MOTORSPORTS Thread - Post Your Fast Paced Action Here

[Robstar1963]

Some great pictures there @Bagrphotography but the multiple copyright marks are quite distracting

 

[Kae1]

Still making the most of the racing available before spectators are excluded from circuits as infection rates start to rise again. This time another trip to Oulton Park to watch some bikes on a bit of a cold day.

I've cured my GAS but now have GABS (Grab a Bargain Syndrome) and with the recent "free" f1.2 lens offer have traded my G9 for an EMI ii. As my muscles struggle with the cold I took my 70-300 as the main lens for a lighter weight kit. The weather was kind enough to provide bright sunlight and overcast clouds to let me test out the new camera and a good opportunity to see what I'd got.

I'm very impressed with the camera's handling and blown away by the CAF and its ability to prove, to me at least, that the 70-300 is a very good lens (actually a 10 on my GABS scale). Depending on what I do with the "free" lens this is my best value motorsport kit ever.

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[Panolyman]

Great shots, with a "winner" award for number 6 (81) alone!
Hope he held it together.

 

[Robstar1963]

Still making the most of the racing available before spectators are excluded from circuits as infection rates start to rise again. This time another trip to Oulton Park to watch some bikes on a bit of a cold day.

I've cured my GAS but now have GABS (Grab a Bargain Syndrome) and with the recent "free" f1.2 lens offer have traded my G9 for an EMI ii. As my muscles struggle with the cold I took my 70-300 as the main lens for a lighter weight kit. The weather was kind enough to provide bright sunlight and overcast clouds to let me test out the new camera and a good opportunity to see what I'd got.

I'm very impressed with the camera's handling and blown away by the CAF and its ability to prove, to me at least, that the 70-300 is a very good lens (actually a 10 on my GABS scale). Depending on what I do with the "free" lens this is my best value motorsport kit ever. View attachment 849978 View attachment 849980 View attachment 849979 View attachment 849986 View attachment 849981 View attachment 849983 View attachment 849982 .

Some great pictures there @Kae1 great to be at a track again !
Would have been there but so far to travel
Just one observation - your number 81 bike 2nd from end - rider has very blown out white crash helmet - all detail has been lost and it stands out against the rest of the scene - this isn’t a criticism as I often have the same problem but worth looking at a solution ?
Not sure if it’s inherent dynamic range limitations or processing but something to consider as I say I have had the same issue almost always with white crash helmets both with M43 and with Fuji XT3 even when the rest of the bike and rider and scene are well / correctly exposed ?
Regards
Rob

 

[Bagrphotography]

Bloody nice stuff Kae.

Ok.. so.. Panasonic G9 to OMD EM1 mk2. Good? Bad? Bloody fantastic swap over? Worth the change? Easier to focus/keep focus? More keepers?

Not looking forward to when I (have) to replace my gear.

 

[Kae1]

Great shots, with a "winner" award for number 6 (81) alone!
Hope he held it together.

Thanks for the kind comment. Don't know how he managed it but he certainly did ?

 

[Kae1]

Just one observation - your number 81 bike 2nd from end - rider has very blown out white crash helmet - all detail has been lost and it stands out against the rest of the scene - this isn’t a criticism as I often have the same problem but worth looking at a solution ?
Not sure if it’s inherent dynamic range limitations or processing but something to consider as I say I have had the same issue almost always with white crash helmets both with M43 and with Fuji XT3 even when the rest of the bike and rider and scene are well / correctly exposed ?

Thanks Rob for the kind words.
Looking at the picture again I can see what you mean. I'm only shooting Jpegs which could be a reason. I'll have a play with the processing and see whether I'm able to do anything about it, but might be beyond my skill set!

 

[Kae1]

Ok.. so.. Panasonic G9 to OMD EM1 mk2. Good? Bad? Bloody fantastic swap over? Worth the change? Easier to focus/keep focus? More keepers?

Thank you for the kind words.

This has been only the second outing for the EM1 ii but I'd decided even after the first outing that I got on with it better than the G9.

First of all the personal factors - I found the handling better, as it is a little bit lighter (I am using an L bracket with the EM1 rather than a battery grip with G9), plus I coped much better with the EVF (I had to lift the G9 slightly higher than my usual position for the EVF to work - I don't have this problem with the G80/90). I found the EM's focusing improvement significant - however, I may need to temper that again with the way I had to hold the G9 rather than the ability of the G9.

Second the camera - The focus is the best I've ever had. I am getting more keepers and have a choice of the best shot rather than just the one with best focus. Whether it's true, or wishful thinking, but I believe that it is also better at finding a quicker/sharp focus with the 75-300 - a lens which I'm liking more and more. It has also shown some sharp (for me) results with the Panasonic 100-400 too which were better than I'd managed with the G9

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When I got the G9 it was £300 cheaper than the EM1 ii plus I got a free grip/battery/25mm 1.7 lens/SD card so that was a good buy at the time. I managed to take over 50,000 images with it and it is still a very nice camera. I still love the G80/90 and will keep it as my second body but IMO the EM1 ii is in a different league. I still think I would have struggled to convince myself to spend the money on the EM1 ii twelve months ago but with the lower price plus free 1.2 lens at the moment I've even convinced my wife that it's a good deal!

So, as you can tell I'm more than happy with the EM1 ii and the change is worthwhile.

 

[Bagrphotography]

Cooool. And 'nailed' with the Mercedes (O-for-OMG-class) car too..

