£800 Budget - DSLR
Discussion
Hello,
I have been looking around the post and seen some good advice, so signed up to get some more specific advice.
From the new year I'm heading into sports photography for the first time. Currently I have a budget of £800 - what would suit myself best. Motorsport and Football being my first priority sports.
I have put this on another forum to as I'm trying to get as many peoples views so I have a good range to look at when I eventually go to purchase my first equipment.
Any help would be great.
Rich
I have been looking around the post and seen some good advice, so signed up to get some more specific advice.
From the new year I'm heading into sports photography for the first time. Currently I have a budget of £800 - what would suit myself best. Motorsport and Football being my first priority sports.
I have put this on another forum to as I'm trying to get as many peoples views so I have a good range to look at when I eventually go to purchase my first equipment.
Any help would be great.
Rich
yes I am buying from scratch, to start with it will be the circuits around the UK, Brands most likely as its closet, but I like my racing so it will take me all over.
New and used, I have done a lot of internet searching so far, yet to got to a shop, possibly this weekend or next I will be able to get along to cameraworld which I believe sell new and used?
New and used, I have done a lot of internet searching so far, yet to got to a shop, possibly this weekend or next I will be able to get along to cameraworld which I believe sell new and used?
Used will get you much more for your money. The pro bodies, which are designed for this sort of thing, I fear will still be too much though, so you're probably in DX (crop sensor) territory. Which is no bad thing as your lenses will appear 50% longer and so get you closer to the action. Then you have to decide if you need fast (f2.8 or lower) lenses or normal. If you're going to be working in decent light the latter should be fine.
Thing is with DSLR's these days even the older ones you can get some cracking pictures with, I've just upgraded from my nikon 5100 and it was great hobbiest camera. I have only upgraded as I had a number of people asking me to do weddings so needed something abit more weather proof and duel SD cards.
2nd hand D5100 are cheap as cheaps (or could go for a d5200 but there isnt a huge amount of difference) and then spend your money on the lenses which you will then keep as and when you upgrade.
somthing like a 70-300mm VR ED would give you a good range for when you cant get too close to the track.
Being a nikon man, I'm not sure of the equivalent Canon and you will have people say nikon are the best and other that say Canon or any other others. reality there isnt a huge amount of difference, especially for the high end hobby market, it mostly comes down to what feels best for you. For me nikon just seemed easier to use to start with and thats what I have gotten use to.
2nd hand D5100 are cheap as cheaps (or could go for a d5200 but there isnt a huge amount of difference) and then spend your money on the lenses which you will then keep as and when you upgrade.
somthing like a 70-300mm VR ED would give you a good range for when you cant get too close to the track.
Being a nikon man, I'm not sure of the equivalent Canon and you will have people say nikon are the best and other that say Canon or any other others. reality there isnt a huge amount of difference, especially for the high end hobby market, it mostly comes down to what feels best for you. For me nikon just seemed easier to use to start with and thats what I have gotten use to.
This
http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/used-equipment/us...
And this
http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/new-equipment/len...
or look at the sigma/tamron 70-300's if you want slightly more reach
Job jobbed...
http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/used-equipment/us...
And this
http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/new-equipment/len...
or look at the sigma/tamron 70-300's if you want slightly more reach
Job jobbed...
Edited by Fubles on Monday 24th November 20:48
RichMann29 said:
To start with it will be evening and weekends I will be taking photos.
Has anyone bought from trade camera shows, are they worth the visit?
If your just going to a show (of which there's only 1 in the UK IIRC) purely to get a bargain you'll soon realise the saving is lost in travel, parking and show entry. Has anyone bought from trade camera shows, are they worth the visit?
I'm guessing this is your first SLR. What are you wanting to photograph in the evening?
My suggestion then would be to get a new canon or Nikon in a package with a 70-300mm although ideally if that's all you want to do then your budget will get you a lens more suited to days at the track.
I'll warn you now though most circuits are exposed I often come home from a day at a track to be either sunburnt, burnt from the wind, absolutely freezing or soaked through. And if your getting to grips with a camera it can be sole destroying to get home and have just a couple of photos to be proud of.
A little more info might help. Is this your first dslr? Some of the full frame options mentioned cam seem mind boggling compared to the simpler, easier to use cheaper versions. I look back at photos I took with my nikon d40x with a very cheap 55-200mm lens and once I got the settings right I got some great picturs. It's not all down to the camera unless your going to be making the a1 prints or something
Great responses from all, seems to be such a saturated market when I go looking on a google search.
