New to motorsports photography...... help!
Discussion
Hi, I'm a Le Mans goer and last year had a very basic digital camera with me. The photos I attempted to take were not good to say the least. I have been told by 'er indoors that I can have a decent camera for my birthday which is in a couple of weeks. Do I go for Digital SLR or Digital Prosumer. She would prefer not to have to spend more than £500. Also, I have managed to get hold of a number of Pentax lenses from my dads' old 35mm camera. Will these fit modern cameras? Cheers
james
james
You can't go wrong with the digital SLR, last year I purchased my first real camera - a Canon 300D and for it's first real test took it to the Nurburgring in September, you can see some results here - www.philsherwin.com/cpg132/thumbnails.php?album=9 (I hate plugging my website really!) All I had for the trip was the 300D, one battery, a laptop, a 512mb compact flash card, the standard 18-55mm lens that comes with the camera and a Canon 75-300mm EF zoom lens. All in all it was not a lot of kit, and I certainly didn't have much practice with the camera beforehand. In total that was probably just over £500 of kit, but not much and certainly doable today if you shop around.
The most important things you need are a half decent zoom lens (300mm at least), plenty of memory cards (or a laptop to transfer pictures to) and 2 batteries (unless you stopping in a hotel?).
Camera wise you will have a choice of a Canon 300D or 350D, or a Nikon equivalent (i'm unsure what their model range is like). I doubt your current lenses will fit though!
The most important things you need are a half decent zoom lens (300mm at least), plenty of memory cards (or a laptop to transfer pictures to) and 2 batteries (unless you stopping in a hotel?).
Camera wise you will have a choice of a Canon 300D or 350D, or a Nikon equivalent (i'm unsure what their model range is like). I doubt your current lenses will fit though!
James237ww said:
Do I go for Digital SLR or Digital Prosumer.
If you take your photography seriously, it has to be a DSLR. When you get one you suddenly realise they're worth it
James237ww said:
She would prefer not to have to spend more than £500.
That's certainly Canon 300D territory and not far off the utopia that is Nikon D70-land
James237ww said:
Also, I have managed to get hold of a number of Pentax lenses from my dads' old 35mm camera. Will these fit modern cameras?
That'll be the famous K-bayonet I expect. Amongst DSLRs, they will only fit Pentax models. If they are fairly old lenses they might not be autofocus and probably won't work with the metering system either. I wouldn't let it compromise my choice of camera.
Dont let your existing lenses sway your choice i did. Thankfully my dad had nikon lenses so i got the d70 (i think i would have got this one anyway)but within 6 weeks of having it i have given him his lenses back and got new ones you can notice the difference instantly.
I struggled along with a 35mm point and shoot camera for ages and finally took the plunge into the DSLR world Yes it has cost me a couple of hundred more than i wanted to spend it has been worth it
I struggled along with a 35mm point and shoot camera for ages and finally took the plunge into the DSLR world Yes it has cost me a couple of hundred more than i wanted to spend it has been worth it
James237ww said:
Do I go for Digital SLR or Digital Prosumer. james
I thought the same, then bought a Dslr.
One issue I found with the prosumer is when using a continuous shot mode the viewfinder will go blank for a time as the pic is processed. A bit of a problem when trying to pan a shot.
Add to this the extra expansion possibilities of the Dslr, the extra functions and the shortcuts to the important menu operations and you have a much better camera.
DSLR (Canon 300D in my case), 3 batteries for Le Mans at least! (that is if you're going for the full 5 day marathon ), 400mm lens if you can, forget the laptop, buy a Vosonic card reader - 40gb=£125 with a car charger, you can edit/review when you get home and even I would struggle to take 40gb over the few days due to beer-shake.
Practice makes perfect, but until you get time to practice just take a lot and delete 90% of them.
Be prepared for some fences to shoot through at Le Mans though
All taken with 300D + Sigma 80-400OS handheld (couldn't be bothered to carry the monopod).. p.s they're all full frame, not cropped
>> Edited by rj_vaughan on Wednesday 27th April 13:53
), 400mm lens if you can, forget the laptop, buy a Vosonic card reader - 40gb=£125 with a car charger, you can edit/review when you get home and even I would struggle to take 40gb over the few days due to beer-shake. Practice makes perfect, but until you get time to practice just take a lot and delete 90% of them.
Be prepared for some fences to shoot through at Le Mans though
All taken with 300D + Sigma 80-400OS handheld (couldn't be bothered to carry the monopod).. p.s they're all full frame, not cropped
>> Edited by rj_vaughan on Wednesday 27th April 13:53
Thanks so much for all your comments. I see now that the 300D is the way to go, particularly with the photos you guys have shown me (not sure even the Audis will get up to the speed of a Jumbo though!!). I just have to stay in her good books for a couple more weeks!!
As soon as I take some I'll let you know how I got on and hopefully post some on here!
Again big thanks, guys,
Cheers
J
As soon as I take some I'll let you know how I got on and hopefully post some on here!
Again big thanks, guys,
Cheers
J
The one problem I did have with the 300D for motorsport stuff is the lack of servo focus in the creative modes.
The servo focus is basically a feature that constantly focuses the picture whilst your finger is pressing the shutter button half way down. This is useful for tracking a car down a pit straight for example, where you press the button half way down then follow the car for a short while before taking the picture.
It works fine in the sports mode on the 300D which automatically uses this servo focus, but it is not available in the creative modes. (The creative modes allow you to manually set the shutter speed, aperture, ISO setting etc.)
The servo focus is basically a feature that constantly focuses the picture whilst your finger is pressing the shutter button half way down. This is useful for tracking a car down a pit straight for example, where you press the button half way down then follow the car for a short while before taking the picture.
It works fine in the sports mode on the 300D which automatically uses this servo focus, but it is not available in the creative modes. (The creative modes allow you to manually set the shutter speed, aperture, ISO setting etc.)
Phil S said:
The one problem I did have with the 300D for motorsport stuff is the lack of servo focus in the creative modes.
Ah well, Nikon D70 it is then
IMHO servo or continuous focus (AF-C) is vital for anything moving towards or away from you at speed, otherwise your shots will be focused where the object was and not where it is...
James237ww said:
Thanks so much for all your comments. I see now that the 300D is the way to go, particularly with the photos you guys have shown me (not sure even the Audis will get up to the speed of a Jumbo though!!). I just have to stay in her good books for a couple more weeks!!
As soon as I take some I'll let you know how I got on and hopefully post some on here!
Again big thanks, guys,
Cheers
J
If you can afford it, I'd say 350D. The extra 2MP will help if you need to crop and it has a faster frame rate if I recall correctly.. That said, with the lens, you really will get what you pay for. ££££
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