Roberto,

I'm assuming that you use the continuous shooting mode to get several shots in rapid succession and the autofocus may be too slow to keep up. I suggest you try to use the D70 in manual focus and focus beforehand on an area where you expect the horse(s) to be when you want to make the pictures.

Frans Waterlander
frans2001@netzero.net

Thanks for the suggestion of manual focus. The problem is that the horses race at about 30 mph and their position changes continuously and very rapidly. I assume the camera is unable to focus given the conditions of speed and rapid change of the images. I guess the only option is to prefocus manually on a certain spot (ie near the finish line) and try to get one or two shots in reasonable focus.

Make sure you have set your auto focus menu setting on Auto "C" for continuous...

If it is set to the "S" setting it keep the focus set at the original place where you depressed the shutter halfway.

Also, I might try setting the focus area on Dynamic Mode and select the center sensor.

Good Luck! And keep trying, the camera can do anything you want it to do...

I second Robert's suggestion to use the C setting. I use a Nikon D70 to shoot speed skaters, and it is the only way to get good shots (short of manualy pre-focusing on a given spot).

Take lots of shots, as there will be a high percentage of pictures that just don't make the grade.

Manual focus. Prefocus on where the horses will be within the area you want to create the pan. Make sure to use a tripod head that allows smooth panning horizontally without having to fight a vertical movement. If you're shooting from a distance, depth of field will cover any focus errors. I would suspect that because you're using auto focus, the focal length is changing slightly as the focus is compensating and that's why it's difficult to get sharp images.

I certainly will try your suggestion for manual focus and perhaps use sufficient depth of field while shooting to get a reasonable area to allow for several exposures. My exposure speed is 1/30 and I can boost the ISO up to 400 or more to increase the depth of field while using a smaller aperture. I better get going soon since the ponies will be heading south for the winter. I hope to report my results. I may add that my attempts at using a tripod with panning have not been successful at least from where I am standing. The reason is the horses are running in a different line (fom the one I am panning) making panning somewhat difficult to keep the images in the field.

You may find that 1/30 second is too slow to capture a moving horse sharp, even while panning. It's not like shooting a race car that moves smoothly across the field. I'd also suggest trying 1/60 and 1/125 second. You don't need a slow shutter speed to create a panning effect if done properly. Here's an example of a 1/30 second race car captured with antique low quality equipment, over 30 years ago.

Thanks for the suggestion of a faster shutter speed for getting a sharp image of horses racing. I use 1/30 of a second in the hope of enhancing the feeling of motion, for example in the horses legs, jockeys hand and wipping action and the like. Ideally I would like for these to appear somewhat blurred but other portions, such as the jockey's silks and the like might appear relatively sharp. The panning will of course, blur the background. That is what I am trying to achieve and will certainly follow your suggestions for stopping the action while panning, which I am also doing.

Have had occasion to take photos of horses running by using a prefocussed area for improved sharpness. Unfortunately the photos are not tack sharp either using this method. If I take a steady shot without panning using a prefocussed area, the images are sharp. It appears therefore that there is something in the panning (with 1/30 exposure speed), which may be contributing to the less than perfect images. I used single and continuous exposures with the manually chosen site for the exposure, to no avail. Just wanted to report my results. I will be going back to the autofocus mode with continuous shooting and dynamic mode, which gave me occasional sharp images.

Have you tried panning at 1/60 and 1/125? Both would blur the background but maybe show the moving horses sharper.

The only reason I have tried panning at 1/30 is because it would enhance the feeling of motion by blurring the horses legs at that shutter speed. I think I will have to go ahead with panning at higher shutter speeds which will blur the background, but may lose some of the blurring of the horses legs. In the ideal world, the blurring of the legs and background with a tack sharp portion of the silks and the like would be perfect, but it is so difficult to get. Thanks for your help.

I have had occasion to try the various settings for photography of horses racing (i.e. use of pre-focused area to end up with sharp photos while panning vs using dynamic focus and continuous shutter closure with my D70). My best shots were with the latter. I wanted to complete this thread while reporting my experience.