Going to a indoor Supercross race this weekend...

[MOmilkman]

I'm brand new at the SLR thing and I just bought a 70-300 IS lens for my EOS Canon XT Dig Rebel.

Now, I want to take some great action shots this weekend. Judging from past races I have attended (it's at the Edwards Jones Dome) the lighting is always somewhat dim. What would be some good starting settings for good fast action shots?

I plan on trying the panning technique to see how that works. And also a lot of good mid-air sharp action shots.

I'm guessing a ISO of no lower than 800? A shutter speed no lower than 200? (using Tv mode)

Seems like when I use the camera in a semi dark environment and I try to set the shutter speed up to 1/100 the aperture starts blinking so I have to slow the shutter speed down to 1/40 or so.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks!

[Digidave]

Seems like when I use the camera in a semi dark environment and I try to set the shutter speed up to 1/100 the aperture starts blinking so I have to slow the shutter speed down to 1/40 or so.

Your only other choice is to raise your ISO. Your Aperture is limited, it will only go so far. So, if you are limiting your shutter speed by using Tv mode, You have to change your ISO. This is just the nature of the exposure triangle.

[joswigf]

Hi Milkman,
Being indoors with a lot of different light you will need to set the white balance to get the correct colours. Get yourself a grey card or expodisc.
Depending on where you are sitting, how close you are to the track, how bright it is in the dome, will determine your fastest shutter speed with the aperature.
A small aperature number will let more light into your lense. If you a fair distance Tv at 200 will be good enough, maybe even 125. This will allow a lower aperature value (larger opening in the lense) to get the light in and get a good exposure.
If you are close to the track then the Tv may need to be higher as your camera is moving faster while trying to pan or the bikes are moving past you faster because of the short distance.
Remeber you can not edit movement, that being you can not edit freeze action into your shots so work on the side of freezing the image. If the exposure is low this can be edited after on your computer.
Try not to go too high on the ISO unless you are forced due the available light. Images will get to grainy and loose a lot of contrast.
Ya, start at 800 and see if you are getting the shutter speed you want with a good exposure.
But then again I am not a pro.

[OsmosisStudios]

I wouldnt recommend a shutterspeed any loewr than 1/250 for that kind of thing, especially at 300mm

[jprime84]

You could always shoot Av mode and keep that aperture as big as possible and let the camera decide on the shutter speed. Also, you may consider manually selecting your auto focus points and changing your metering mode to center weighted or spot metering so that you get a good exposure on the subject.

[sk66]

You are going to have some problems....
Your lens is not very fast so using max zoom is going to be worse...

1. Set max iso as high as tolerable...high iso noise is preferrable to noise generated by post boost of underexposure. Let the camera determine the iso used.

2. Set shutter speed. minimum equal to focal length being used, maybe turn off image stabilization as the subject will be moving too fast for it to be useful. (try it with it on/off)

3. Set metering to matrix (or some other intelligent setting to prevent primary metering of the lights themselves during jumps

4. "zone focus" (manual)

5. You may have to dial in some +/- exposure adjustment

With these settings you should be able to react quickly and get "usable" pictures...some may be somewhat underexposed anyways but may be savable in post...

[MOmilkman]

Thanks to all so much for the responses.

I'm going to study up on some of the things each of you suggested. I'm just going to do my best and hope I get some good shots.

Worst case scenerio - I come home with a bunch of blurry images (and I learn a lot)

Best case scenerio - I learn a lot. (And a lot of cool shots!)

[sk66]

Don't forget "feeling shots"...They can be quite moving/dramatic....i.e. .A bike mid-air with rider doing "superman" in "shadow" against the stadium lights...generally I would consider such a picture an underexposed shot for "my ideal subject" (the rider/bike) but it can make for an EXCELLENT picture...

[MOmilkman]

Ok Great.

One more thing.

I havent quite grasped the "metering thing". All I've been able to comprehend is, the focus points are the red dots. The dots that are activated are the points on the photo that are going to be focused.

The metering thing I have no idea.

Since I have owned the camera it has always been set to Evaluative. Partial or centering are my other 2 options.
What should I do since Im new to this and dont want to come home with a bunch of blurry images.
In other words, what should I use to give myself the best chance at success?

Later on, I feel like I'll take more time to learn this function. But for now I'd like to skip this since I've got so much other stuff I'm going to try to remember.

[OsmosisStudios]

Metering refers to how your camera determines exposure.

There are various modes, but for this particular application I would suggest spot metering. That makes sure that whatever youre focused on is what youre metering for