Pro1 Action shots (Bike Race)

[PhillipsArt]

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action. I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0 aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1 which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1 link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

 

[PhillipsArt]

The photos are at this moment being uploaded to my site. Sorry about the delay. They should be veiwable in the next half hour.

Phillip.

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some
action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action.
I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted
some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos
captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my
favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I
have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0
aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with
Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle
of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that
I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I
posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the
electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the
shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the
trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the
bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the
camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1
which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these
photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1
link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

 

[R. D'agostino]

Hi Phillip...WOW these are great shots...I own a G3, a lot a people were complaining about the Pro 1....I think these look great..show us more.

RIch D. FL USA

 

[PhillipsArt]

Hi, I think this one is my favourite.



Phillip.

Hi Phillip...WOW these are great shots...I own a G3, a lot a people
were complaining about the Pro 1....I think these look great..show
us more.

RIch D. FL USA

 

[Doug D.]

Fantastic composition, you really caught them from a great vantage point.

They look like they have a "plasticy" effect. Did you use noise reduction software?
There is noise visible in some of them.

I don't think you really needed 1/2000 shutter speed, which probably required you to bump up the iso. for these.

You may want to try panning next time. This will allow you to use a smaller aperture for greater depth of field, and a slower shutter for lower iso.

Since your camera will be moving with the subject, the background will have a nice blur, and you won't have to time your shutter release since you will always be on the subject.



--
Doug D.
'Promise a rainbow, and someone will look to the sky.'
Equipment in profile.
http://public.fotki.com/DougD/
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1681338
http://www.pbase.com/doug_d

 

[Fredy Ross]

Phillip.

Hi Phillip...WOW these are great shots...I own a G3, a lot a people
were complaining about the Pro 1....I think these look great..show
us more.

RIch D. FL USA

--
fredyr

Did you take them in Jpg or raw and did you have the camera in continuous mode? I want to try the pro 1 taking my granddaughter playing tennis. What would you suggest as I wouldn't be allowed to be so close. I would have to stand at least 10 metres away if not more. Also they play late afternoon because of the heat but the courts are well lit. By the way were you handholding? Thanks for sharing. fredyr

 

[Srf_Cast]

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some
action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action.
I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted
some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos
captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my
favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I
have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0
aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with
Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle
of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that
I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I
posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the
electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the
shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the
trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the
bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the
camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1
which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these
photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1
link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

Very nice shots.

I would use a lower ISO, lower shutter speed and pan the camera as they move instead of waiting when they appear in the viewfinder. This would lower the noise and give some motion blur to the wheels and the background for more dynamic picture

 

[Fredy Ross]

Fantastic composition, you really caught them from a great vantage
point.
They look like they have a "plasticy" effect. Did you use noise
reduction software?
There is noise visible in some of them.
I don't think you really needed 1/2000 shutter speed, which
probably required you to bump up the iso. for these.
You may want to try panning next time. This will allow you to use a
smaller aperture for greater depth of field, and a slower shutter
for lower iso.
Since your camera will be moving with the subject, the background
will have a nice blur, and you won't have to time your shutter
release since you will always be on the subject.



--
Doug D.
'Promise a rainbow, and someone will look to the sky.'
Equipment in profile.
http://public.fotki.com/DougD/
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1681338
http://www.pbase.com/doug_d

--
fredyr

Doug I can't see anywhere that you have a pro 1. Why would it be the same as a G1? Good photos though.

 

[scott_SF]

The reality is that it totally depends on what you're shooting. I think it's a bit misleading to simply put up some action shots and say that the Pro 1 doesn't have any autofocus speed issues. Anyone who's about to drop $1k on a camera deserves to know the benefits and disadvantages of the camera.

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

The types of action shots where the Pro 1 can't cut the mustard are the unpredictable shots. If a shot requires less than a second (or two) for focusing, it is a lost image. For example, I was in my local arboretum yesterday taking pictures of birds. While I did get some really nice ones that made me very, very happy, I also lost some really nice ones because the Pro 1 couldn't keep up. It also totally blew it several times when I was trying to focus on well-lit flowers (with well-lit bird on top) with a semi-busy background. I can live with the slow autofocus, but I have to say that kind of inaccuracy was a downer.

That said, I still love my Pro 1. I think it takes the best photos in its class. However, based on every review I've read and my own testing of competing digicams, it just doesn't take the fastest photos.

