For day 4 of my 12 days of photos I thought it was time to share some action sports pictures. I’ve really missed photographing motorsport in the last few years, so a local to me opening round of the British Motocross Championship was just what was needed.
Cullham Moto Parc is somewhere I have visited before, so I had an expectation that the lo0ps of the track up and down the side of the hill would give lots of viewpoints. The reality of a week of rain before the event meant some spectator areas were not accessible, but still there was plenty of shoot locations to try.
I had also taken advantage of the Canon UK Test Drive scheme to have an EF 200mm f/2L IS USM lens, as I was wondering if f/2 at 200mm was something I could really use. For comparison I took along both the mirrorless EOS R6 and EOS 7D Mark II DSLR. The EOS R6 had just received a firmware update to add vehicle subject tracking so I was hoping for good things from the shoot. My bag was pretty heavy as I also added my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM as well.
- EOS R6
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 200mm
- 1/2000s, f/2.8, ISO 2000
I had started with the EF 70-200mm as much to see how good the vehicle subject detection would work on the EOS R6. Selecting not only vehicle, but spot detection means the camera tracks the helmet of the rider in almost all cases.
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2000s, f/2.8, ISO 400
Switching to the 200mm f/2 and shooting wide open at f/2 and the shallow depth of field is great for making the sharp rider stand out from any background. The camera seemed to thrive on all the light coming in through the lens and even in overcast conditions it was all but impossible to miss the rider.
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2000s, f/2, ISO 320
Often it was important to keep an eye on the exposure as if the light lifted 1/2000s could be overexposed when shooting at f/2 – a novelty in the UK for sports.
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/250s, f/2.5, ISO 50
Setting the lens to mode 2 IS for panning and setting ISO 50 on the camera got me down to 1/250s so it was fortunate that the riders were moving pretty fast.
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/1250s, f/2, ISO 200
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2000s, f/2, ISO 200
- EOS 7D Mark II
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2000s, f/2, ISO 250
Using the EOS 7D Mark II with the EF 200mm lens was like having a 300mm f/2 lens, and with my knowledge of setting up DSLRs for action photos I was soon capturing sharp shots time after time.
- EOS 7D Mark II
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2500s, f/2, ISO 400
- EOS 7D Mark II
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2500s, f/2, ISO 400
- EOS R6
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 70mm
- 1/2000s, f/2.8, ISO 400
Even against a light cloudy sky, EOS R6 vehicle detection worked its magic.
- EOS R6
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 105mm
- 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 100
- EOS 7D Mark II
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 200mm
- 1/2000s, f/2.8, ISO 320
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2000s, f/2, ISO 200
- EOS R6
- EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
- 1/2000s, f/2, ISO 200
There were a few surprises from the day of photography.
Vehicle subject detection, was almost impossible to catch out with motocross, even though it is designed to work on riders with full-face helmets. Watching the AF points in the viewfinder jump from a motorbike at a distance to the riders helmet as it got larger in the frame was amazing. Focus accuracy was astounding… I achieved almost 99% pin-sharp in-focus shots. I did choose to have a manually selected initial AF point for face detection so that I could choose a specific rider if needed.
Shooting with electronic shutter mode for some of the time, I had a sequence of 53 frames as a rider raced towards the camera. Every shot at f/2 and every single one absolutely pin-sharp in-focus. It makes sorting out the images to choose quite a challenge.
It was pretty good to see the EOS 7D Mark II could do a fine job with the fast f/2 lens and focus was often very accurate. I’d like to think that is equal measures of camera, settings and my experience. Later while processing the shoot, I found I had a 75% nailed on focus rate for the EOS 7D Mark II images. That’s pretty much the same as I used to get with my EOS 5D Mark IV in the past.
I came away from the event really liking the EF 200mm f2L IS USM lens. Sure I might want one, but I can’t really justify buying one at the moment, but the test sure planted the seed that I may indeed find a home for one at some point in the future, especially when you consider it will work with Ef Extenders to make a 300mm f/2.8 and 400mm f/4 lens 😉
There are provisional dates posted for the 2023 British Motocross Championship, I’m planning to go to a couple of events including Canada Heights in Kent, Foxhill in Wiltshire and a return to Cullham in Oxfordshire should anyone be interested in meeting me on the day at the event.
Day 4 of 12 done, see you tomorrow for some more photos.