Archive for the ‘Mountain Bike’ Category

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JetBlack 24 – MarathonPhotos event…

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

For the 3rd year running I covered the JetBack24 endurance mountain bike event at Del Rio Resort Wisemans Ferry. The last 2 years its rained non-stop. This year it was 35, humid and mosquito infested. At least I could use my gear to its full potential without it getting wet.

The brief from James Rankin at Marathon Photos was to be creative. However, you need to get saleable shots. This means faces and race numbers. No point getting a super creative shot if no one can buy it. I tried to keep it simple this year, with just one off-camera flash and used the PocketWizard MiniTT1, the FlexTT5 and most of all the AC3 Zone Controller. What is all that? It mean full manual power control over a remote flash. If the light changes, you can change with it, while getting the consistency and reliability of manual flash power.

Location 1 – Shot#1

Camera Gear – 1DMK3, 28-300 – 135mm, OSI1000, f6.3 1/160
Flash – 580EX – Camera right behind a tree – Manual power – 1/64th

Location 1 – Shot#2

Camera Gear – 1DMK3, 28-300 – 50mm, OSI200, f4 1/200
Flash – 580EX – Camera right behind a tree – Manual power – 1/64th

Location 2 – Shot#1

Camera Gear – 1DMK3, 28-300 – 235mm, OSI1000, f5.6 1/160
Flash – 580EX – Camera left – Manual power – 1/64th +1/3

Location 2 – Shot#2

Camera Gear – 1DMK3, 15mm Fisheye, OSI1000, f10 1/40
Flash – 580EX – Camera left – Manual power – 1/64th +2/3
Twist the camera on a slow shutter for the effect.

Conclusion
* The 28-300 is a great versatile lens for mountain bike shooting. Its not too bad across the entire range and means I carry 2 lenses not 3 or 4.
* The PocketWizard Manual system works really well. eTTL fails in these events due to the changing light situations and vastly inconsistent results.
* Remote flash is the way to go. Get the flash close to the subject and it uses far less power. 600+ shots all day on one set of batteries, and 1/64 power.

Posted in camera, Flash, gear, geek, lens, Mountain Bike, Pocket Wizard, remote, Sport, Tech, technology, wireless | No Comments »

2009 Highland Fling – Elinchrom Ranger Quadra…

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

I shot the 2009 Highland Fling for Cycle-Photos.com on the weekend of the 7th – 8th of November. I really love these MTB evens; the people are nice and relaxed, you’re out in the bush, and you’ve got 2,000 acres of toilet with no queues.

I used the Elinchrom Ranger Quadrafor the first time on an MTB event and I’m really impressed with the results. They are not too heavy to carry around in the bush, but are really powerful. I have invested in 2 x 18cm 50degree reflectors to make the most of the power. There’s no point spraying light everywhere, and there have a nice beam – At 6″ from the subject, there have a 6″ area…..easy to remember.

Here’s the video of the set-up and some other guff (Shot on 5D MKII)

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Overall a really great weekend with some good results.

Posted in Flash, Mountain Bike, remote, Sport, Video | No Comments »

UCI World MTB Championships….

Friday, September 18th, 2009

I spent the first weekend of September at Mount Stromlo, Canberra, covering the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships. I drove down with Murray on the Thursday afternoon to get the Accreditations, then we shot Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Last year at the World Cup we are both sick with various ailments, but this time we were good to go. Some great results. As usual, I overcomplicated things, while Murray kept it simple and clean.

I used flash for most of the weekend using the PocketWizard ETTL flash system. My aim was to shoot backlit and to fill the subjects with flash. It worked ok, but even using 2 x 580EX flashes I lacked some punch against the sun. I was pushing it a little however, trying to shoot 1/1600th in high speed sync at f5.6. Generally I just pumped the flashes to full power and went from there.

Here’s the video of the weekend….it’s a bit big, so please be patient while it loads….

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I did try something interesting and that was to use a fish eye with the flash on the hot-shoe (at full power), but the flash head was zoomed to 50mm. This gave a tight center of light in the frame and as long as I kept the rider in that spot as they flew past, It looked great. With the fisheye you can use f5 and due to the lenses great hyperfocalqualities, everything was sharp.

Click HEREto see our results.

Posted in Flash, Mountain Bike, Pocket Wizard, remote, Sport, Video | No Comments »

Manly Dam Remote Flash and Video Tests

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

Today’s goals were to test some mountain bike set-ups and remote flash set-ups. I am hoping to put in a good display at the MTB world champs in September with both stills and video snippets.

VIDEO TESTS
The main test here was sound. I am using the JCV 3CCD HD camcorder because of its compact size, but the on board sound is none too crash hot. I’ve made a lead that goes from the 3.5mm stereo jack to 2 x XLR connectors. These are attached to RODE M3 9Volt Powered Microphones. I wanted external sound and to exaggerate the stereo affect by spacing the mics well apart.
The first example is with runners….


Then MTB’ers….the set-up is at the end of this one.

FLASH TESTS
I’ve still got quite a bit of work to do on this, but getting there. My main problem is the lighting and location. Full sun is not too good, full shade or heavily backlit are good, but you need to get a location of the course that has these conditions, and a descent spot.
The Dual flash is working well. Shot most of today at 1/1000 sec and f5.6. The PocketWizards work really well with the high speed sync. Hypersync is ok from 1/400 – 1/800, but over that it’s not all that good.


Heres a video of the last setup I tried….

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Posted in Flash, Mountain Bike, Pocket Wizard, remote, Sport, Video | No Comments »

Light Beam Trigger – MTB Testing Session….

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Some time ago I built a light beam trigger for cameras. I have sold these to some mates and they have been working ok. I wanted to test a few things today, one was to run the beam switch from a 9Volt standard battery. Some feedback, was that the 12V lead acid battery was not that easy to move around (Point Taken), the second test was to find Mountain Bike positions to suit to the beam switch.

The First thing to do is to test the theory in the comefort of your own home.

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The first test in the field was a horizontal Front 3/4 with a 16-35mm…..not a bad shot, but there was some motion blur as the subject passes across the frame. I moved the shutter up to 1/800th and it was better, but still not great. If it’s dark and in the morning, use a flash and 2nd curtain, or in full light use a high shutter speed.

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Next was the same idea, but in portrait. 16-35 portrait. The problem with this one was that the position on the track made a great difference to the framing of the subject. i.e. far more out of frame shots….This is not a keeper.

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Third was Fish-eye in Horizontal. Again, not really all that crash hot, as you get the beam switch in the frame, and you need to shoot so close to the target it will make identifying them from their race numbers far tougher.

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Fourth was more like the shot I might be after. The theory is the opposite to before where you shoot the wide shot with a hand held camera and the long shot with the beam switch remote. Problems here are with set-up time and location. If you have the time to get this right, it’ll be really nice.

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This next one is the same as before but in portrait…not bad either

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Same ideas the the two above, just lower and in horizontal. The might be the easiest to set-up overall. Camera on a tripod, entire track in the frame (minus beam switch stands and me). As with the other remote shots, metering is the key. As you may be in the location for some time, the light will change.

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So what’s the best solution?? From this set of tests, I’d say use a wide hand held lens up close so you can move with the subject, and a long remote shot in Horizontal across the entire track. This all depends on the location and the light conditions, so It’ll have to be trial and error.

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Posted in Mountain Bike, Pocket Wizard, Sport, Video | No Comments »

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