Digital SLR for Sports?

Zamboni

Hi guys,

I'm pretty new to sports photography and would love a bit of advice.
Anyone got any good recommendations for a good Digital SLR for Sports Photography?
What sort of frames per second should I be looking for?
Budget about a grand but cheaper the better.

Thanks

Borderfox

20 or 30d would be a good start and some kind of f2.8 lens. What type of sports? I have stuff for sale that would fit the bill if you want to take a look? 20 or 30d has 5 fps

Roen

The lens you'll use will be more important than the camera in this case, although you'll still need something that will focus fast, have a respectable frame rate and a large buffer.
What sport/s do you have in mind?

Paulw

Canon 40D is certainly a body you should look at. Great AF, great fps (6.5) and great metering.

All you need then buy is a good sports lens.

nilhg

Paulw wrote: »

Canon 40D is certainly a body you should look at. Great AF, great fps (6.5) and great metering.

All you need then buy is a good sports lens.

Not disagreeing with you Paul but not really compatible with the OP's budget of a grand.

Paulw

nilhg wrote: »

Not disagreeing with you Paul but not really compatible with the OP's budget of a grand.

Yes it is. I bought mine on Ebay from Kea-Photo for €987 (including postage).

40D on Ebay

Well worth checking out.

Roen

Plenty of great sports lenses out there for €13 alright.

nilhg

/\ /\

What he said

RuggieBear

so what's a good sports lens and how much would it cost.

Roen

Although the OP says he's new to Sports photography, not to photography, so he may have some existing lenses.

@ Ruggiebear depends on the sport, it could be anything from a 85mm ƒ1.8 to a 400 ƒ2.8 upwards to a 600 ƒ4. You're talking anywhere from €350 to €10,000.

Paulw

The OP said he wanted an SLR for under a grand, nothing about lenses at all.

For sport, it really does depend on the sport. For some, a 200mm lens is fine, for other you want something around 300-400mm.

It would also depend on light conditions. For bright light, daytime sport, the 70-200mm f/4 might be fine, or the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 would be fine.

For low light, you'd need to look for maybe 70-200mm f/2.8 or 300mm f/2.8 or even 400mm f/2.8.

Prices would start at €1k and go up from there. I think the Canon 600mm f/4 lens is around €10k??? Search ebay or amazon.com for a rough guide.

Zamboni

Hi Guys,

Sport is Ice Hockey. It will be indoor but very good lighting.
Budget hopefull would include a good lens.
Was looking at the Canon 400D at around €770 @ 3fps.

Canon F/4.5-5.6 Lens about €200

I am very new to this so if I am way off track please let me know.


Cheers

Paulw

400D is a great camera too. The Canon 70-200mm f/4 would probably be good enough for you, and have enough reach.

Roen

Zamboni wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Sport is Ice Hockey. It will be indoor but very good lighting.
Budget hopefull would include a good lens.
Was looking at the Canon 400D at around €770 @ 3fps.

Canon F/4.5-5.6 Lens about €200

I am very new to this so if I am way off track please let me know.

Cheers

I knew I knew the name Zamboni, it's the ice machine that drives around at half time isn't it?

No matter how good you think the light is, it's never enough. You'll need a nice fast lens, 70-200mm ƒ2.8, maybe an 85mm ƒ1.8 for the closer in stuff.
I wouldn't be tempted to try with an ƒ4 lens, and certainly not a ƒ5.6.
You're going to be talking big bucks though for the 70-200 or indeed any fast lens.

But! And I can't stress this enough. Don't fall into the trap whereby you end up buying a slow lens, being unhappy with the results and then end up buying the faster variety later on. I did it myself with the 70-200 ƒ4 L and I ended up selling it at quite a loss so I could get the ƒ2.8 variety.

The 400D is great, but for AF accuracy I'd step up a little to the 40D, the action in ice hockey is v.fast so you'll need something that can track fast moving subjects.

