Part 1: Oly E-1 in action at the US Grand Prix (UPDATED)
By
Mike Tomkins
(Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 02:25 EDT)
Over the last weekend, your humble News Editor and his wife attended the United States Grand Prix, the penultimate race on the Formula One World Championship.
As avid Formula One fans, we'd been planning the trip as a personal vacation for ages, but at the very last moment the good folks at Olympus USA moved heaven and earth to make it truly an experience to remember. Throughout the weekend, Olympus not only got us access to the Ferrari Paddock Club (the most prestigious location in the entire paddock!), but provided us with a lengthy hands-on with a pre-production Olympus E-1 digital SLR and a selection of lenses.
Today we're proud to present the first part in a three-part series of exclusive sample photos that will be exciting not only to fans of digital photography, but fans of Formula One as well. For the benefit of those of our readers in the United States (practically the only place where F1 drivers aren't household names), a little background is in order. Formula One is the second most-watched sport in the world, with viewing figures (the number of viewers multiplied by the number of F1 programs watched) estimated at about 54 billion in 2001. F1 races take place all over the world in Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America - and soon the Middle East as well. The races are televised in over 200 countries, and more than 1.5 million minutes of coverage were aired in 2001. Formula One cars are amongst the fastest of any racing formula, and use the very highest technology, whilst F1 drivers are commonly considered to be at the very top of their game. Races are run rain or shine, on a variety of tracks including dedicated racetracks and temporary tracks on public roads.
The most popular team in F1 is undoubtedly Ferrari, who are on the brink of their fifth straight win in the annual Constructor's Championship. Ferrari's drivers are Rubens Barrichello and the world's second-highest paid sportsman (depending on who you ask), Michael Schumacher - who is on the verge of winning his sixth Driver's Championship (which would be his fourth in a row). In other words, we were the guests of the top team, courtesy of one of their top sponsors (prime real-estate on a Formula One car doesn't come cheap - the image at the top of this news item shows the Olympus logo right near the tip of the car's nose, one of the most prestigious and expensive locations).
Olympus announced a three-year sponsorship agreement with Ferrari last spring, and three months later announced the E-1 digital SLR. If you're not familiar with the camera's specs, we'd suggest reading our coverage of the announcement before continuing.
All of the following photos were taken with the E-1 camera body and either the 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens or the 300mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital Telephoto Lens last Friday. We also had access to the 50mm f2.0 Zuiko Digital Macro Lens and 1.4x Zuiko Digital TeleConverter Lens, and will be sharing photos taken using these items shortly. Note that a couple of the photos were taken through the glass windows of the Ferrari Paddock Club - most were taken unobstructed from the Paddock Club Grandstands, however.
We captured around 2000 images with the camera throughout the course of the weekend. Tomorrow, we will bring you a selection of the images taken during Saturday, and shortly thereafter we'll have the photos from Sunday - the day of the race itself. For the benefit of those of our readers who've not had a chance to see the race yet, we won't mention the results until our final article.
These photos are all copyright © 2003 The Imaging Resource / Michael R. Tomkins, and may not be reproduced in any form, including (but not limited to) print magazines or electronic media, without prior permission. We provide the original Adobe RGB images (not suitable for viewing in a web browser), unaltered except for lossless rotation, to allow readers to judge the quality of the camera / lens combos by printing images for their own personal use only. All images are also linked to unretouched SRGB 450 x 600 pixel versions suitable for on-screen viewing in your web browser.
Our heartfelt thanks to everybody at Olympus who helped make this once-in-a-lifetime experience happen, and also to everybody at Ferrari who made the weekend an experience to remember. Particular thanks are due to Gino Rosato, who handles logistics, security and more for Ferrari. Gino dedicated much of his time to showing us around the pit and answering our many questions when we're sure he had plenty of race-related activities to keep him busy! He wanted to see himself on our site, and you'll find his photo the end of this article. We were more than happy to oblige, as it provided a nice demonstration of how the E-1 handles a quick portrait shot without any fancy lighting... Thanks Gino, thanks Ferrari, and thanks Olympus!
