MarkSport 
Member 
 
Registered: 22nd May 09
 
User status: Offline 
 
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Hi All 
 
I have been wondeing this for a while, what settings are best to take pics of a car moving on a road from another car with me taking pics from? 
 
I tried some at combe on sat and most came out blurred, this was at 1/60 
 
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Ian 
Site Administrator
 
Registered: 28th Aug 99
 Location: Liverpool 
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Car to car? 
 
Try it quicker. 
 
Does also depend on the focal length, if you're going longer you're also more likely to blur it. 
 
You could be up to 240th or faster and still see background blur if you're moving fast enough.
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MarkSport 
Member 
 
Registered: 22nd May 09
 
User status: Offline 
 
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I want background blur but the car in focus. not sure how to get it  
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Ian 
Site Administrator
 
Registered: 28th Aug 99
 Location: Liverpool 
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Like that but faster. 
 
60th is very slow, you would expect to have to stabilise that at 100mm+ if you were stood on the ground, never mind if you are in a moving car yourself.
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MarkSport 
Member 
 
Registered: 22nd May 09
 
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ah fair enough   
 
heres the shot i took on way to combe at 1/60th 
 
  
 
where as id like it more like this 
 
 
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Matt L 
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Registered: 17th Apr 06
 
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good rule i read the other day (not tried yet)  
 
is to have the shutter speed set to 1/(whatever the speed both cars are doing) 
 
ie 40mph = 1/40.  
 
also have the focus set to the servo mode too. 
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MarkSport 
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Registered: 22nd May 09
 
User status: Offline 
 
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brilliant mate, will give that a try tomorrow  
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will_ainsworth 
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Registered: 8th Jun 07
 Location: London, UK  
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we live in a digital era, so have a play, start with a longer shutter and work your way up each shot however ill go find some exif data for you..
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will_ainsworth 
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Registered: 8th Jun 07
 Location: London, UK  
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I believe this was taken at around 140+mph as we were having a little race with a r8 and this at the time... so might not be a great example... 
 
  
 
Exposure	0.013 sec (1/80) 
Aperture	f/5.6 
Focal Length	18 mm 
ISO Speed	100 
Exposure Bias	0 EV 
Flash	Off, Did not fire
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Ian 
Site Administrator
 
Registered: 28th Aug 99
 Location: Liverpool 
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Re the 1/speed rule, I don't really buy that. 
 
Means if you're doing 20-30mph you're unlikely to get anything sharp at all. 
 
I would go do 20 shots at each speed from 60th up to about 300th and see what you like. 
 
Does also depend on the focal length, how stable your hands are, how comfortably the camera car is, how much support you have leaning out of a window etc. by no means an exact science with a catch-all formula.
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will_ainsworth 
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Registered: 8th Jun 07
 Location: London, UK  
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this was 2-3 second exposure, but i cheated and used a rig! 
 
    
 
but yeh what ian said, just practice taking a few shots at different shutter speeds etc...
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MarkSport 
Member 
 
Registered: 22nd May 09
 
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quote: Originally posted by Ian 
 
Does also depend on  how comfortably the camera car is 
   
 
This is possibly where i'm going wrong, I took that pic of the corsa out of shaunmods lowered B 100mm on way to combe down the m40  
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neoquip 
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Registered: 12th Aug 02
 Location: Nottm 
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i got this.... 
  
 
still learning really, might have been worth trying out SPORT mode on the camera too as the instruction book said its a good setting for motor sport, instead I was set in Manual mode.
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Daveskater 
Premium Member
 
Registered: 29th Apr 08
 Location: Oxford, UK Drives: Jap wagon 
User status: Offline 
 
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Try between 1/200-300 as that's what my panning shots at TVL tend to be around and you get a nice bit of blur with blurred wheels but sharp car. Any faster than about 1/400 and it's not blurred enough so looks like the car's barely moving. Depending on how fast they're going, 1/400 could make it look like it's stood still  
 
  Numberwang! 
 
Originally posted by AlunJ 
I like you Dave, you are a man of men 
 
Originally Whatapp'd by Neo 
Dave's maybe capable of a drive-by cuddle 
 
Look at my pictures
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