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http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=5709

I really need to build up my speedlight kit but I don't want to drop $1500 on three SB-910s if a built in radio version is in the pipeline. Anyone have any ideas?

Great Pics Andy :D

Cheers mate, yeah it was the Roger Albert Clark Rally for historic rally cars. These shots were taken in Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire.

Great shots.. this must be a vintage car rallye, correct?

Sorry try this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/90425553@N04/ . Hope this works

I attened the R.A.C Rally last night and here are my results https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.440323846016664.97995.100001171566590&type=3 and https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.440459386003110.98013.100001171566590&type=3 hope these links work. I had my camera set to f/6.3 aperture,shutter speed 1/60th, exp:comp:+1,ISO 800 and my SB900 flash was set on GN, +3EV asnd 20.0m

Are there settings that will work better in the dark/moving environments?

You're going to have and pan if you're shooting at night. The P mode on the D7000 will be your best bet using the flash in this situation and I'd use auto iso.

On metering I'd use Dynamic because of the headlights and then use a software where you can recover shadows, Nikon's free ViewNX2 software has an excellent shadow recovery. You're also going to have some noise to get rid of and for that I suggest Topaz's Denoise 5, it's the best denoise software out there and it's inexpensive.

Good luck and look forward to seeing your shots, Andy.

Oh, one more thing, get behind the biggest tree you can find! :)

Thanks for the advice, i will give it a try. I know i am pushing my camera to the limit but as with a lot of people sadly money is the problem!

Yes, spraynpray, I might even try 1/125 sec, panning at about 6-10 FPS or whatever the camera can do... no flash...wide open with a fast prime lens at f/1.4. And maybe even very slow shutter speeds, hoping to get one or two. Panning at 1/30 sec can get a few if you are very good.

Practice panning as you are pushing (or over) the limits of your gear.

OK, but shooting flash into the driver's eyes may not be good. When shooting available light, head on, the headlights will fool the light metering system into thinking there is a lot of light and the result is you get black photos of nice bright headlights and no car.. So, shoot after the headlight is off you, adjust about a stop or two (add + 2 ev) for the apparent light and test from there.

If using flash, I would try a Lumiquest soft box at about a foot over the center of the lens with the SB-900. Maybe even holding the soft box/flash about four feet above me...on a pole. This might help to eliminate any reflections from the car sides. Have your grip (assistant) hold the flash....LOL...actually, a lightweight pole can be inserted into a back pack and with a lot of gaffer's tape of duck tape made into a sturdy flash holder.

So, you did not want all this advice... but this is a monster problem and I was just working it out based upon my experiences... and what I might try. By all means be careful and do not place yourself in any danger...

msmoto said:
Well, if you had a fast prime, this would be nice... If you are a competitor, shooting from your car, a short fast prime or zoom is the only way to go, but if you are at the side of the road and can be at a check point, you may be able to shoot at a high ISO and get some shots.

What you need to do if you want to really get photos is to go out and do a dry run in a similar situation in the forest to that which you will encounter during the rally. You will then have some experience and will not totally screw up the photos when you are live.

Cheers for that. The shots will be taken from outside the car,if i can get the same spot as i normally get it will be on the outside of a hairpin bend. I am hoping to take shots of the side of the cars or even taken head on as they approach the hairpin

Well, if you had a fast prime, this would be nice... If you are a competitor, shooting from your car, a short fast prime or zoom is the only way to go, but if you are at the side of the road and can be at a check point, you may be able to shoot at a high ISO and get some shots.

What you need to do if you want to really get photos is to go out and do a dry run in a similar situation in the forest to that which you will encounter during the rally. You will then have some experience and will not totally screw up the photos when you are live.

The rally will be in November and the night stages i will be attending will take place in a forest and be at 18.00 hours and 21.00 hours so will be very dark. The lence i am wanting to use is a Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3

You want to shoot from the car or of the participants....? At check points, if well lighted, use the D7000 and available light with high ISO. The lens...you did not say... How about giving more info about the available lenses. My thoughts are a 24-35mm f/1.4 or f/2 for the check point available light shots, if you want telephotos... 135mm f/2 Nikkor w/ full powered and the ISo cranked up to get an f/stop of f/8.

