Help required for first foray into Motorsport with a DSLR

[Rob13]

I've previously tried (and mostly failed) shooting bikes with a bridge camera however after securing a 40d late last year, i've now just sorted out a Canon 70-300 to clamp onto it.

I'm thinking of heading off to Olivers Mount at Scarborough this weekend coming to get some bike action, and i'll be camping at both Oulton & Cadwell next month for the superbikes.

Could anyone give advice on settings, metering, ae lock/start, focusing, to RAW or not to RAW and to burst or not?

I'll be mainly shooting in Tv mode, i'll start with high shutter and work along as I get used to panning.

[Furyous]

If you want motion blur, then around 1/125 on shutter priority and use continous AF over single.

Bridge cameras are useless for m sport in my opinion.

Shoot fine jpeg to start, RAW is more work than a beginner needs in my eyes.

[RobDickinson]

Tv mode , RAW if you havbe the storage, tracking AF (AI Servo) .

Does the 70-300 have 'mode 2' IS? if not switch it off alltogether.

1/125th to 1/60th or so

[GravelBen]

Shutter speed depends on how fast the subject is moving, I haven't shot bikes but generally start at 1/160 for panning with cars and adjust either way from there. Slower shutter = more blur(for any given vehicle speed) but harder to keep sharp, faster = less blur but harder to keep subject sharp.

If they're moving towards or away from you rather than across in front of you then you can't pan anyway so a fast shutter is all good.

I always have the camera in rapid-fire mode - while I'll often just shoot one frame at a time (especially with circuit racing) if something exciting happens you can just keep the button down and capture the full sequence.

Constant AF is generally a useful thing though with panning you can sometimes get better results by pre-focussing on the point you plan to take the shot. Experiment, play around with settings, see how it turns out.

[racing green]

Don't do much with bikes but was happy with this one. Taken at the Revival in RAW and shooting in manual mode. The best thing to do is just practise, practise, practise as everbody's ideas are different. Fast shutter speeds freeze an image while slower ones blur when panning, its up to individual choice.