Got a couple of new things today. I picked up the new Canon Digital Rebel XTi / 400D, and I shot some parking lot mini-moto racing. I don't think anyone's posted any mini-moto action here so I thought I'd add some. I don't think these photos are anything special, but it's fun to add something new to the mix on the sports forum, and they were taken with a brand new camera.

Some notes on shooting today:

1) The jury is still out on the Rebel XTi auto focus. It does have AI Servo (continuous) available in all exposure modes. But my success ratio for sharp images was pretty poor today. It may because I was shooting a new subject. I'll have to do some testing and shoot some more to sort that out.

2) Mini-motos in a parking lot is a tough subject - mostly because the backgrounds are horrendous. I have a long landscape photo background and I always try to compose sports shots so that the background adds to the photos. That was pretty tough today. And everything was so close that I also couldn't just open up and make the backgrounds soft. In fact, opening up the 70-200 to f/3.2 or 2.8 could be a big part of the reason a lot of my photos aren't quite sharp. New subject = new problems to solve :D

3) The best things about the Rebel XTi are the price, the resolution, and the size. It's super light and tiny and I'm really psyched about using it to shoot mountain biking when I need to ride with a camera. I need to weigh my backpack with the 10D and with the Rebel XTi and see what the difference is.

4) Different batteries than the 10D. They're smaller and that's cool. But I have 5 batteries for the 10D that won't work with this camera. Bummer.

Thanks for these, John.
They aren't really mini, their knees are below their shoulders :)

I know all about lack of focus wide open even with 1DSmkII and 1DmkIIN, I've just been fighting bad weather out at Goodwood ... plus the really noticeable noise at 400 ISO.

Sick! Mini-motos? I need to work at a place like that! I was pretty skeptical about the 400D, but your shots look pretty good. Did you add any USM or other PS?

Sick! Mini-motos? I need to work at a place like that! I was pretty skeptical about the 400D, but your shots look pretty good. Did you add any USM or other PS?

Well, these guys weren't really working. This was how they spent their Labor Day. Just gotta hope the property owner never shows up when they're doing this :D

I did do some adjustment for contrast and I always use Unsharp Mask when I resize. These aren't super sharp if you see them at full-resolution. But I was shooting with pretty large apertures to try to minimize the background. Plus, the little suckers accelerate pretty damn fast! Anyway, gotta experiment some more. Maybe I'll go out and shoot cars in front of the office today and see how that works.

Hey wait a second, not to steal from your thread John, but my it appears as though this course has a little plywood quarter pipe or a little plywood kicker ramp in the background of the first shot. Hmmmm? A nice open parking lot, XC and DH clad mini-moto operators, and a - um, mayabe - 2' ramp? Are these shots from a movie in the making? Maybe "Jackass III"?

That ramp reminds me of highschool and skateboarding after lunch. What a way to spend Labor day. Oh yeah, with the nice new camera too. I'm interested in the "self-cleaning" sensor. Did you ever get to play with a 30D?