Motorsport photography - what settings to use?

There's a hillclimb local to me this weekend and I'm hoping to take some pictures. I plan on using my 70mm - 300mm AF-S Lens. Which focus mode should i use? My D5100 has area mode, 3d tracking, single point and dynamic.... Anyone can help explain what the different modes are used for?


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I'd probably use AF-C with 3D-tracking.

Would you also recommend continuous shutter release mode?


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Agreed on the mode. But it is up to you if you want to shoot continuous frames at X fps or not. I'm partial to single frame shooting of peak of action moments.

Samsonite said:

Would you also recommend continuous shutter release mode?

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I would, yeah. I'd clear off a big card and carry a spare, personally. But then I'm a demon with the short-burst technique. Everyone's style is a little different though. The key good continuous shooting, or short bursting, is being able to ANTICIPATE the shot and pressing the shutter ahead of the critical moment so you have shots on either end as well as during the peak of the action. This can be harder than it sounds.

For further reading on all things related to Autofocus check the Reference Manual for your specific model. It will explain in detail what the different Autofocus modes do and how to work with them in conjunction with focus points and different subjects/conditions. If you can practice a little ahead of time, so much the better.

I didn't know I could set the camera to shoot at X fps, thought it was an automatic rate... Any idea how to set the rate?


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Are you serious? Come on, man! Read the manual! It's all in there!

I would go with shutter priority and try to capture the speed of the vehicle. Follow them with your camera as they drive past and try to get some blur of the background.

Also, have more space in front of the vehicle than behind it, so it's "driving into the frame".

I haven't done much of this photography, but I would set it between 60/sec to 125/sec depending on the speed of the vehicles (and your ability to pan and follow it).

As always, try lots of different settings, see what comes out best for you and have fun.

Oh and post some of the pics up that you get, even if they don't come out great; someone on here is bound to figure out what you can do to improve.

I use centre weighted mode, continuous focus, shutter priority. Burst mode on although I find I rarely shoot more than 3 or 4 shots in a burst. Above 1/1000th if your not panning, below 1/250th if you are. CP filter if its really sunny to help with glare off the cars. Most of all, have fun and enjoy the action.

Have been through the whole manual. No mention of how to set number of FPS for continuous shooting, it does mention that the D5100 can shoot upto 4 shots per second, but no mention of how to set this.... Does anyone have experience with this?


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fotojack said:

Are you serious? Come on, man! Read the manual! It's all in there!

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Read through it this morning and couldn't find how to set fps, it mentions that the d5100 can take upto 4 smfps, but doesn't tell you how to set it up....


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I don't have a 5100, only a 7000. I'd think they would be pretty similar. To set continuous shooting on it, it's pretty easy. Below the mode dial, select CH using the selector underneath mode dial. This is Continuous High. This allows the highest fps the camera can handle which is 6 fps on the 7000 and 4 fps on the 5100.

Epoc said:

I don't have a 5100, only a 7000. I'd think they would be pretty similar. To set continuous shooting on it, it's pretty easy. Below the mode dial, select CH using the selector underneath mode dial. This is Continuous High. This allows the highest fps the camera can handle which is 6 fps on the 7000 and 4 fps on the 5100.

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For the 5100 you can choose between "Single Frame" and "Continuous" shutter release modes.

In "Continuous" the shutter continues to fire as long as you hold the button down. There is no setting for how fast you (Continuously) shoot, that's locked in at a maximum of 4 FPS (assuming your SD card can keep up) for the 5100.

Ok cool thanks guys, was just unsure as someone mentioned increasing the rate. Thanks for that!


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Go somewhere that you can photograph cars whizzing by, obviously they are likely to be slower but you can learn a lot from an hours shooting at various positions.

Too fast a shutter and they look like they're parked, too slow and it's hard to get the car in focus due to motion blur from the panning not matching the cars speed.

Look for the goldilocks shutter zone. Just right.
It will be different on the day but you will see any errors much quicker, and your self training will yield more keeper pics.

Wow great advice, thanks buddy will give it a try!


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As fish said- first thing to shooting anything mobile is knowing your prey and its habits, actions, etc.

And definitely agree w/ Rexer on just going somewhere where cars drive by and practicing. You'll pretty much answer your own questions from a little practice.

I've found you can easily slow it down by using a cheap crappy memory card...

Epoc said:

I don't have a 5100, only a 7000. I'd think they would be pretty similar. To set continuous shooting on it, it's pretty easy. Below the mode dial, select CH using the selector underneath mode dial. This is Continuous High. This allows the highest fps the camera can handle which is 6 fps on the 7000 and 4 fps on the 5100.

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The D5100 doesn't have the mode dial

I just had a quick look at images of a 5100 and it def has a mode dial, just on the other side