lens for motor show


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chjing

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Sep 11, 2006
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hi, i am a newbie to motorcar shows. anyone can recoomend me any suitable lens if i only bring one? to shoot models, cars, stage shows.....
 

actually IMHO any lens is fine
tele zoom lens would be good for close ups
short ones can be used for full body shots
really depends on how you want to shoot:)
 

hi, i am a newbie to motorcar shows. anyone can recoomend me any suitable lens if i only bring one? to shoot models, cars, stage shows.....
Bros.... for your information, there is NO one lens to do magic in photography, unless you can find a 16 - 200mm lens. :dunno:
 

18-200 :)

However, I usually only bring a 28-70.

hi, i am a newbie to motorcar shows. anyone can recoomend me any suitable lens if i only bring one? to shoot models, cars, stage shows.....
 

I would be happy to walk about with even just my 18-70mm. If you are shy to shoot race queen models then you need to be bring a longer lens and stand up higher over the head of others to shoot them.

Now for the pro pervs....You might need a super long wide lens like a 400mm 2.8m telephoto (maybe with a teleconverter too) if you want to shoot and capture all the naughty bits of a woman anatomy from afar. hahahahaha....
 

well,18-200 would do alright until you realise that you need a pretty good flash because it can get dark.
 

well,18-200 would do alright until you realise that you need a pretty good flash because it can get dark.

I would personally rather bring along my tripod or monopod to shoot at a slightly longer exposure then to use flash as the hot spot from the flash onto the car's surface just ruins most of the shots. Unless you are talking about shooting shots of racing queens that is heheh....
 

I would personally rather bring along my tripod or monopod to shoot at a slightly longer exposure then to use flash as the hot spot from the flash onto the car's surface just ruins most of the shots. Unless you are talking about shooting shots of racing queens that is heheh....

That is a good tactic to avoid that hot spot. But in general, should we be using flash or not? I see a lot of people with flash but either using a bounce or a diffuser.
 

I would personally rather bring along my tripod or monopod to shoot at a slightly longer exposure then to use flash as the hot spot from the flash onto the car's surface just ruins most of the shots. Unless you are talking about shooting shots of racing queens that is heheh....
not that much of difference la, the car is already filled with hotspot from the roof light normally... :sweat:
 

I would personally rather bring along my tripod or monopod to shoot at a slightly longer exposure then to use flash as the hot spot from the flash onto the car's surface just ruins most of the shots. Unless you are talking about shooting shots of racing queens that is heheh....

in an ideal situation i would probably not use flash as well
but unfortunately its nearly impossible to shoot long exposure at carshows
prob have to use high iso:sweat:
 

Well...I did shoot some with and without flash. For those without flash, I used my fastest lens (f 2.0). Overall, I still preferred the shots with flash marginally over those without, mainly for the fact that the colours and exposures appeared just slightly better. In terms of practicality, even with OIS, I think I would be able to shoot better with flash. Basically, I din really see any major disadvantage to using flash, and neither did I see a major advantage towards not using flash.
 

That is a good tactic to avoid that hot spot. But in general, should we be using flash or not? I see a lot of people with flash but either using a bounce or a diffuser.


Well...lot of people doing it does not alway mean it is right. As many pro you see walking about shooting alot of Sunday shooters roaming about too and hauling exotic camera and lens like pro...but in the category of monkey see monkey do. hehehe...sorry ..did not mean to be so rude. I am sure there are alot of those who are clueless but trying lah.

I have used difuser at a car show too but rare...I use it after studying the scene to know what the difuser would work for that particular shot. The only time I would use a flash is when I have the flash on an extended cord. If I see a car which has a wall structure near it..I might bounce it off that wall onto the car indirectly, If I am shooting the engine bay and I bounce it off the bonnet cover or I shoot the interior of the cabin and I bounce the flash somewhat as a fill-in( meaning I lower the power of the flash's intensity and meter for existing light) ...etc.

Another way of using flash is if I am shooting the car at an angle where the flash will not bounce directly back at me causing that hot spot and the car is like quite a distance away than I just might use abit of flash with a difusser. I have to know that the flash will hit the car but bounce away from me. It will still illuminate the car but the hot spot is almost not there since the angle of the bounce is away from your lens' direction.

I never like to hit the flash directly at a car, it just is not nice as it blows out the highlights and you get that nasty hot spot which you will never be able to touch up with Photoshop....unless you are the God of PS. heheheh....

