Superbikes

[CraigVTR]

Biaggi - Race 2 last lap. "Where does the track go again?"
800 @ f5.6 300mm heavy crop, iso 280


Corser - Race 2 every lap after lap 3. "I'll set this rubbish tyre on fire sooner or later."
800 @ f5.6 300 mm heavy crop, iso 250


Sofoglu & Pitt. Supersport Race "Wana swap places."
640 @ f8 300mm iso 200


Tamada - Qualiyfing. "Conserve the front tyre, conserve the front tyre."
640 @ f5.6 300mm iso 200



As you can see these are a little soft. Iam not sure if this is a result of the lens quality (Nikkor 70-300 ed) or if my technique was rubbish. All were hand held and I kept increasing the shutter speed over the weekend to see if I could get sharper results whilst retaining some motion blur. Might have to go the the Aus Supers at QR when they are here in June/July.

Any comments on the softness would be appreciated.

[Big V]

Craig the 640 shutter speed is a good choice as it gives motion blur to the wheels whilst normally allowing for razor sharp panning shots. Not sure as to why these are not sharper - I do not know this lens, sorry. It may be that this is all you can ring out of it and if it is then you have done well.

[radar]

Craig,

I used to have this lens. It is a very good lens up to about 200-250m. I found that at 300mm, I would get some softness, especially if opened up. If you want to use it at f/5.6 at the long end, you will get some softness. If you close it down, that will help. See Thom Hogan's thoughts on this lens.

http://www.bythom.com/70300lens.htm

It was a great telephoto to take along when bushwalking as it is lightweight and gives good results in most conditions.

cheers,

André

[Jeff]

Hi Craig
Shooting these bikes is not easy ,they are very fast and change direction quickly . The lens is probably not your ideal choice for that occasion ie. a little slow to focus.
I found that I had to increase the shutter speed to higher than I would normally use for cars and still had some soft efforts .
What a great weekend it was .

Jeff

[auxr8220]

i think the shots look great

[gstark]

Craig,

Have you tried calibrating the lens for the D300, using the in-camera fine tuning?

[CraigVTR]

Craig,
Have you tried calibrating the lens for the D300, using the in-camera fine tuning?

Gary
I have recently read about the fine tuning on the d300 and will give it a try shortly to see if it will improve the performance.


Thanks for the comments guys. It was a great weekend and I would go back tommorrow if I could.
Craig

[willer]

Enjoyed you photos - especially #4. Also the comment by Big V re the speed, sharp enough for a good picture but also shows some movement on the wheels - good to think about. I ventured over last year and these are two of my efforts, my dissapointment was they didn't show much movement at all (both 1/2000). Comments welcome - but shutter speed obviously a lot to do with it.

http://members.dodo.com.au/~willeraus/2 ... mall_1.jpg

http://members.dodo.com.au/~willeraus/2 ... 0small.jpg

[CraigVTR]

Willer
Both great shots of Casey and Valentino. Even with such a fast shutter speed you did get a little bluring with the pan effect and the disc carrier mounts show a little bluring as well. Looks like you shot these at the entry to turn twelve where they are travelling very fast. Great work.
Craig