Shooting small fast moving objects with a D700.

[Keith]

I wasn't sure what to title this thread because the subject material is odd to say the least.

My son is a dedicated RC on road (asphalt) car freak. For those who don't know what the hell I'm refering to ... remote controlled nitro based fuel powered or electric cars that vary from 1/5 scale to 1/10.

He's asked me if I can take some photos of these things for the RC club that he's the secretary of ... but I'm really out of my comfort zone here and thought I'd ask for advice.

The track isn't huge because the cars have to be visible for the drivers at all times ... they control them from an elevated stand on the side of the track. I went along for a looksee ages ago and these things are seriously fast ... topping out at anything up to ninety to one hundred kilometeres per hour down the back straight.

My access to the circuit would be based on my agreeing to accept responibility for my own safety so I can get fairly close to the action ... getting hit by one of these things would be no fun for sure!

The D700 is very capable obviously but my longest lens is my 24-120 F4 G series zoom and I'm not sure if 120 is going to be good enough even though I can get fairly close. I'm also wondering if the autofocus of the D700 will be capable of tracking one of these things ... if so how should I set it up?

 

[Corto]

I shoot a lot of my daughters track meets and soccer games and honestly would find it hard to do without my N70 and its Nikkor 70-300 lens.

Good excuse for you to pick up another lens!

 

[TXForester]

Seems like they might be too fast for auto focus to keep up. Maybe pre-focus on the track, then follow the cars and shoot when they reach the right spot. Follow through like wing shooting birds with a scatter gun.

 

[Maiku]

Keith,

I have taken photos at track side at the Indy races at Motegi. I used my D300 with 18-200mm. Down the straight away these cars reach 320 km/ph. Nuts! But exhilarating. My focal length depended on what I wanted to get into the photos.

My experience was to

1. Pick a fast ISO.
2. Prefocus and fire away when the car or cars came into view.

There is no need to get tight with the lens. You can always crop after. Also, with digital you can take a thousands of photos. You keep the ones you want and get rid of the rest.

Experiment! Trying panning. Try blur motion. Try sharp cars and bokeh backgrounds. Embrace this as it a new technique.

Maiku

 

[Keith]

Good replies so far. I figured it was probably a bit much to expect the AF to deal with these things so the pre-focusing idea makes sense ... digital being what it is I can blaze away to my heart's content I guess.

The thought had crossed my mind that if I had an adapter I could use my OMD and the two longer primes I have in OM Zuiko ... 135mm f2.8 and 200mm f4. If I'm going to be pre-focusing anyway the little Oly might be very nimble in this situation. Also the OMD is capable of 9 fps and the two to one crop factor and image stabilisation could be a bonus.

 

[shiro_kuro]

How about using a strobe with a fast flash duration to freeze the action of the RC cars racing around the track ..... Use of flash in different ways could make for some interesting images ....

 

[wafflecakee]

If there are any stores offering, look into renting a lens and maybe a flash. Set the flash down at track level with the shoe they come with.

If you can't do it with a D700 there are few other cameras that can.

 

[jonmanjiro]

The D700 has a very capable AF system, Keith. It should be able to handle the job. Try experimenting with AF-C and continuous 3D tracking.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

+1 on the pre focusing, then theres the panning shots too!

Todd

 

[farlymac]

40 years ago I was shooting some RC cars with a zoom. Can't remember what camera it was, but nothing fancy, so I did a lot of prefocusing, and some panning. Then many years later, with the N90s, it was much easier to catch the action without having to worry about the focus. I would think the D700 would be an even bigger improvement on that technology. Have fun, Keith.

PF

 

[Jockos]

Maybe it could be fun if you took a remote trigger and lay the camera on the ground in a corner to catch some really close up photos of the cars drifting? Get a cheap UV filter for absorbing any pebbles shot by the tires and you should be fine!

 

[willie_901]

Besides pre-focusing, I have a suggestion.

Google articles on using the D3 or the D700 for sports photography. The AF system can be amazing if you set up the camera's menus correctly.

I had a three-day gig photographing amateur gymnasts on the balance beam. No strobes are allowed. I used a D300 with a 50/1.8 Nikkor. The DOF was silly thin. The AF system would track the athletes as they jumped back and forth on the balance beam. What amazed me was, if I shot 3 FPS, the AF would track in between frames.

Your situation is more difficult I think, but you may be suprised what the AF can do once you optimize the operational parameters.

 

[finguanzo]

Th af should be fine, I used to shoot rally racing here with a pair of d300's, the issue is the size of the cars, such a small area to auto focus on, not the speed... I say you need a decent zoom, fill the frame up with the car for the cam not to mistakenly focus on the bigger background..
Also clamps and remote triggers as Jockos said is very fun.. I used to have a cam clamped off a tree facing down, and one on the floor of the inside corner prefocused and triggered off my main cam.. Only lost one camera... thankfully it was an older d200....

 

[sevo]

Autofocus usually does not help in these situations - you'll have to pre-focus. I don't know whether the D700 has the autofocus trap functionality of the single digit pro Nikons - if so, that could come in useful.