Best of luck with your choices, and above all enjoy taking the shots, that's what it's all about.

georgey

But a 1D MKI these can be picked up for 900 Dollars with this you are getting into a whole new class of AF and handling 8.5 frames per second, there are some draw backs batttry life is poor you will need a few spares and compared to newer models the noise is not as well controlled, there is only over 4 million pixels but this is not as important as some may think, this kind of price will give you more cash for a quick lens,
Philip

Zillah

You really should not be focussing on the body. Any any way decent DSLR with a rapid shooting mode will cover all the basics you need. Where most of your thought and a lot of your money should be going is the lens. You want a loooong lens for a team sport like Ice Hockey. Like, 300mm would be cool.

City-Exile

The canon 70-200mm f/2.8 should work well on the 400D.
You'd need to be making good money from your shots, in order to justify a 200mm f/2, 300mm f/2.8 or 400mm f/2.8

Borderfox

Indoor ice hockey will require something around the f1.8 to f2 no matter how good the lighting is. I have been in many indoor arenas and even the best lit are still rubbish for taking shots. 85mm f1.8 or a 135 f2 would be perfect.

paulocon

This is about the best resource I've come across for learning about Lenses..

http://photographyvoter.com/index.php?page=1&category=Lenses

Good article here on Sports Lens
http://phototip.blogspot.com/2007/05/lenses-for-sports-photography.html

Looking into purchasing a lens for sports shots myself (purely as a hobbyist)..

sheesh

isn't there a plastic barrier around ice hockey rinks won't that affect the auto focus (slightly off topic I know but if the auto focus wont work accurately the op will have to focus manually on a certain part of the field and hope the action takes place there) so there might be no point in spending money on a really great auto focus.

Roen

I'd heard that alright Sheesh. I was wondering why the ice hockey snappers had their cameras on manual. You're after clearing that up nicely
The only thing is though that the OP will still need a lens with a nice and wide max aperture, and they unfortunately cost a bit.

Paulw

Good point. Mind you, all the Canon EF/EF-S lenses have AF, but you can always turn it off.

Borderfox

Get yourself a 50mm f1.4 or an 85mm f1.8 and set them at f2 and up the iso to whatever you need and click away manually focusing.. mind you dont get a clatter of a puck, I did when I played and it bust my chin open

irish147

Roen wrote: »

I'd heard that alright Sheesh. I was wondering why the ice hockey snappers had their cameras on manual. You're after clearing that up nicely
The only thing is though that the OP will still need a lens with a nice and wide max aperture, and they unfortunately cost a bit.

I take ice hockey images for a Finnish Ice Hockey club, I use a 120-300 2.8 lenses at 1600 ASA, and you will get speeds about 800 to 1,000/1. The images are used for web and media.

Roen

irish147 wrote: »

I take ice hockey images for a Finnish Ice Hockey club, I use a 120-300 2.8 lenses at 1600 ASA, and you will get speeds about 800 to 1,000/1. The images are used for web and media.

And it is necessary to use manual focus through the protective sheeting? Great to hear from someone that shoots ice hockey. We don't meet many here

irish147

Roen wrote: »

And it is necessary to use manual focus through the protective sheeting? Great to hear from someone that shoots ice hockey. We don't meet many here

I take some images from the glass, most of them are from over the glass. The images I take from the glass are all AF, never use MF for ice hockey, as the sport is very fast. I take about 800 to 1,000 images per game.

localchap

Borderfox wrote: »

Indoor ice hockey will require something around the f1.8 to f2 no matter how good the lighting is. I have been in many indoor arenas and even the best lit are still rubbish for taking shots. 85mm f1.8 or a 135 f2 would be perfect.

Do you reckon 135mm or prime lens as such would be quite enough for hockey or sports ??my guess would be 70-200 f/2.8 IS version only!imho anyway

Roen

irish147 wrote: »

I take some images from the glass, most of them are from over the glass. The images I take from the glass are all AF, never use MF for ice hockey, as the sport is very fast. I take about 800 to 1,000 images per game.

Cheers!