New to the Site

[tonsoffun49]

Hi Everyone.

I found this site while googleing Sports Photography and saw a lot of amazing work, noticed a lot of informative people. I have a few questions about photography that I hope you guys can help me with so thanks in advance.

4 years ago I got more serious with photography and bought my first DSLR camera. It was my senior year in high school and I was made head of photography for our school yearbook. At the time I was also going to a career center for commercial photography where I did a lot of studio projects. My camera was a Olympus Evolt E-500 with 14-45mm 3.5-5.6 and a 40-150mm 3.5-4.5. At the time, this camera was pretty good (I assume). I took tons and tons of amazing sports shots for our yearbook (amazing at the time). But after graduation I put the camera down and hadn't really touched it since. I got busy with work and life and just lost interest. Over the past 4 years I have been trying to decide what to go to college for and I never could decide. Over the past few weeks I have started shooting again and am starting to realize (again) that I love photography. I now have realized that this is what I want to do. And yes I realize how hard it is to get into this profession, I am willing to do the time. lol

I still have my e-500 but i am finding that it isn't what it used to be and can not compete with all these new cameras and lenses. So now I am looking to buy a new dslr. I was looking at the Canon EOS 50D. My main focus is sports, as I am going to go back to my high school and shoot for them to build my portfolio. But I also want to do some portraiture. So my question is, what camera body would you recommend and what 2 lenses would you recommend.

Sorry for my long story, and thanks again for any help.

[Loupey]

Hi there and welcome to the site.

I don't do much of either portraiture nor sports and I have only shot with Canon bodies so I'm really not qualified to answer your question.

Assuming you do go with Canon and the 50D (a good mid-level sports camera I think), I'd recommend the 24-105mm f/4L IS and the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. The 24-105mm is extremely sharp and the IS is very good. The 70-200mm is versatile for many sports and a 2x works well with it for long reach applications.