What aperture do people use in shooting car shows?

[dRebelXT]

In order to get a decent sharpness in both the front and rear, but can blur out
the backgrounds? My lens will be EF50F1.8.

When I use USM28-135F3.5-5.6IS, what is the maximum shutter speed when I
stand and with a not-so-steady hand? :embrass:

 

[yanyewkay]

I've tried shooting the last few car shows and I can only tell you the conditions and not some definite settings.

Lighting will be relatively dim for the camera. In order to get nice DOF for the car, you will want to close up the aperture, but this will lower your shutter speed even more. Bumping the ISO up is 1 solution and using flash is tricky becos it may reflect of the car to give you 1 fantastic hot spot.

There's a mix of flouro tubes and incad spot lights for lightings all over so WB is also another tricky subject. Bring a monopod will be good. There wun be space for tripod set up (though I've seen ppl using it). Since you have an IS lens, make this is the time to make full use of it. 28-135 is quite suitable for this occasion.

With a 50mm after the crop factor, you wun be able to move out far enough without people blocking you, unless you go during weekdays (today is the only weekday left) and in the mornings ( which is now..) where there is very little people.

It's a good training ground.

 

[megaweb]

May I know what are you taking ? the model or the car ?

 

[dRebelXT]

Primarily cars. I like sports cars.

 

[dRebelXT]

Thank you yanyewkay for your information. Luckily I have my IS lens with me.
Is it because of the bad weather yesterday that you got dim light? Today sunny,
maybe lightling gets better?

 

[megaweb]

Primarily cars. I like sports cars.

cars ? use smaller aperture like f8 or smaller, tripod and shutter release cable

 

[yanyewkay]

nope.. dint go for car asia this time round.. i was talking about indoor lighting.

 

[user111]

f2.8 to f5.6

 

[dRebelXT]

Went and shot a dozern cars, then changed my mind and shot hundred plus model pictures. Can not resist their charming faces.

As for cars, I have to say I have none satisfied. I am using EF28-135 and built in flash.
It's all messed up.

For the models, yeah, they are all great, only that my flash is too weak and many faces
were underexposed. One drawback with EF28-135 is that, focusing were tricky sometimes
under the dim environment. IS was of great help and the pictures were sharp enough.
I used ISO 400, built in flash.

 

[jkl]

try changing the iso to 800, set to AV mode at f3.5 and check your shutter speed. try not to use the built-in flash as it might cause hot-spots.

 

[Shodan99]

For car shots, its best to use tripod and F8 for best results. Using flash is useless as it will not light up the entire car and may also cause hot spots, depending on where you point the flash.

 

[dRebelXT]

try changing the iso to 800, set to AV mode at f3.5 and check your shutter speed. try not to use the built-in flash as it might cause hot-spots.

Yeah lor, ISO 800 may do some help. I used Portrait mode ;p and my rebel XT used iso 400 faithfully throughout.
It's my fault I didn't buy the 420 Ex before I went to the show. I bought it after that :embrass:

What is the piece of plastic people put on their flash? Is it on sale somewhere?

 

[dRebelXT]

For car shots, its best to use tripod and F8 for best results. Using flash is useless as it will not light up the entire car and may also cause hot spots, depending on where you point the flash.

I used F7.1 & Av for cars, and the shutter speed ranged from 1/(5~20), IS helped to
get sharp pictures, however the reflections of the iron structures on the ceiling of the building drew funny patterns on the car body :embrass: Most of my cars were spoilt in this way, sigh!