VR or not.

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DADDYBLINKMAN

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Help required, I am taking photos at a cycling event next week.I will be using my D3 plus 70-200 vr nikon zoom. I will be shooting at a fixed speed of 1/500
and using infill flash. Now the question is whether to turn the VR off ? I have read that at this sort of speed the VR can knock the sharpness of the image.
 
I'd be more worried about your shutter speed tbh. Do you understand high speed sync? It's not something that I'd want to use in sport unless it was for a specific effect.
 
Morning Dave, I was a bit confused with this as well, so I emailed Nikon and their reply was. If it's on a tripod then turn it off and if its on a monopod then you can leave it on.
 
i didnt know a flash could go to 500.. i also dont understand how you know what shutter speed you will be using in advance unless its indoor set lighting.. in which case it wouldnt be fill flash... sorry just a confusing question for my brain :)
 
Now confused. I was recommended by a top sports photographer to set the camera at a fixed speed of 1/500, I have found this to be a great success. I use the flash which will go up and beyond this speed (SB900) to lighten the faces of the riders.
I always hand hold the camera as my style is to get down low, I have been know to lye in the gutter or hide in a ditch before now. i keep an eye on the aperture
making sure it doues not dip below f4, if it does then up goes the iso.
 
DADDYBLINKMAN said:
Now confused. I was recommended by a top sports photographer to set the camera at a fixed speed of 1/500,
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If your outside and the sky is clear and the sun is shinning bright.. how on earth would you keep the shutter down to 500 unless you where at f22 or soemhting stupid..

I dont know much about cycle photogrpahy.. there may be a reason such as blurred spokes (but then you would need to know how fast they are going)

Are you sure the advice wasnt a minimum 500?

Plus wouldnt it also depend on the focul leagth of the lens.. a 500 shutter speed would be no good on a 400... sorry just always warey of any advice saying you should have x y or z shutter speed.. I can understand a minimum (but even thats dodgy) but telling anyone they should always have an exact shutter speed without knowing the lighting the lens or anything else is bad advice no matter who it comes from.. I have seen it given in here and i always dispute it.


DADDYBLINKMAN said:
i keep an eye on the aperture
making sure it doues not dip below f4, if it does then up goes the iso.
Click to expand...

again at a fixed shutter of 500 and your talking f4 (ish) the iso can only go so low.. Am guesing maybe your in wooded area where light is limited?
 
I dont understand why "a top sports photographer" would tell you to shoot at a fixed SS of 1/500th sec, dunno, lost me on this one, i know nothing about flash either.
 
The highest aperture I have encountered was F14, this was on a very sunny day,on a wide dual carriageway. I used the flash, the result was good, the photo was published in Cycling Weekly the following week. If it was any brighter than this, which is very unlikely in this country,then the iso would be dropped to 200. The focal length was 105mm
The point I was asking was at what speed does the vr become pointless ?
 
1/125 to answer your question exactly.
 
DADDYBLINKMAN said:
The point I was asking was at what speed does the vr become pointless ?
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focul legth + crop.. if shutter lower than that then use is/vr but on your lens using 500 negates the need for vr IMHO

OOPS just seen helen beat me to an answer which will be right for the lens you mention of course:)
 
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Many thanks for the advice, so off goes the VR next weekend. the photographer in question, I don't want to name him is well published and respected, he is also one of the leading the photographers on the Tour de France.
 
DADDYBLINKMAN said:
Many thanks for the advice, so off goes the VR next weekend. the photographer in question, I don't want to name him is well published and respected, he is also one of the leading the photographers on the Tour de France.
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theres probably a good reason he said it then.. but I cant think of one.. however I have an open mind :)
 
I would wonder if this is a version of the "F8 and be there" rule the chap has.
 
Many thanks I now have the answer................now the next problem is:-
should I buy a super duper telephoto lens i've just seen advertised ?
 
DADDYBLINKMAN said:
Many thanks for the advice, so off goes the VR next weekend. the photographer in question, I don't want to name him is well published and respected, he is also one of the leading the photographers on the Tour de France.
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Graham Watson eh!;) I've got a picture of him somewhere having a wee at the side of the road during the Tour of Ireland from the late eighties. :lol:

Generally cycling photographers use fill flash with lenses up to 200mm purely to throw some light into the riders faces as their crash hats & the fact that they can be looking slightly down as they are crouched over their bikes can put their faces into the shade. I did hear somewhere that the italian bike photographers first invented this technique many, many moons ago during races like the Giro d'Italia to overcome the harsh shadows of the mid-day sun.
Pro cycling snappers who have to be sure as they can to get THE shot normally use min 500sec which if the riders are going pretty fast will still show a bit of blur in the wheels. I don't think many, if any use VR (or IS with canon) as a rule.
Stew.
 
Graham Watson is was, he gave me some great tips and they work. I see you have been to the Velodrome in Manchester. It's always a challenge there ,the lighting kills the colour.
I hope to up there again soon, prehaps I will bump into you.
 
From what I've seen so far, VR properly used won't hurt an image, and can even help at 1/1000. The main thing to watch out for is having VR activated, especially if you use back button AF. VR only activates on half/full shutter press, so yo can end up in the sutuation where as the image is taken the VR elements kick in and shift it. So if you do use VR, be sure to half press at least just before you full press, or turn it off.
 
DADDYBLINKMAN said:
Graham Watson is was, he gave me some great tips and they work. I see you have been to the Velodrome in Manchester. It's always a challenge there ,the lighting kills the colour.
I hope to up there again soon, prehaps I will bump into you.
Click to expand...

I don't shoot an awful lot of cycle racing these days David but am hoping to do a few days at least on the Tour of Britain in September, so maybe see you somewhere there. :)

Stew.
 
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