Olympic torch

[DisneyFreak06]

My cousin is running with the Olympic Torch this weekend! I'm really excited, except that it's going to be around 6:40 pm and it will be very dark. They were told not to expect anyones pictures to turn out, but I would really like to try. Right now I have an XT, but I was thinking of upgrading to the T1i anyway, so I'm going to pick that up today. I have the nifty fifty lens as well as the Canon 70-200mm f/4L.

I'm assuming my best bet would be the 50mm lens with the highest ISO. I don't know what other settings to try. I think I should change the metering (?) but I'm not sure. I'm assuming that it will be difficult with the flame and my cousin running at the same time. So I came to where I learn the most about cameras!

Thanks in advance!

 

[ukcatfan]

IMO, the toughest thing is going to be getting the focus right in the low light with a moving subject. With a wide aperture, your margin of error is very small.

 

[RBennett]

I agree with Kevin; I think the 50 is the best way to go but I wouldn't open it up ALL of the way. If it was me, I would probably go one or maybe two stops from wide open that way your still getting a lot of light but your margin for error is a little better. Also, I'm not sure how your camera does with noise but I would also probably keep it at the next to highest ISO (just to keep the noise down.) Good luck!

 

[disneyboy2003]

Congratulations to your cousin for getting the honor of carrying the Olympic torch!

I have a feeling that photographing this is going to be very very VERY challenging. My most important advice to you is to go outside at 6:40pm every night for the next couple nights and practice, practice, practice. Have someone pretend like they're jogging with a torch (perhaps a heavy-duty flashlight with a tupperware bowl attached to the top?). And try out ALL possible camera settings to find out which combination might work out best for you.

I'm not sure that getting the Canon T1i will help get you better pictures than the Canon XT. I guess it has been 4 years since the Rebel XT was released, so maybe you might benefit from slightly less noise in low-light situations?

Is there a streetlight or a well-lit storefront / gas station that your cousin will be running by? That might be a good place to position yourself as your cousin runs by, since it'll provide some needed light on your subject.

This reminds me of trying to take a picture of the fast-moving Headless Horseman at the beginning of the parade at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I had some success using the Canon 580EX external flash (not the built-in flash!), setting it to hi-speed sync, and setting the camera to continuous burst mode (or whatever it's called). Fire off a few test shots and adjust the flash output (the flash exposure compensation) accordingly. Personally, I think this is what I would do.

It's not gonna be easy, and I'd hate to confuse you with all the above info with only 2 days before the event! I'd really hate to see you fumbling / adjusting / fixing all these different camera settings on brand new equipment, only to have your cousin run right past you.

Or, can you hitch a ride on the motorcycle following your cousin, and take pictures from there?

 

[bigfish2215]

I ran with the Torch for the Salt Lake Games in 2002 with my sister. We ran in Milwaukee, WI. When I was on the shuttle to the area that I got the flame we saw so many cool things and we weren't at the time to have a camera on us. If you Cousin can take a small camera with and hide it! I wish I had a picture of the drunks outside a bar with 5gal buckets on their heads on fire!! Yes, it was hard to my family to take pix. I know from me doing it you run behind a truck that had TONS of lights and it had cameras on it too. You can buy them after you run. I know you won't be able to take photos in the street. Security is at the highest and they are really strict. Be prepared for a LONG wait too. I was susposed to give my sister the flame at 9:40 at night it wasn't passed til close to 11pm! You don't have to run with it you can walk at any pace.

Tell your cousin if they want to buy the torch ask for donations!! My torch cost $430.00!! And they don't make enough for everyone to buy either, b/c really who has the kind of money laying around?

Good luck, be prepared they will be treated like celebrity that night. It was a very special night that I will never forget!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Thanks everyone! I'm trying to upload the pictures now... haven't done that yet with the new camera... I know they won't be the best pictures, but at least we'll have something. She ran for a VERY short time, probably around 1/2 a block or something like that. There were not as many people around as I would have expected. She only walked, but at a quick pace, so I still had a hard time trying to get a picture. I'll post some once I get the pictures at least on my computer and then on to photobucket... might try to do a few edits, but I'm not so good at that either! I am a complete amateur, I just like taking pictures!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Funny how they always look worse on the computer than on the LCD screen on the camera! I'm still not too too disappointed because I wasn't expecting much!

I think I mentioned earlier that she ended up carrying the torch for literally one minute. It was harder than I thought to get any shots!

 

[disneyboy2003]

Congratulations, and great job on your pictures!

There was a lot more light / street light than I had imagined. Plus, as you mentioned, the run sounded a lot shorter than I had imagined, too. I guess you get longer torch runs in more remote areas.

I took a peek at your EXIF data, and looks like you had to use ISO 6400, which was a good idea for this situation. However, even though you used a 50mm f/1.8 lens, you had the aperture set at f/2.8, forcing you to use a slower shutter speed of 1/30 sec.

So you still had plenty of room to open up your aperture to f/1.8, which would have let in 2x more light in this very dark situation. By opening up your aperture from f/2.8 to f/1.8, you could have then used a faster shutter speed (from 1/30 sec to 1/60-1/100 sec), which would have lessened the blur. Using faster shutter speeds really helps when your subject is moving / running.

Just curious about some of the things I noticed. Sounds like it was a really tough & really dark situation, and you probably had to make a lot of quick camera decisions during the very very short run. So I think you did really good capturing the pictures that you did. Great job!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Congratulations, and great job on your pictures!

There was a lot more light / street light than I had imagined. Plus, as you mentioned, the run sounded a lot shorter than I had imagined, too. I guess you get longer torch runs in more remote areas.

I took a peek at your EXIF data, and looks like you had to use ISO 6400, which was a good idea for this situation. However, even though you used a 50mm f/1.8 lens, you had the aperture set at f/2.8, forcing you to use a slower shutter speed of 1/30 sec.

So you still had plenty of room to open up your aperture to f/1.8, which would have let in 2x more light in this very dark situation. By opening up your aperture from f/2.8 to f/1.8, you could have then used a faster shutter speed (from 1/30 sec to 1/60-1/100 sec), which would have lessened the blur. Using faster shutter speeds really helps when your subject is moving / running.

Just curious about some of the things I noticed. Sounds like it was a really tough & really dark situation, and you probably had to make a lot of quick camera decisions during the very very short run. So I think you did really good capturing the pictures that you did. Great job!

Thanks! I actually was debating opening it up more, but worried about missing the focus too. If ever I get the chance to do this again, I'll try that. I appreciate your comments.