--Scott

--
http://www.pbase.com/saproduction

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some
action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action.
I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted
some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos
captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my
favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I
have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0
aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with
Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle
of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that
I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I
posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the
electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the
shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the
trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the
bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the
camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1
which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these
photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1
link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

 

[Fredy Ross]

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the
types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable
situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait
for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

The types of action shots where the Pro 1 can't cut the mustard are
the unpredictable shots. If a shot requires less than a second (or
two) for focusing, it is a lost image. For example, I was in my
local arboretum yesterday taking pictures of birds. While I did get
some really nice ones that made me very, very happy, I also lost
some really nice ones because the Pro 1 couldn't keep up. It also
totally blew it several times when I was trying to focus on
well-lit flowers (with well-lit bird on top) with a semi-busy
background. I can live with the slow autofocus, but I have to say
that kind of inaccuracy was a downer.

That said, I still love my Pro 1. I think it takes the best photos
in its class. However, based on every review I've read and my own
testing of competing digicams, it just doesn't take the fastest
photos.

--Scott

--
http://www.pbase.com/saproduction

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some
action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action.
I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted
some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos
captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my
favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I
have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0
aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with
Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle
of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that
I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I
posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the
electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the
shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the
trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the
bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the
camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1
which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these
photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1
link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

--
fredyr

 

[Srf_Cast]

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the
types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable
situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait
for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

In addition to that Pro1 can succeed in any action photos if you don’t need the zoom using the hyperfocal setting. It would not help much in your case with birds in the zoo, but it is a big help non the less.

So in fact the only situation where Pro1 is very limiting is unpredictable action photos requiring zoom.

 

[scott_SF]

Excellent point. I guess it just happens that most of the action shots I try to take are with the zoom maxed out, so I encounter this limitation more often than a lot of other users might.

--Scott

--
http://www.pbase.com/saproduction

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the
types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable
situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait
for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

In addition to that Pro1 can succeed in any action photos if you
don’t need the zoom using the hyperfocal setting. It would not help
much in your case with birds in the zoo, but it is a big help non
the less.
So in fact the only situation where Pro1 is very limiting is
unpredictable action photos requiring zoom.

 

[scott_SF]

Definitely. This is where my unfamiliarty with the camera may be showing (only had it 3 weeks). The only spot focusing setting I could find on the camera was under the Menu/Spot AE Point/AF Point. But the camera doesn't display what I would consider an accurate spot focusing target. For example, my Fuji displays a cross-hair in the EVF box and my Sony displays a dot centered in the box. The Pro 1 simply displays a box with no type of target in it. Am I missing something? I would actually be very happy if that were the case! Thanks for your help.

--Scott

--
http://www.pbase.com/saproduction

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the
types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable
situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait
for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

The types of action shots where the Pro 1 can't cut the mustard are
the unpredictable shots. If a shot requires less than a second (or
two) for focusing, it is a lost image. For example, I was in my
local arboretum yesterday taking pictures of birds. While I did get
some really nice ones that made me very, very happy, I also lost
some really nice ones because the Pro 1 couldn't keep up. It also
totally blew it several times when I was trying to focus on
well-lit flowers (with well-lit bird on top) with a semi-busy
background. I can live with the slow autofocus, but I have to say
that kind of inaccuracy was a downer.

That said, I still love my Pro 1. I think it takes the best photos
in its class. However, based on every review I've read and my own
testing of competing digicams, it just doesn't take the fastest
photos.

--Scott

--
http://www.pbase.com/saproduction

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some
action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action.
I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted
some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos
captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my
favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I
have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0
aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with
Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle
of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that
I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I
posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the
electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the
shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the
trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the
bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the
camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1
which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these
photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1
link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

--
fredyr

 

[Afn]

The reality is that it totally depends on what you're shooting. I
think it's a bit misleading to simply put up some action shots and
say that the Pro 1 doesn't have any autofocus speed issues. Anyone
who's about to drop $1k on a camera deserves to know the benefits
and disadvantages of the camera.

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the
types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable
situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait
for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

The types of action shots where the Pro 1 can't cut the mustard are
the unpredictable shots. If a shot requires less than a second (or
two) for focusing, it is a lost image. For example, I was in my
local arboretum yesterday taking pictures of birds. While I did get
some really nice ones that made me very, very happy, I also lost
some really nice ones because the Pro 1 couldn't keep up. It also
totally blew it several times when I was trying to focus on
well-lit flowers (with well-lit bird on top) with a semi-busy
background. I can live with the slow autofocus, but I have to say
that kind of inaccuracy was a downer.

