Photographing trains

[adamj]

Hi,

Can anyone give me some advice on the best settings for shooting moving trains using either the 18-70 kit lens or a telephoto (Nikon 70-300 ED) lens.

More specifically:
As a general rule, what is the best metering mode: matrix, centre-weighted or spot?
I assume continuous AF is best?
And is single-area AF (using the front of the train as the focal point) better than using dynamic AF or closest-subject priority?


Cheers,

Adam.

[PiroStitch]

Do you want the train to appear fast (ie. blurred background) or just a still capture so everything is nice and tack sharp?

Blurred background - Manual or Shutter mode no slower than around s1/20 so you can pan steadily.

For moving objects, use AF-C unless you pre-focus. If you pre-focus you can just use MF if you're game

For AF mode, depending on the lighting situation. If it's sunny I'd tend to use matrix mode or centre-weighted however having said that I usually just stick with centre-weighted and using dynamic AF.

I'll go find my tram image which I capture a while ago and post it up tonight. Sure it's not a train but the train company in Melb are a paranoid mob + unreliable but that's a diff issue