Rex Photography
What DSLR camera do I need for sports photography?
Im trying to get into photography but I just cant find a camera to buy that meets my needs. My budget is around $650 but could go up to around $800 if a lens is included. I will mostly take pictures at sporting events. I love professional sports and go a lot throughout the year so I know I will need a camera with a fast shutter and a good lens. I also go to museums and plan on taking a big trip to Washington DC and will take a ton of pictures there. When looking at cameras what should I look for that will show me if the shutter is fast enough for sports? Im brand new to photography so I don’t know hardly any of the terms of what to look for. So I will mostly be using the camera for sports but also outdoors and a few museums. I know I need a DSLR but after reading a ton of websites Im just confused. Im looking for a list of a few good cameras for professional sports that falls in my budget of around $650-$800. I will be taking pictures at all sports but mostly baseball and some football if that matters.
Public Comments
- If you buy a Nikon D40 with 18-55mm lens for under $500, you can start learning how to use your camera and lens and use the remaining money as seed money for your next lens. I use a Nikon D200 to shoot sports ... don't get caught in the fantasy that the number of frames per second make a good sports camera ... the key is shooting at the peak of action, not machine gunning your camera. It may be a while before you can afford a 400mm f/2.8 lens, but the Nikon 70-300mm VR will get you started learning how to shoot sports. You are not going to learn all this in a few weeks ... even a few years. FYI: http://www.jdpower.com/electronics/ratings/digital-camera-ratings/dslr
- to stop action any camera in that price range will have a fast enough shutter speed - most go to 1/1000 and beyond. the thing you need to be concerned about is the lens. f stop and focal length. the lower f stop will allow lower light shots. a higher focal length will get you closer to the action. f2.8 is OK, f1.4 is better 30-50 mm is life size and depends on the size of the sensor which varies from camera to camera. for a 35mm film frame 50mm=life size. digital cameras will be lower because the sensor is smaller than 35mm film.. so for 35mm film 100mm will be 2x and 200mm will be 4x. and so on. If u are on the 50 yard line 100mm might be perfect. If u are at the end zone top row better go BIG. I would go with a zoom. if it is outdoor, daylight, f2.8 is fine. the difference will be cost.
- It really depends on the type of sports you are going to photograph. How close are you are you to the players? Indoor or outdoors? Daytime or night time? Is it a fast moving sport? What are the conditions - wet, dry, dusty, hot or humid? Probably the main thing to look for in a DSLR for sports is the speed for auto focus. How well the camera performs at a high ISO level, so that you can take photos at night. Water/dust proof if you plan to shoot in the wet. Also burst mode is important and the time between shots. As sports often have a lot of action occurring in a short time period. So you'll want to take a lot of shots quickly. Shutter speed is not really that important as most DSLRs have a similar shutter speed range. Given the amount of light you also probably end up shooting at lower speeds anyway. Also motion blur can be useful as it gives a sense of movement. However having said all that your low budget will really dictate which camera you should buy. You are limited to the lower end Canon and Nikon cameras. Although it is worthwhile considering second hand camera. For sports it really comes down to the lens. Typically you want a fast lens with a good zoom range. Also image stabilisation will come in handy.
