k£v!n

I've been taking action shots for a while now with my Cannon EOS 1100d but I think the quality would improve if I were to optimise my settings. I currently have it running in TV mode with a 500mm Tamron lens.

What kind of settings should I have configured to best suit taking RC action shots? Any help / tips would be great!

Thanks,

KainK

iTrader: (25)

It would really help if you posted you current general settings. What what is the max Aperture your lens goes too?

Things that should help-
*Higher ISO- depending on available light, less light=higher ISO
*Shoot with the aperature as wide open as possible it will allow for faster shutter speeds. It will give you better depth in your photos if you are within the range of your lense.
*Faster Shutter Speeds- at least 1/160 if you are trying to get high speed action. Lower speeds will give you more of an in motion effect.
*manually focus on a point that is close to where the cars are crossing, follow the car and hit the shutter when the car hits the point you focused at.
This works a little better with a slightly lower aperature(you focus area will be a little bigger. This helps with cameras and lenses that dont auto-focus fast.

Google "shooting high speed photography"
Check out Flickr. Find some RC pictures you like. You can see the EXIF data of the pictures and try out the setting they used.

intercede007

KainK had some good observations. It would be helpful to know what kind of results you are getting now and how they were acquiried. Maybe a sample to show us? As you were in shutter priority mode, what shutter speed were you trying to use? We could also gather the EXIF data from a sample photograph to help.

That being said...

Shooting at a 500mm focal range seems a bit excessive. I'm assuming a Tamron 200-500 f5-6.3? As you are using a camera with a crop sensor you are effectively hitting 800mm. Why are you so far away?

At that focal distance a monopod is almost a given, especially at the kind of shutter speeds you are probably targeting. A good rule of thumb for sharp photos is to take the inverse of your focal distance as the maximum handheld shutter speed. For many people, shooting 1/160th at 500mm is going to be very difficult without help. Maybe get closer, shoot at 200mm and try again?