Give you both a tip that is panning out for me, regarding images - shoot 1/3 stop under. This was passed on to me from an F1 tog called Manuel Goria, based here in Perth. (Kym Ilman, also based here in Perth has some good tips as does WRC tog Mat Jelonek too) Freaking lucky to be here we are! (but shhhhh! don't pass it on to the other photo folks here
)

 

[Kae1]

Give you both a tip that is panning out for me, regarding images - shoot 1/3 stop under. (but shhhhh! don't pass it on to the other photo folks here )

I'm sure your secret will be safe with us ?

 

[Kae1]

Just one observation - your number 81 bike 2nd from end - rider has very blown out white crash helmet - all detail has been lost and it stands out against the rest of the scene - this isn’t a criticism as I often have the same problem but worth looking at a solution ?

Looking at the picture again I can see what you mean. I'm only shooting Jpegs which could be a reason. I'll have a play with the processing and see whether I'm able to do anything about it, but might be beyond my skill set!

I've had another go at processing number 81 and I can get it a bit better but it's still not brill.

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I've had a go at processing a picture taken during the cloudier part of the day i.e. not in direct sunlight, and it shows a bit more detail but still not a lot.

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Having spent an hour or so having a look at my pictures containing white helmets and blown highlights, which TBH I'd not noticed before, I think it has to be a matter of getting the exposure sorted in the first place as, for me anyway, it's impossible to recover what's not there in the unprocessed image.

As you say when the rest of the picture is correctly exposed "how do you resolve the blown bit"? The only solutions I can think of, in addition to bagrphotography's exposure compensation suggestion could be :-

• spot meter on helmet, although this may be too much dynamic range for the rest of the picture, or perhaps
• use a polarising filter to cut the reflecting glare from the white helmet. The only downside for me would be the 1-3 stop impact on exposure and the corresponding increase in ISO level, or
• shoot in raw and hope more detail is originally captured.

At the moment I am just happy that I am getting some pictures in focus.

 

[Robstar1963]

Thanks @Kae1
I only tend to use jpeg too but it’s so annoying when it is only a white helmet in isolaction with the problem and not anywhere else in the scene
That Mercedes GT looks very nice
kind regards

 

[Bagrphotography]

No probs.

When shooting Jpg, white will always suffer unless (from my experience) you shoot at least 1/2 stop under. At least.
And your white-balance is basically set too. (during JPG). For my last motorsport events.. (well, everything since mmmmm... October last year? ) I have shot RAW+JPG, even with motorbikes. It allows me to have a JPG if I need to quickly send something out, or I can make a preset and batch-develop images in Silkypix (Panasonic default raw software)

Btw.. I am Jonathan

 

[b_rubenstein]

If you're shooting JPGS, set the display to show High lights and Low lights. Anything in orange is over exposed and anything blue is under exposed. You can set the values for where things show orange or blue. RAW may be better for recovering blown highlights, but it takes less messing around if the exposure is better to begin with.

 

[Bagrphotography]

Yep.. Agreed. I also have the histogram loaded too.
I also flick the camera to 'actual live view' occasionally, to see what the camera is actually 'recording', if that makes sense..

 

[pwol]

I've been going through old photos and seeing if I missed any decent shots, or just am re-editing.

I found this one that I guess I looked over when culling.

Not the sharpest shot, but not bad for a $99 plastic lens. It's my favorite car so I like it.

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P7208074.jpg by Paul Wolanski, on Flickr



I re-edited this one a bit. I love getting sharp shots like this at 1/10.

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P7194970.jpg by Paul Wolanski, on Flickr

 

[Robstar1963]

I've been going through old photos and seeing if I missed any decent shots, or just am re-editing.

Great shots especially the Mercedes at 1/10th - very sharp - well done
How do you get on with the Olympus 75mm F1.8 in general for these shots !

 

[Kae1]

Making the most of the motorsport events still open to the public before more stringent lockdowns are introduced. This time was a trip to an overcast Donington Park to see several races for Caterhams plus a chance to see a TCR (touring car) race. I'm really enjoying the EM1 II especially its' AFC and burst mode and mated with my Olympus 75-300 I have the ideal size and weight outfit for cold days. Whilst the Caterhams had some of the closest racing I've seen in a long while, for a change I thought I'd show some of the story of the touring car race.

The first lap of the first race, where I'd already photographed the leaders going through, I was following through my pan on mid field runner #21 before catching up with an earlier spin ....

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... then on the first lap of the restarted race, the two leaders (in the first corner) had a little nudge ....

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... which meant that both lost the lead thus requiring a "push to pass" a bit later in the race

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... and finishing second (#38) and third (101).

All the above were from much longer sequences and I'm delighted at the number of images which were in focus. I wouldn't have discovered these EM1 II qualities without the latest offer of the "free" (now sold) f1.2 lens - Thank You Olympus!

 

[Bagrphotography]

Sweeet.
But boring-as-photo found from an official report here... https://www.tcr-series.com/news/item/hart-wins-tcr-uk-s-final-race-but-kent-is-the-champion
I wonder which has more punch. But Editorial can be the 'winner' ?

I needed to find out what the make of the 101 car was.. a CUPRA which is a new one on me down here.

Thank goodness that the 'black&white' car of Docker was already moving backwards - the collision would have been so-much-worse for both of them.

The TCR champ looks like he loves a bit of close-contact.

 

[moonraker]

Cupra is a SEAT, it's just the hot version of the Leon...(bit like Arbarth for Fiat)