It is true there are other hot spots already there on the car due to spot lights...etc but they are usually very small pin spot that you can PS away later. A flash one if you are shooting very near is like a nuclear blast sometimes heheheh... That is why photography has no shortcut if you are roaming around shooting unlike a pro who might be able to go in when no one is around, prepare his flash and arrange all the lights before he shoots. For us, we have to walk about the car, look from top down, from down up..all over to get that special "gem" of a shot that is the best not just to avoid all the hot spots but shoot some angle that when you show it off here...no one ever took or realise there is that angle. That is the big catch! hehe So you have to work out your shot even when you are there. Even if there are alot of people around. That is the challenge heh.

I am also quite happy with pushing my ISO to 400 and sometime even 600 to help out. I dthen use my ninja noise elimination later to correct some of the grain if needed and sometime the grain gives character to the picture.

You got to sometime think outside the usual perimeter and do whatever you can with what you got.

In other words...heheh don't monkey see monkey do. hahah...
 

Wow..thanks Sammy for your instruction. I never saw it that way. I guess what it means to be a pro is someone who actually "works" for his shots and for their end-result. I guess I am not prepared to be a pro cos firstly, I tend to be more of an impulse shooter, and secondly, I hate the tedium of filtering, sorting and post-processing my photos. Oly works great for me as I get shots right off the camera which I keeps me very satisfied.

From what u say, it also appears that the true pros spend more time thinking and working out the shot than I had thought. I guess, this is what most people dun know too as they often judge how good a person is by how fast he shoots...hehe.
 

Wow..thanks Sammy for your instruction. I never saw it that way. I guess what it means to be a pro is someone who actually "works" for his shots and for their end-result. I guess I am not prepared to be a pro cos firstly, I tend to be more of an impulse shooter, and secondly, I hate the tedium of filtering, sorting and post-processing my photos. Oly works great for me as I get shots right off the camera which I keeps me very satisfied.

From what u say, it also appears that the true pros spend more time thinking and working out the shot than I had thought. I guess, this is what most people dun know too as they often judge how good a person is by how fast he shoots...hehe.

Pratice makes perfect. Pros and even very good sunday shooter might be able to shoot very fast too. Like as though they never need to think. Why? Experience lah heheh.. If you shoot enough of those condition, your brain start to think in a certain way when all the usual suspects come into play. Be it hots spots from lights, people keep walking infront of your ( you sometime use long exposure to make people disappear or just like flowing blurrs while the car is sharp for example), shooting shiny car or parts...etc. So experience counts for alot. This might be your first car shoot but some have already been there more times then you can count with all your fingers heheh.

Now you already said it...you hate to PS, you don't like to do anything else apart from just take whatever you can from your camera. The moment you press your button to what ever you capture. So now, all you need to to explore all the options and tricks you can muster from your camera then go shoot and shoot. This car show might not be your best but as you relook at all your shots later at home...you will learn from them. Maybe if you take a second trip there the next day, your shots would actually be better now. We all have to start somewhere. Stick to your camera, learns all its function and then think of ways tomake use of them to create your shots. If you don't like to PS or do post production, make sure very important shots you bracket them. Meaning... take the same shot in maybe 3 apeture setting or speed...etc. That way...one of them might just be good enough to pass then to just shoot one shot per angle or whatever heheh... there is nothing worst then going home and then you see a wonderful shot that was just a tad short of great! heheh....

almsot important thing is...enjoy yourself and your hobby. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or even make a fool of yourself ....well abit like. I recall 2 yrs ago, I was at the car show and I wanted a picture of one of those old Mercedes Benz, I literaly lie on the floor on my side to shoot under it, I grab like 20 shots from flash to without flash to long exposure. Of course I made a fool of myself but not an inconsiderate one lah...I make sure I don't make a nuisance of it...though I can't say for some of the fools I see they that tool all their gear out to shoot and keep talking loub like that are some pro and say how they want to shoot it this way and that, they refuse to let others shoot from their angle, took out various lens. Conclusion, they are there to showoff their gear...not shoot. Oh well it takes all kinds lah heh. So don't get too pressure to do something out of the ordinary if you feel it might work and your camera can do it and well...nothing wrong with experimenting. So don't always follow others when you are there or any other place you are there to take some pictures.

I recall one scene at the car show where I saw one whole bunch of people whacking away with their camera at a pair of girls on a nice bike. Everyone who saw them ...went right up to where the crowd was and started shooting. I went to the back of the girls/bike, got up as high as I could and show the girls back but I also have a big background shot of all the photographers whacking away with their cameras. It was not that nice for some reason but, it was also an exercise in thinking out of the box.

Some times pros or even normal folk can capture nice shot not by planning but just by luck...being the in the right place at the right time. The challenge is recognising it when it happens or about to happens and most importantly...fire away as much as you can. Even famous Nat Geo photographer could shoot thousands of frames and only choose one picture. That is not uncommon heheheh

SO enjoy yourself man....
 

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