficient (I've seen people take 100-400's but I doubt you'll need that much length unless you're shooting from the pit exit into the pits). I'd say a 70-200 with a 1.4x extender would do you just fine for the entire weekend if you plan on going but be prepared for fencing and lots of it.

theextremist04 wrote in post #10224218
Depends on where you want to shoot from. Most will let you bring a DSLR into the stands, but don't expect to get track access.

I don't need track access. I just want to stay spectator area.

NHRA doesn't allow you access to the track side.In fact, I have heard others say that even if they have credentials they are instructed to walk out, shoot their car only and then leave the area. At the Spring Nationals, I saw photogs from National Dragster doing the shooting.

This was the second year I have taken my camera to the races and haven't had any problems. A 70-200 is all that is needed to shoot from the stands. I also carried a 17-40 and 24-70 for shots in the pits. I shot these with a 7D.

You can check out my pics here. Note: They are not for sale, just viewing only. I really enjoyed the day.

Mike

MT Stringer wrote in post #10224380
NHRA doesn't allow you access to the track side.In fact, I have heard others say that even if they have credentials they are instructed to walk out, shoot their car only and then leave the area. At the Spring Nationals, I saw photogs from National Dragster doing the shooting.

This was the second year I have taken my camera to the races and haven't had any problems. A 70-200 is all that is needed to shoot from the stands. I also carried a 17-40 and 24-70 for shots in the pits. I shot these with a 7D.

You can check out my pics here. Note: They are not for sale, just viewing only. I really enjoyed the day.

Mike

did you use teleconverter for the 70-200mm lens?

picard wrote in post #10224395
did you use teleconverter for the 70-200mm lens?

No.