This will be my first dslr, to start off it will be local football stadiums (evening and weekends) and also the circuits during the day (week or weekend)
I am planning on learning the ins and outs as much as I can for next year with the view to be able to produce good quality photos towards the end of the year. Although having read through various reviews and forums a good lens to start with seems to be a must to give me a good platform to work from. (depending how I pick it up)
First off I was looking at entry level, then after some of yours and other comments I started to looked more used mid range cameras (Nikon primarily as I understood there models straight away).
In terms on lenses are they better to buy new or used. As some people suggest used bodies seem a better by than new currently?
Appreciate your help,
Rich
This will be my first dslr, to start off it will be local football stadiums (evening and weekends) and also the circuits during the day (week or weekend)
I am planning on learning the ins and outs as much as I can for next year with the view to be able to produce good quality photos towards the end of the year. Although having read through various reviews and forums a good lens to start with seems to be a must to give me a good platform to work from. (depending how I pick it up)
First off I was looking at entry level, then after some of yours and other comments I started to looked more used mid range cameras (Nikon primarily as I understood there models straight away).
In terms on lenses are they better to buy new or used. As some people suggest used bodies seem a better by than new currently?
Appreciate your help,
Rich
Second hand digital bodies can be tremendous value as compared to the latest incarnations, BUT, it sounds as if you are going to require a camera with a sensor that is capable of high ISO.
Sensor design advances at a great rate and although there are many excellent 'old' bodies available for peanuts, it would be better for you to buy a not too old tech body.
Look here http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Ratings/Sports to compare whatever bodies are on your shortlist to see what their sensors are capable of.
Sensor design advances at a great rate and although there are many excellent 'old' bodies available for peanuts, it would be better for you to buy a not too old tech body.
Look here http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Ratings/Sports to compare whatever bodies are on your shortlist to see what their sensors are capable of.
RichMann29 said:
First off I was looking at entry level, then after some of yours and other comments I started to looked more used mid range cameras (Nikon primarily as I understood there models straight away).
In terms on lenses are they better to buy new or used. As some people suggest used bodies seem a better by than new currently?
An entry level model may have good high-ISO performance but I doubt it will have the autofocus capabilities you need. You've chosen tricky subjects to start with.In terms on lenses are they better to buy new or used. As some people suggest used bodies seem a better by than new currently?
I think people get a little carried away by 'high ISO' In reality, for most things, good image quality at 1600 is plenty. And this brings me back to my earlier comment about whether you need a standard speed lens (eg f4-5.6) or a fast one (f2.8 or lower). The latter allows you to use a faster shutter speed to freeze fast-moving objects - but of course cost more. Look at 70-300mm for the former and 70-200mm for the latter. The faster it is, the less zoom range you get.
If you want f2.8 for cheap, pick up an early Sigma 70-200mm for £300. If you want it for expensive, pick up a new Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 for £2K
I don't think fast lenses are a must have for motorsport shooting, the good shots are the ones where you can bring your shutter speed down to bring a sense of motion to the photo. Most the hobbyist Canon shooters you see at the track are using the 100-400 which is at most f/4.5.
Overcast/dark days and night races are probably the exceptions to this rule.
The main problem with UK tracks is the amount of reach you need. For most, 300mm is probably the minimum necessary. There's only Oulton Park that I can think of where 200mm would be enough without some heavy cropping.
What you do need, as mentioned, is good AF speed, and both the camera and the lens you're using need to be up to the job.
Look for lenses with hypersonic AF motors (USM on Canon kit, HSM on Sigma, not sure what the others call it) as older (cheaper) lenses will often have slower drive motors.
On the camera, AF will generally improve as you go up the range. Canon xxD bodies have better AF than the xxxD bodies.
Overcast/dark days and night races are probably the exceptions to this rule.
The main problem with UK tracks is the amount of reach you need. For most, 300mm is probably the minimum necessary. There's only Oulton Park that I can think of where 200mm would be enough without some heavy cropping.
What you do need, as mentioned, is good AF speed, and both the camera and the lens you're using need to be up to the job.
Look for lenses with hypersonic AF motors (USM on Canon kit, HSM on Sigma, not sure what the others call it) as older (cheaper) lenses will often have slower drive motors.
On the camera, AF will generally improve as you go up the range. Canon xxD bodies have better AF than the xxxD bodies.
Edited by SlidingSideways on Tuesday 25th November 14:34
RichMann29 said:
Thanks for the advice I will keep hunting and see what I can find out there, do you have any recommendations as to who to buy used equipment from, like MPB?
Actually I use eBay!SlidingSideways makes good points, especially the fact that you don't always want to freeze action - eg a car panning shot might use 1/125th second to get motion blur on the background. But there will times when you do want to freeze action, perhaps in the pits, and a blurry shot of a footballer probably isn't going to look very good. But any camera can do 1/125th so it's not a buying issue.
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