You may have to manually focus at night if the IR focus will not reach. Flash w/a 50mm f/1.4 might also work if you can be close enough, but be careful. Some drivers are busy threatening the lives of the navigator, others not paying attention to the objects at the side of the road and still others may be in over their heads....been there, done this....good luck.

which lens are you using ?

The best time will be just after sunset
focusing a fast moving car in low light will be a challenge
the infra red focusing on the SB900 will not work on C
try and find a spot with some ambient light
near a TV crew with flood lights can be good
it may be better to set focus to M and focus on on predetermined spot

set the ISO to at least 1600 or higher
if using flash in total darkness, do not use the diffuser
depending on the course, look at at least two vantage points, one at the start and one at the end, and have a mate and fast car, to get you form one stage to another
get close but do try to not get run over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFdGKeQph-Q

I have a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon D90 using a SB 900 flash. I am going on a rally soon that includes some night stages. Does anybody have any advice on what maybe good settings to use on the night stages? Any advice would be really helpfull and i would really greatfull.

@msmoto: That would really make me maa-aa-aa-aa-aad.

@TTJ: I'm betting I know exactly what happened here. The band founder (Tom Scholz) went through several great big loads of crap a number of years ago. He signed an unfavourable contract, and thus brought some misery upon himself, but his legal fight with Epic Records went well beyond epic. He was tied up in court for multiple years. Bandmates sued him too. Furthermore, people were breaking into his recording studio and stealing his partially finished work. Other people were stealing his trash. He patented a lot of technology for recording and stage performance, and people were ripping off his prototypes.

At some point he got as litigious as he could for self protection. The band's performance rider is massive. At some point in developing the laundry list of things to try to protect his intellectual property and keep him out of court going forward, a bunch of people were sitting around a table and somebody looked at his camera phone and said "Long camera lenses, now that could be a problem, right?" and everyone else just mindlessly nodded his head in agreement. Clause written.

Not logical in and of itself, but I'm 95% sure that's how it went down. I only met Tom a couple times but if I ever see him again I'll ask: he is an engineer by education, and a deep thinker. He's not concerned about how he looks--every wrinkle a legal battle scar he's neither proud nor ashamed of.

TTJ, I am laughing right now...thinking of the wind and such. Years ago we had to shoot a fellow holding a live goat, on a rock at the seashore. Somehow we thought we could do this by building a fiberglass rock, placing it into the water and doing the shoot. Well, between the waves, small but very powerful, the live goat, and the soft sand I was standing in.... this is why I am laughing now.... The shot came off after about ten rolls of Ektachrome (Hasselblad 500c), but the problems we did not understand became so funny at the end. Net time we went to a different location. Oh, transporting a goat a 150 miles.... not easy either.

Bland said:
Tao...they didn't want any long lens used and my 70-200 was not approved. Not sure why but they didn't want anyone taking pictures of them. The stage light was blue which is hard to shoot and when they kicked in the white light it was blinding. It was weird, realy weird.

msmote....I agree with you on both the concert and the meet and greet parking lot shoot.

Because of the difficulty they made the shooting I had to give the Casino pictures of the concert that were not the quality I like. So now I got pics out with my name attached to that do not look that good.

The parking lot ordeal I did luck out of because like you say the headaches would of grown as they asked more and more from me.

It was a lesson learned last night. :)

That is weird for sure - maybe they didn't want people to see their age? Who knows. Sucks about sending off work you know could have been better.

Across the way from me there was some running thing (I think) in an open parking lot like you described and I could see a photographer taking photos. Steady 20mph wind, chilly, and awful lighting. I happened to look over when the photographers assistant went chasing after two soft boxes that landed in a huge puddle. Some things are better to walk away from for sure (:

Thanks for the info, shawnino......that would explain the reasoning. Reminds me of another Tom that was destroyed for decades by the under belly and etc., Tom Petty.

Ah.

After the crap that Tom went through with CBS and subsequent issues with ex-band members, I get why management is so anal. (Likely on Tom's orders.) Anybody who wants to read the tale of a mistreated artist, google Tom Scholz' story. He's a musician by trade, not a photographer, but he was put through a lot.

(Full disclosure: I am a huge Tom fan and use a lot of the equipment he developed in my own music.)

shawnino said:
Gotta ask: who are these clowns?

The clowns aren't the band but their management. Sorry for not referring to that better. The band is Boston and they put on an incredible show last night.