budget sports shooting - advice please

[whittaker52]

Hi everyone, Ive been reading the forums for a while, but only just plucked up the courage to make a post. Ive been in and around digital photography since late 2000 mainly with normal consumer digital cameras, and i am just now starting to consider moving into a digital SLR. My first camera was a Sony Mavica, which i upgraded to a Canon Powershot G3 in 2003 due to its flexability and manual functionality.

I am an avid fan of motorsport and cars, and these tend to be the main subjects for my photographic work. So ideally i would be looking for something that is good for moving subjects, but also can capture even the smallest details on stationary objects. I would also like to be able to have the flexibility to crop my shots if i need to.

I did have a Canon 350D for a short while, but found that it, at times really struggled to get an accurate focus on the subject of the shot, whether this was the limitation of the standard kit lens, or camera, im not entirely sure. I also had problems with the colours the camera was producing - they would sometimes appear washed out, maybe only slightly, but it made the shots look un-realistic. for example, taking a photo in my back garden, the grass would have a very yellow tint to it instead of the natural green that it actually had.

Ive had a look at a few shots this afternoon on various sites - same shots different cameras. This has pretty much made my decision as to avoid Nikon DSLR's due to jaggies around the edges of high contrast colours - say a red object with a slight curve to its edge with a sky background. The Canon cameras seem to have a much softer feel and dont seem to suffer with the jaggies, but also seem to process noise a lot better.

Also, in terms of lenses, what should i be looking at? i know USM is very important - faster focus and much quieter etc, but what else will give good results? should i consider the lower end IS lenses? or are they not worth the extra money?

I am looking to spend about £1000, around $1500 to get me set up with a body and lens/lenses that will produce what i am after.

Also I am coming upto my final project for my graphic design course - which will involve a lot of photography work, so im thinking maybe a better camera will both help make my work look more professional, but also give me better shots.

Thanks in advance for any advice and help that you can offer, im sure this will be the first of many posts here.
Best Regards,
Oliver
p.s. also thanks to smartwombat for pointing me to this forum.

[JSPhoto]

Welcome Oliver,

You may want to check out the sports forum, and this question posed last night, almost identicle to yours....just yours is missing the dirt and dust

Digital, Dust and Dirt Racing

JS

[LensCrazy]

Whitt,

I have the Rebel(350) and I am looking to upgrade for speed and durability reasons only. The 350 is great and i will only say that i noticed problems with lenses the exceed the limitations of the smaller imaging sensor. I now use a 28-300 L and have no problems with AF, very fast. Only if i push its limits will it have a hard time. The lens that comes with the kit is not the best lens by any strech.

[JSPhoto]

Whitt,

I have the Rebel(350) and I am looking to upgrade for speed and durability reasons only. The 350 is great and i will only say that i noticed problems with lenses the exceed the limitations of the smaller imaging sensor. I now use a 28-300 L and have no problems with AF, very fast. Only if i push its limits will it have a hard time. The lens that comes with the kit is not the best lens by any strech.

Haven't heard you say much about the new lens there LensCrazy....so hows it going? Any questions about it?

JS

[SmartWombat]

28-300 seems a good general purpose lens, and since it's an "L" it ought to be quality.
Luminous Landscape doesn't agree though, FWIW.

At UK prices:
100-400 L IS USM F4.5-5.6 .. £1150
28-300 L IS USM f3.5-5.6 ..... £1650
70-200 L IS USM f2.8 ........... £1350
70-200 L USM f2.8 ............... £ 879
24-70 L USM f2.8 ................. £ 889
17-40 L USM f4.0 ................. £ 530
EOS 350D body ................... £ 580
EOS 20D body ..................... £ 849

Now the word was BUDGET of only £1500

That's going to mean serious compromises.
In the end it means lens speed and quality compromises.

Now Oli, I know you have a tight budget, and you want to put that system into use on your project too. So you probably can't afford the IS.

My choice would be the 70-200 L USM f2.8 and the 17-40 L USM f4.0
Which only leaves £100 for the body
But might be achievable in the Xmas sales, or second hand.


If you have money for additional items, the 1.5x converter and the 580EX flash.
Assuming you already have CF cards.
A second battery on the 20D is only needed if you take LOTS of shots, I can go a whole day (and over 1000 shots) on two batteries in the grip. Most people ocudl manage with 1 I think, the battery managment is good.

[whittaker52]

Thank you for all the help and advice. After a lot of thinking, discussing, and looking around, I managed to find a good deal on a Canon EOS 20D with the 17-85mm IS USM Lens. After a bit of initial shooting with the camera, its fantastic!

Thanks once again for all the help and advice,
Oliver

[SmartWombat]

well done Oli.
we ought to meet up someitme and you can try my 70-200 after it's been repaired