Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Mirrorless Cameras => Topic started by: Stephen Scharf on September 22, 2016, 12:34:00 am
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I shot my last professional motorsports race of the year this last weekend with my newly arrived X-T2 plus the power booster grip. By way of some background: I've shot professional motorsports for 13 years with professional accreditation, everything from CART, IRL, American LeMans, Rolex Prototypes, AMA and World Superbike and MotoGP, etc. I was one of the official track photographers for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for 6 years, and now shoot for Sonoma Raceway. This race is the ultimate round of the Indy Car Championship series held at Sonoma Raceway, Sept 16-18, 2016. Thought you'd like to see how things turned out. I shot from practice on Friday all the way through the race on Sunday with just the Fuji instead of my pro Canon 1D-series body. I came away with a much better understanding of the camera and it capabilities. I really stressed the AF system with it's ability to acquire, track and hold autofocus. This was a good test because these cars are going MUCH faster than cars on the street or sports cars on public roads. On the whole, I found the performance and image quality of the X-T2 to be VERY impressive. Welcome your comments, questions, etc.
Friday morning, first practice session, Bus Stop Chicane...Max Chilton
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Gallagher%20Bus%20Stop.jpg)
Sebastian Bourdais...
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/_DSF0905.jpg)
Tony Kanaan, notice he's cornering so hard that the inside front tire is completely off the ground...on a race car of this type, this is serious cornering force.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Kanaan.jpg)
Will Power
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Will%20Power.jpg)
Juan Pablo Montoya
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Montoya%20Bus%20Stop%202.jpg)
Panning shots exiting Turn 10 as the cars are flat out going down to Turn 11...
Spencer Pigot
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Spencer%20Pigot.jpg)
This is Turn 10, the fastest corner on the track, the cars are close to flat out through here and going VERY fast...
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Munoz%20T10-2.jpg)
Tony Kanaan
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Kanaan%20T10-2.jpg)
Alex Rossie
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/JAndretti%20T-10.jpg)
Panning shot of Helio Castroneves going up into Turn 2 during practice #2
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Castroneves%20T-2.jpg)
Will Power
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Power%20T-2_1.jpg)
Ryan Hunter-Reay apexing Turn 2
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Hunter-Reay%20T%202.jpg)
Graham Rahal smokin' through the last straight to Turn 11....
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Rahal%20T11.jpg)
Qualifying
Ryan Hunter-Reay completely over the kerbing and "flat" through the Bus Stop during last qualifying session
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Hunter-Reay%20Qualifying.jpg)
Joseph Newgarden
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Newgarden%20Bus%20Stop.jpg)
This image of Simon Pagenaud was used by the Media Directors for the Qualifying Press Release...pretty cool!
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Pagenaud%20Pole.jpg)
Some GT car racing...the Realtime Acura coming down out of the esses into the Bus Stop
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Acura%20T9%20GT%20race.jpg)
Helio Castroneves during Sunday morning warmup entering coming out of the esses towards the Bus Stop Chicane...
(http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/indycarsonomaraceway2016/Castroneves%20Esses%20Sun%20AM.jpg)
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Nice, pretty much echos my findings on this site. I have been shooting with the X-T2 for several weeks and posted an initial review on the home page. AF and tracking is pretty good. I found for most of what I do AF tracking in mode 3 - track and ignore obstacles really good.
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Nice, pretty much echos my findings on this site. I have been shooting with the X-T2 for several weeks and posted an initial review on the home page. AF and tracking is pretty good. I found for most of what I do AF tracking in mode 3 - track and ignore obstacles really good.
Thank, Kevin! I have to say the X-T2 exceeded my expectations on the whole for the weekend. One thing I've noticed, and I don't know how it compares with your X-T2 is that the new Multi metering mode can tend to overexpose in bright scenes, more so than I remember my X-T1 doing. Sometimes I find that Center Weighted Averaging gives more accurate metering. Have you noticed anything similar? I've seen a number of posts in other forums and some blog entries about this already.
BTW, really enjoyed your initial video of the X-T2 from Greenland and await your more comprehensive review; please do some exposure metering tests! Like the beard, BTW.
Cheers,
Stephen
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Lens?
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Being a huge open wheel racing fan (Indycar and F1) I rally appreciate the pics. Great to see how well the X-T2 is performing as well. I think my favorite photo of the bunch is the Montoya picture (not my favorite driver, just my favorite picture :) )
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Very impressive set of photos.
This is very nostalgic for me, as I photographed SCCA New England races back in the 1960s for the local rag, Pit Talk.
The equipment has changed a lot (both vehicular and photographic), but the essential skills are the same.
I was shooting with a Pentax and 50mm and 100mm lenses and probably Tri-X.
So my favorite in your set is the panning shot, where the camera can't take most of the credit. ;)
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Very nice photographs.
I used to love watching F1 on tv years ago, but over time, especially during the reign of Michael S., it became a procession that lasted two hours. Then, the various commercial channels bought out so many rights that I called it a day when the BBC lost its real-time access. I think the same has happened to it in Spain, where it used to be available free on Antena 3 but, as far as I can see now, that no longer is the case.
In the end, I would still watch the Monaco GP because of the women: fantastic talent all over the place. But not by subscription, thank you very much.
Rob C
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Lens?
50-140 f/2.8 or 100-400. Both worked great and are very sharp at these apertures (f/9 to f/13).