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Look closely at the photos on the Ford site. They are all done with a telephoto lens. The subjects are some way away and the photographer has zoomed in on them, isolated the subject, made the background and foreground out-of-focus.. That's optics, not Photoshop. People have mentioned the 55-200 or 70-300 - that's the sort of thing you need.
For your football shots, same thing, you can't get close, you need to reach out and just take the action. Same lens. However you also need a camera which can:
- quickly find focus on moving subject and follow it
- shoot immediately when you press the shutter release
- provide Shutter priority mode so that you can pick a high shutter speed yourself and freeze the action
- provide good image quality at 1600 ISO or above so that you can use a high shutter speed even in dull conditions
All current Nikon DSLR's can do this, even the entry-level D3000 (it has the same autofocus system and sensor as the D200 which several people have mentioned).
However there are two desirable features that the D3000 doesn't have but the D300 and D200 do:
- Large clear viewfinder. When shooting sports you really need to see what you are doing. The D3000 viewfinder is horrible (forget about using the LCD screen on the back as well - focus can't follow a moving subject)
- Do a long fast burst ratatatat of images of action. The D3000 will stop after 3-4 images. I never do long bursts anyway. I just try to do one shot at the right moment
Tough to come in under $600. Maybe look for a D80 - very similar to a D200 (including the viewfinder - the burst rate is lower) in a smaller, cheaper body.
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So I just want to feel right about making this decsion as to me that is a lot of money right now. Do you guys think the shutter spead for that will be good for what I want? I know I need to get the 55-200 lense for it but is there anything else I should be looking at?
