Photographing Motorcycles on a budget – a day out with the Nikon D3400 and Sigma 100-400mm zoom lens

Report by David Harbey

11^th October

Having decided to further my motorbike racing photography education with a trip to the No Limits meeting at Donington, two questions remained – which entry gates will be open and what kit should I take with me ? 

Question one was easy – only the Hollywood entrance by the Tarmac Lake parking. The answer to question one answered question two quickly; I would travel light for the day using the family Nikon D3400 and my better half’s Sigma 100-400mm zoom lens.

Such a combination can be purchased for less than the cost of a high end mobile phone – but how did it perform ? Early indications were positive; the shot of #131 is looking back towards Hollywood through the fence at an angle.

I didn’t think it would come out especially well, but I am very pleased with the effect.

There are also gaps in the fence for a rear shot as the bikes head down Craners or you can try a side-on panning shot. The ghosting you can get with the latter is evident, even after adjusting to monochrome.

The body and lens combination gave me an effective 150-600mm focal length – Donington does really demand a long zoom for most locations, so it would be interesting to see the results.

Using another gap in the fence gave a nice rear shot into the Old Hairpin on the first lap. Cold tyres were however catching out some riders in the early laps of the morning races.

I really don’t like shooting through the fence, but given that was a “try everything” sort of day, I took some shots of the riders as they approached the Old Hairpin.

Initial assessment on the back of the camera was favourable.

The shot from the Old Hairpin to Starkeys can be viewed through the fence at the bottom of the Craner Curves. The lines the bikes were taking were quite different to cars which tend to drift out to the kerb (and beyond on occasions).

Walking past the Old Hairpin towards the iconic Bridge at Starkeys, there’s a shot back up to Hollywood. I used to think that a field of cars heading down through the Craner Curves was impressive.

A full field of bikes is even more so !

Shooting through the fence sees the riders through the Old Hairpin.

There’s the panning shot as the bikes head towards Starkeys.  The run through Starkeys with the bikes on full throttle is impressive.

My motorsport history has, until recently, been all cars; I have to say, though, that bikes and the riders continue to impress mightily !

There’s a gap in the fence on the walk up the hill with a view of the bikes through McLeans. You can see who has got their knee down !

Standing at the exit of McLeans, there’s a shot back through the fence. There is a section of square fencing (rather than diamond shaped) which is darker in colour and seems to be better to shoot through with less ghosting.

As we have seen in many of our reports, fencing on the outside of the track at Donington is a necessary evil and I have learned, grudgingly, to live with and shoot through it.

This area is a popular spot for photographers; it wasn’t especially busy for this meeting, but clearly for bigger events there might be a need to queue for a slot.

A step is also useful to get just above the spectator fence which is around 5 feet high here.

At the top of the hill is my favourite corner at Donington, Coppice. The double apex is challenging for the riders and it’s a great spot to see who is really getting down for the corner. 

There’s a number of angles depending on how far around the corner you go. The step is also of use with the spectator fence which is a similar height to McLeans.

Ian Hutchinson on #4 shows what I guess is a biker’s sense of humour on the leg of his leathers while Graham Tinker on #142 simply demands huge respect.

Lunch break and a time to consider progress to date. I’d used the Sigma with my usual D850 a couple of weeks earlier and find the balance between the lens and that body better with that than the smaller D3400.

The extra reach of the 600mm focal length was welcome although as noted in my Donington CSCC report, the lens is slower to focus than the 70-200m; the latter is pretty much the gold standard so that’s a slightly unfair comparison.

So, the sun was shining, I was at my favourite corner at Donington, the inside of Coppice, and there were no vehicles in the background. The next set of photos work down from 1/250^th second to 1/125^th second shutter speed.

Sticking to the inside of the circuit, I headed downhill towards McLeans. There’s a good panning shot as the bikes start the run up the hill to Coppice.

Again, I am used to cars running wide here on the exit – but then cars don’t offer wheelies (not usually, anyway !).

There is also scope to get the riders in the corner at McLeans.

Following the track down the hill past Schwantz and utilising the full extent of the zoom provides a neat shot of the bikes through Starkeys.

Moving closer to Starkeys, there is a panning shot or turn around for a rear shot through Schwantz.

I tend to then work along the fence line towards the Old Hairpin where you might get some overtaking or wheelies 

or both !

Time to start up the hill – this will be the first time I have got as far as the Hollywood / Redgate area for ages.

The background is a bit messy for the long shot downhill; I much prefer to close up panning shots.

You can always add in the – “remind me which circuit are we at” photo or just a cranked over panning shot though Redgate with the beautiful gravel / tyre wall in the background. Ah, that’s why I haven’t been up here much.

Whilst I could see the exit to the car park at Redgate, I could only get there by walking back to Coppice to use the tunnel and then retrace my steps around the outside of the track.

So it was time to walk up past start / finish – well-fenced with no chance of shooting through it – towards the Chicane.

As I did so, the race that was on was red flagged. Looking across to McLeans, I could see why. A 600mm zoom is sometimes helpful !

At the Chicane, you used to be able to shoot head on through the fence as the cars or bikes come towards you. The spectator fence was closer to the safety fence aiding such shots.

However, there is now a substantial wooden spectator fence much further back meaning nothing I shot worked. 

So I moved to the braking zone for the Chicane.

There is a neat shot on the apex of the corner or of the bikes earlier on the straight.

For bikes, there were no emergency vehicles parked up here so it is possible to get a clean rear shot of the riders as they headed onto the start / finish straight.

By now we were down to the last couple of races of the day – first of all, back to the inside of Coppice.

Then to the exit of McLeans …

So what are my conclusions for the day. From a motorsport perspective, my respect for bike riders continues to grow.

As I have said before, whilst I reckon I could drive a hatchback round a race track at a decent pace (although this is unproven) – there is no way you would get me on a bike, so respect all round.

From a photographic perspective, as with my previous day out with the D3400, I did not have as many “keepers” as I would normally expect.

Again some of this is probably practice and not using my monopod for longer shots. However, I did have a good number of images that I am happy with and provide a good reminder of the day out – which is after all what this is about !

Note - the Nikon D3400 has been replaced by the D3500 as their entry level DSLR; the latter has received positive reviews.

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