Bike race

[the foto fanatic]

Went to watch a friend compete in the Queensland Cycling Champs today & had lots of fun with my D70, of course:

[redline]

great panning shot,
second pic a bit soft, what were you shooting with?

[the foto fanatic]

Any softness is operator error These guys get along!
I took a whole 1Gb card full of images over 2 hours - these are in the first dozen shots that I've looked at so far.
I mainly used 70-200mm VR, but also 50mm f1.4 and kit lens. Used AF-C, tried differnt shutter speeds to vary panning results. Excellent fun!
#1 - 70-200 VR; 1/160 sec; f8

#2 - 70-200 VR; 1/1250sec; f3.5

#3 - 70-200 VR; 1/800 sec; f3.5

[the foto fanatic]

Here's another, also from the VR (1/800, f3.5) :

[SteveGriffin]

Nice shots Cricketfan. Where were the Championships held??

[christiand]

Great photos Cricketfan.

Thank you very much for the details regarding the shots.
I like your panning, great result.
You mentioned AF-C, did you also use dynamic mode ?

Cheers
CD

[BBJ]

Nice shots Trev, yes these type of shot can be hard to capture but well practice and i will at time enlarge the pic in camera to check for sharpnes, anyhow keep it up glad u enjoyed your day.
Cheers
John

[the foto fanatic]

Thanx for comments.
Steve: The championships were held at Albert Bishop Park at Nundah, where they had a series of criterium races today.
Christian: Yes, I did use dynamic mode. I am wondering now whether I should have just used single area mode - I think that control of focus may be easier that way, given the large number of moving subjects in viewfinder.
John: Yes, tried to enlarge the pic, also watched histogram too. Do you use dynamic focus mode for your motor-bike shots?
Cheers

[the foto fanatic]

OK, my final pic on this thread.
This is my friend Matt (centre, in blue) approaching the spectator arera in the last stages of his race. He competed in the final race of the day, the Men's Elite category. He was unplaced, but finished in the top 6 or 7; not sure of the team result. The race was 1 hour, plus 3 laps.
The criterium is quite a tactical race - there is a lot of team tactics, breakaways etc, during the race, with a sprint over the 3 laps at the end.
This shot was taken with the 50mm f1.4 at 1/125sec, f11 (click for larger pic):