US Open Downhill
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Photo info
- Album
- US-Open
- Category
- DH Racing
- Date Posted
- May 30, 2010 at 18:05May 30, 2010
- Location
-
Vernon, New Jersey, United States
- Trail
- US Open DH Course
- Riders
- Steve Smith
- Articles
- US Open of MTB - Sunday
Photo details
10 Comments
- 1 0
nfiorito
(May 31, 2010 at 11:36)
Mr. Hylands, a question if you have the time: In a series of pics like this, where the riders are heading straight at you, do you prefocus on a spot, or on the first rider or two, and then go to manual focus, keep it focused on that spot, and hammer away at 9fps while the riders go through? Or does the D3S autofocus well enough in this situation that it's not necessary? I know that objects moving straight towards you at a high speed are tricky to nail focus on, so I'm wondering what your preferred method is. Thanks!
- 1 0
I use autofocus if I can keep them in the frame long enough to track them. If they're coming around a corner and just popping into the frame then it's hard to get the camera to always recognize and focus that quickly. Prefocusing in a shot like this you'll probably miss the best shot, there is no decisive 'spot' and every rider will be a little different. For this shot I took about 6 or 7 at 9fps and chose the one that I like that was in focus. I usually lose 2 or 3 frames out of a sequence like this to being out of focus. Does that help?
- 1 1
yep, definitely. thanks! I was thinking that too, that if it was prefocused, and the rider's coming quickly and you want to maintain that somewhat shallow DOF, then the moment they're in focus may be the moment in between frames 3 and 4, for example. Thanks again, great to get feedback and help from a pro on what can sometimes be a pretty ridiculous forum/comment site.
- 2 1
Yeah your right, grey look is from the dust.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/5118883. although i think the dust makes a better look.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/5118883. although i think the dust makes a better look.