That said, I still love my Pro 1. I think it takes the best photos
in its class. However, based on every review I've read and my own
testing of competing digicams, it just doesn't take the fastest
photos.

--Scott

So which prosumer digital does have the speed to take unpredictable action shots?

 

[Srf_Cast]

So which prosumer digital does have the speed to take unpredictable
action shots?

There’s none to the best of my knowledge. You’d have to get a DSLR.

 

[JOHN CALLANAN]

Nice compostion. Although this is no test of a cameras speed or accuracy.

Not impressed with the noise levels, softness (virtually nothing is sharp), Lack of contrast, never ending DOF.

 

[Doug D.]

fredyr
Doug I can't see anywhere that you have a pro 1. Why would it be
the same as a G1? Good photos though.

I don't have a Pro1. that shot was taken with a 10D.
My comments were to recommend some techniques that would help improve the shots.

Here's one form the G1, an ancient camera by todays standard. These cars are going over 230 mph. So if panning can work for these, they definitely will work when shooting a bike going 35mph.



--
Doug D.
'Promise a rainbow, and someone will look to the sky.'
Equipment in profile.
http://public.fotki.com/DougD/
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1681338
http://www.pbase.com/doug_d

 

[PhillipsArt]

Hi Doug,

I used ISO200 on the first 4 photos than ISO100 on the rest. Most of the shots where underexposed so I had to increase the brightness on most of them. I tried NeatImage on some of the shots not sure which one now, but I am not very good with NeatImage I have not worked out how to use it at it's best.

Phillip

Fantastic composition, you really caught them from a great vantage
point.
They look like they have a "plasticy" effect. Did you use noise
reduction software?
There is noise visible in some of them.
I don't think you really needed 1/2000 shutter speed, which
probably required you to bump up the iso. for these.
You may want to try panning next time. This will allow you to use a
smaller aperture for greater depth of field, and a slower shutter
for lower iso.
Since your camera will be moving with the subject, the background
will have a nice blur, and you won't have to time your shutter
release since you will always be on the subject.



--
Doug D.
'Promise a rainbow, and someone will look to the sky.'
Equipment in profile.
http://public.fotki.com/DougD/
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1681338
http://www.pbase.com/doug_d

 

[PhillipsArt]

Thanks for the tip Doug & Srf_Cast. I have used Panning succesfully in the past. but never thought of using it in this situation, I will try it next time.

Phillip.

Hi, Today I went to a Bike race with my Pro1 to capture some
action shots. Many have said that the Pro1 is useless for action.
I wanted to show that this is not true at all. I have just posted
some of the best shots I have taken today out of 100 photos
captured onto my website. These 15 I have uploaded are some of my
favourites from the day. There are many more similar to this that I
have not uploaded.

I used a Shutter speed of around 1/2000 of a second & about F4.0
aperture for majority of the shots. All photos are taken with
Manual focus set to just under 1 metre & lens at it's widest angle
of 28mm, or 7.12 in digital term. I was so close to the bikes that
I could feel the wind as they rushed past me. Most of the 15 I
posted are as is, no cropping. I first started out using the
electronic veiwfinder than started using the LCD screen with the
shots taken at ground level. Timing of the shutter button is the
trick here. You must release the shutter button just before the
bikes appear on screen. & hope you got the timing right. With the
camera set on MF I had a very fast reaction time with the Pro1
which made it a lot easier for me to capture the timing on these
photos.

To veiw the photos go to my site & click on the Powershot Pro1
link the photos of the bike are the first 15.

http://www.phillipsart.net/Art.htm
Phillip

Very nice shots.
I would use a lower ISO, lower shutter speed and pan the camera as
they move instead of waiting when they appear in the viewfinder.
This would lower the noise and give some motion blur to the wheels
and the background for more dynamic picture

 

[PhillipsArt]

Yes you all have a point with unpredictable events, The Pro1 will struggle under these situations.

Phillip.

I think your photos (very nice, BTW) are great examples of the
types of situations where the Pro 1 can succeed, i.e., predictable
situations. Any event where you can pre-focus your lens and wait
for the action to come to you is going yield superb results.

In addition to that Pro1 can succeed in any action photos if you
don’t need the zoom using the hyperfocal setting. It would not help
much in your case with birds in the zoo, but it is a big help non
the less.
So in fact the only situation where Pro1 is very limiting is
unpredictable action photos requiring zoom.