The Ferrari team practices a pitstop on Rubens Barrichello's car | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 100 | | Focal Length | 50mm | | Shutter | 1/200 | | Aperture | F3.5 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Rubens' car is rolled back into the Ferrari pits | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 100 | | Focal Length | 50mm | | Shutter | 1/250 | | Aperture | F4.0 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Renault's Fernando Alonso flies past his team on the pit wall | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 100 | | Focal Length | 200mm | | Shutter | 1/500 | | Aperture | F5.6 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Ralf Schumacher's Williams lines up for a launch control test | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 200mm | | Shutter | 1/1250 | | Aperture | F9.0 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Sauber coasts down the pit lane | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 200mm | | Shutter | 1/1000 | | Aperture | F8.0 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
With the track closed due to Giancarlo Fisichella's stranded Jordan, cars including Nick Heidfeld's Sauber, David Coulthard's McLaren and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari return to the pits | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 300mm | | Shutter | 1/1250 | | Aperture | F7.1 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Derek Daly of US cable network Speed Channel interviews Norbert Haug (right), Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 300mm | | Shutter | 1/500 | | Aperture | F4.5 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Ferrari's Sporting Director, Jean Todt, talks to an unidentified Ferrari team member | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 300mm | | Shutter | 1/800 | | Aperture | F5.6 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
A small portion of Ferrari's impressive pit wall in closeup | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 300mm | | Shutter | 1/320 | | Aperture | F4.5 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan, engine blown, returns to the pit on a flatbed truck | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 300mm | | Shutter | 1/640 | | Aperture | F6.3 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Renault's Jarno Trulli and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen prepare to leave the pit lane | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 300mm | | Shutter | 1/640 | | Aperture | F6.3 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Fernando Alonso races towards Indy's "yard of bricks" in his Renault | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 200mm | | Shutter | 1/500 | | Aperture | F7.1 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
After a brief shower, Alonso's speeding Renault shows a slight "roostertail" on the damp track | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 79mm | | Shutter | 1/800 | | Aperture | F5.6 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari in the pits on intermediate tires | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 50mm | | Shutter | 1/800 | | Aperture | F7.1 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
A closeup of a Ferrari with the nose cone removed | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 200mm | | Shutter | 1/400 | | Aperture | F5.0 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Williams mechanics start working on a car immediately after the Friday test session ends | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 53mm | | Shutter | 1/250 | | Aperture | F4.5 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Behind the Renault nose cone, including a detail of the suspension arms | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 200mm | | Shutter | 1/320 | | Aperture | F4.5 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
An official FIA Medical Car sits at the end of the pit lane | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 108mm | | Shutter | 1/800 | | Aperture | F5.6 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
A closeup of Michael Schumacher's incredibly complex Ferrari steering wheel | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 92mm | | Shutter | 1/160 | | Aperture | F2.9 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto | 
Ferrari's Gino Rosato, in charge of logistics and security, was extremely generous with his time - showing us around the pits twice, and gamely answering all our many F1 questions. Here Gino indicates what he told us was the only camera brand he thinks worthy to enter the Ferrari pits... :) | Links | Original | | Resized | | Exposure | Program | | ISO | 800 | | Focal Length | 50mm | | Shutter | 1/250 | | Aperture | F4.0 | | Exp. Comp. | N/A | | White Balance | Auto |
Stay tuned for part two of this article, coming tomorrow (barring unforeseen problems)...
UPDATED 2003-09-30 06:51ET: Of course, there's a law that says the later you make a news post, the more likely you are to forget something. What'd we forget? To link to our friends at the Digital Photography Review, of course... Courtesy of Les Freed, they have 20 sample images also (we were often shooting shoulder to shoulder with Les, but usually shooting the same events with different lenses - so his photos complement ours nicely!)
Also, watch our friends at Steve's Digicams. Dannee Saylor was present at the race (she also got a brand-new race suit signed by Michael Schumacher - bet that is worth a pretty penny now!)... We're sure they'll have their own article on the F1 race before long. :)
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