digital camera for sports photography

hunnymonster

I've got a very basic digital camera which serves me fine for family snaps and the like. Recently though, I've been taking pictures at sporting events. Cycling races mostly but some water based sports too. My camera is woefully inadequate for distance shots and moving shots. I thought I would ask for some advice here as to what I need to take better pic's. Ideally I'd like to keep it within a budget of 1000 euro but I can go a bit more if it prevents me having to upgrade again in a year or two. Anyone got suggestions?

B0rG

Friend of mine is shooting motoraces with Canon eos 350D and canon EF 70-200 4L. He's happy like an elephaunt :-)

Price is about: E500 for used 350 (i'd be selling mine soon)
70-200 is around 600 USD on bhphotovideo.com + 70 USD for shipping and whatever vat and duty they'll put on it...

EF 70-200 2.8L is around 1100+ USD but worth two more stops.

melekalikimaka

any slr will do the job. the lens it what will make the difference, a fast lens(low apature), with a nive bit of zoom(maybe 200mm)

B0rG

melekalikimaka wrote:

any slr will do the job. the lens it what will make the difference, a fast lens(low apature), with a nive bit of zoom(maybe 200mm)

saw your concert photos what are you shooting with?

Fionn

Yeah i'd agree the lens is a major factor ok.
i took some shots of a car rally in my area recently, the only difficulty i had with a 70 -200 f/4.0 L was as the cars came nearer i couldn't zoom out enough so ended up with shots of the car way too close.
What would be perfect (if i had the money) would be a 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 L IS. But anyway i'll dream on

Calina

I shoot a lot of kitesurfing shots off a 350D and a Sigma 70-300 APO.

You can see the results here: Calina's kitesurfing photos

Roen

Water based sports? Will you be on land or in a boat, will you be snapping people or boats? If you're land based and the action is far away from you you're going to (Jaws quote) "need a bigger lens".
The lens and body combo you use will also decide on how well the focus will track a moving object. You should be ok with a grand to spend though.
Best to buy into a system that you can upgrade over time lens/flash wise, Nikon or Canon would see you right in that department.
Best of luck and happy snapping.

Roen

Calina wrote:

I shoot a lot of kitesurfing shots off a 350D and a Sigma 70-300 APO.

You can see the results here: Calina's kitesurfing photos

Someone's been hiding their light under a bushel

hunnymonster

Thanks for all the replies and some great photo's.


For the water sports, it's mostly swim based so that part at least is slow moving. Only problem is I'm usually on the beach/pier so far away.

so I'm looking for low apature (say less than 5) and high lens (is it the zoom?) say greater than 200? off now to investigate.

Calina

Roen wrote:

Someone's been hiding their light under a bushel

Shhhhh (but thanks)

Sebzy

Ohk going to get shot down now but here goes

Ever think about the Olympus E1
you can pick one up second hand with lens for 450Euro or less on ebay

- Professional design
- Magnesium alloy body
- Weather sealed body seen these thing under water and cleaned under gushing taps.
- 3 fps and stores up to 12 frames RAW in buffer.
- 5.0 million pixels
- Great color
- Dust busting system.
- Shutter max 1/4000 sec

Hey it's cheap and built like a tank.

Seb.

melekalikimaka

B0rG wrote:

saw your concert photos what are you shooting with?

nikon d50 with standard 18 -55mm kit lens, mixed opinions of the lens but i like it, takes a bit to get to learn how to use it, but i nearly prefer it to my 50mm 1.8

5uspect

Canon have a 350D with 18-55 and 55-200mm kit lenses with the (necessary imho) battery grip for €1000 if you look online. The lenses aren't the best but they're light and good for learning.

Tho I'd say your better off buying a body (nikon or canon they're both good!) and invest in the lens.

hunnymonster

another clueless question. If I buy a body, can I just go and order a cheaper lens now and invest more later. Are different lenses compatible with different camera's?

5uspect

Canon and nikon bodies have different mounts, so you can't put a nikkor lens on a canon EF mount and vice verse (without a special adaptor anyway).

So if you buy a canon SLR you'll be looking for EF mount lenses (some digital canons can also use a modification of the EF mount - the EF-S mount)
If you buy a Nikon you'll be buying nikkor mount lenses.
Third parties like sigma will make lenses for both mounts.

Less popular brand like Olympus will have their own mount too.

Fionn

you could get a Canon 350D or 400D body only then get the two kit lens very cheap on ADVERTS.IE
Komplett has the 350 D for €680 that included freight and everything about €640 or so from AC Foto