Sam`s Auto: 02 Dinan BMW Carbon Black M3

[imported_artikxscout]

When the owner contacted me and told me it was an M3, I was pretty excited. I love m3`s as I own one myself. Great car. It was only 40k miles for an 02 and was basically a garage queen. He wanted a full correction and an engine bay wash.



Engine Bay:

Pressure Wash (Rinse)

Meg`s APC + Agitation

Pressure Wash (Rinse)

TOL Bessed Dressed and then Wiped off Excess



Before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1637.jpg



After:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1720.jpg



Exterior:

Meg`s NXT w/ Gilmore Foam Gun

Clay (Purple Clay, Clay Magic)

HTEC by Hand on Door Handles

SIP w/ Burgundy Pad x 1800 rpm

106FF w/ White 4" CCS pad x 1500 rpm

Klasse AIO

ClearKote RMG

Meguiar M21

Meguiar Hot Shine on Wheels

Meguiars APC on rims and tires

Stoners IG



Before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1617.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1618.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1619.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1621.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1628.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1629.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1632.jpg



During Wash

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1640.jpg



50/50 I need to get a Tri-pod

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1659.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1664.jpg



Afters:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1670.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1673.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1675.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1676.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1680.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1681.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1682.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1683.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1686.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1690.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1693.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1695.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1702.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/artikxscout/Sams%20Detail/080627%20BMW%2002%20Carbon%20Black%20M3/web_IMG_1711.jpg



I need to buy an DSLR.

Question: How do you guys keep the picture from distoring? It was around 5-6pm in Cali when I took the picture, but 200iso should`ve been fine. F/4.5 and 1/60th for time. Tripod would`ve helped huh?



Enjoy guys.

[dexterbot]

Great work. Would have loved to see a little close up of the front bumper as the before picture looks pretty `sandblasted`. The rest of the car looks amazing and love how wet it looks.



OK.. here is a topic that I know a little bit about...



PICTURES! :)



I`m assuming distorting actually means blurred. Sorry, don`t want to hijack the thread...



Your shutter speed is way too slow. Your hands will shake in that 1/60th of a second. There are several things you can do and this is assuming you are doing this with a point and shoot.



1) A tripod, obviously and since the car does not move, a tripod would be great and you can keep your settings listed below constant and should alleviate the motion blur.

2) If no tripod, see if you can find a shutter priority mode and set the shutter to 160. What it will do is, the camera will balance out the ISO and F stop automatically for you while keeping the shutter at 160 which is the source of your blur.



Here is a quick cheat sheet and if you need more info, let me know:

- Shutter Speed = High shutter speed will require more light but the pictures will have more sharpness

- Aperture = Big Aperture (small F number) will tend to blur the background because it causes shallow depth of field so your focus area is pretty small. If you want the entire car to be in focus, I would go with F/4.5, F/5.6 or larger F stop BUT the larger the F stop the less light it will allow in to the sensor.

- ISO = this controls how sensitive the sensor is to light. The higher the ISO the more sensitive to light is but it also causes noise.



You need to tweek between the 3 to balance things out as far as the correct exposure.



Hope this helps...

[rm1mty]

Good job on the M3. How long does it take to break down the polish on the door handles by hand?

[imported_artikxscout]

it didn`t take too long actually. I hit it first with 105 about 2 times for like 2 minutes for each pass and then I finished it up with 106ff. I had to put a lot of pressure just to get the polish to break down though.

[musthavemuzk]

I need to buy an DSLR.

Question: How do you guys keep the picture from distoring? It was around 5-6pm in Cali when I took the picture, but 200iso should`ve been fine. F/4.5 and 1/60th for time. Tripod would`ve helped huh?



what was the focal length?



the exposure you said would be good for a focal length of 60mm or shorter to avoid shake or blur.

yes a tripod would be helpful.

using macro mode on your camera might help also. which will allow you to get closer to the subject. this would mean shorter focal length to allow shorter shutter speed.



Monty

[imported_artikxscout]

focal length was at 7mm. Guess the auto feature wasn`t too bad.

[musthavemuzk]

7mm. definitely not a DSLR or SLR then. as that focal length is fisheye lens territory.

i thought the pics were fine. did not notice much for blur or anything like that.

do you have the option to go higher on the ISO? that might help some, but beware it also might introduce some noise.

if using a tripod it is also a good idea to use the timer feature to avoid introduced shake from physically pressing the shutter.



Monty

[imported_artikxscout]

Probably the Tripod is my problem. I`ll get that soon. Thanks monty.

[Rickrack]

Looks awesome!!



I bought myself a DSLR a couple months ago and it is the best purchase I have ever made. It was worth every penny. When you do such great work as yourself, it is nice to have a camera that captures to the true beauty of the detail.



Great work!

[dexterbot]

Sam - Unless is a DSLR with a fisheye lens, I doubt a point and shoot can have a 7mm focal range. I has to be super specialized for it to have a 7mm focal range. Also, the image would be super distorted ("fisheye").



Tripod would be the best solution at this point and as someone pointed out, you may want to use the timer because when you click the shutter, it will cause the camera to shake for that brief moment.



Most of your pictures came out great though! Awesome quality work! Love the M3 and I finally got to see the new gen one recently.

[imported_artikxscout]

Seriously Rick, with your work, capturing the clouds in the sky with the reflection is priceless :). I could never get the Point and shoot Canon to just focus on the car and nothing else, so I want to get a lil more artsy and play around with the lens. Only way to do that is with an DSLR. Just waiting for that XTi deal to come around again.

[burn740i]

I can`t see the pics because photobucket is blocked at work, but I will definitely be checking them out when I get home. What year M3 do you have? My father has an `01 Dinan S2 M3 in Jet Black. We`re a big BMW family, I`ve got a 740i Sport and my younger bro has a `92 535i.

[somebody]

Looks good I love M3`s.



-Brandon

[imported_sal329]

Great work, love the color it is my fav black color

[mr.ikon]

Lovin the work Sam. Let me know where you get an SLR, I`m looking into getting one as well.