New photographer needs tips and a camera! Help Me!

<3. · Mar 17, 2007

Hey,

My names Ian and I am hoping to get into photography. I would be taking pictures of paintball players because I play paintball and I would really like to hopefully make a career out of it some day. I am still young now so I have plenty of time to improve. Anyway, I am going to get a new camera for my birthday. I need suggestions on a camera though. I've been told a Nikon D50, and from what i see, the quality is very nice. I need a camera that could capture the fast pace game well. Something that wont blur. So does anyone have tips for me to get the best pictures like the professional paintball photographers? Tips on a good beginner camera would be good too, i'm leaning towards the Nikon D50 as of now. Please take a look at the sites to see what kind of pictures I want to take.

Here are some Paintball photographers websites:

Miguel Cruz
http://www.miguelcruz.com/

Kat
http://www.katspix.com/

They are the 2 most respected photographers in the paintball world by the way.

Thanks so much:thumbup:,
Ian :wink:

The_Traveler · Mar 17, 2007

Dear Miguel,

I looked at those photogrpahers and what they have in common is that ehy get close to the action and anticipate movement. As long as you have good quality telephoto and learn to use your camera, virtually any decent camera, including the D50, will work well.

The big obstacle is you learning how to use the camera and to compose pictures 'in the future" - i.e. anticipate the shots and be in the right position. It lloks like they take thousands of shots and you'll have to do the same, so you'll need fairly good size storage and maybe a camera back that will allow multiple frames/second.

Groupcaptainbonzo · Mar 17, 2007

I am abig advocate of the Canon 400D (Rebel XTi). and if you are starting out you will find it is cheap. Reliable at 10 MPix it has good definition. and All the EF /EFS canon lenses will fit. 3 - 3.5 frames / second will catch a lot of slightly misstimed shots.
Nikon are about as good as Canon. But at the moment Canon appear to have the edge, (If reports in my magazines are anything to go by).
Go to your Local Camera shop, Take these bits of advice with you. Try out the cameras in the shop. See which one "FEELS" best to you and try to get a good price (If not you can always buy online).
If you are after Action / Sports photography you could do with a fast , medium tele (These can be a bit pricey. But Sigma do some very nice ones in most fits).And a L O T of practice in order to get to know when to squeeze the shutter. Good luck, and when you have a few, post them up so we can have a look..

MikeR · Mar 17, 2007

Groupcaptainbonzo said:
Nikon are about as good as Canon. But at the moment Canon appear to have the edge, (If reports in my magazines are anything to go by).
Go to your Local Camera shop, Take these bits of advice with you. Try out the cameras in the shop. See which one "FEELS" best to you and try to get a good price (If not you can always buy online).
If you are after Action / Sports photography you could do with a fast , medium tele (These can be a bit pricey. But Sigma do some very nice ones in most fits).And a L O T of practice in order to get to know when to squeeze the shutter. Good luck, and when you have a few, post them up so we can have a look..

I would just like to add that you should invest in high quality lens. this does not mean that you have to stay with the camera brand lens, Tamron, as well as Sigma (as mentioned by Groupcaptainbonzo ) make Pro quality glass and are more affordable.

a5i736 · Mar 17, 2007

SONY A100 check it out.

StreetShark · Mar 17, 2007

At your level any DSLR will feel great. Also the camera wont get you good shot especially in action sports. You need to now where to shoot and how to shoot it. Also look for a camera that can shoot a lot of pictures at one time fast. Also pick up a book on digital photography and read the manual of the camera you buy. Photography takes a lot of practice and dedication and is not for every one.

PhotoHeather · Mar 18, 2007

That's funny my close friend is in many of those shots. My other friend shoots him while he plays paintball. If you really want excellent shots you are going to need a long and fast lens. This is not typically a sport you can shoot on a tripod so the lens has to be fast to be doing this handheld.

Good luck.

Groupcaptainbonzo · Mar 18, 2007

Long Fast Good Quality Lens.... Not too expensive.... SIGMA make a whole range of f2.8 EX (Excellence) lenses.. I believe that Tamron do as well, But know little or nothing about them. Others on this site will. And your L.C.S. (Local Camera Shop) will help..

A Camera that can shoot lots of pictures at one time.... Get a couple of 2 Gig memory cards.. (2 X 2 is better than a 4. If one goes down, you still have the other..).

By the way... Like the Avatar.... Shows a bit of thinking...

darich · Mar 18, 2007

I'd suggest a Canon 20D.

Great quality camera from a high quality manufacturer.
Good resolution allows you to crop any composition errors - and bear in mind paintball is fast so you may miss your perfect composition.
5 frames per second - among the highest you'll get in a DSLR. it's amazing. And with lots of action, the more frames per second the higher the chance are that you'll get the money shot.

high quality fast lenses are important too but as has been suggested it need not be Canon - Tamron and Sigma have been mentioned. I've only a limited experience with a 28-200 Tamron - nowhere near the quality you'd need so i can't comment on those companies lenses.

I owned a 20D for 18months and loved it.

MikeR · Mar 18, 2007

Check this out. The OP maybe able to make equipmnet suggestion to you, Painball is his specialty

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=280425

mortallis288 · Mar 18, 2007

becareful though even if your behind the net you know how paintballs can sometime sling the net backwards

<3. · Mar 19, 2007

Thanks to everything so far guys, and by the way, ill be infront of the netting, I am thinking of wrapping up the camera with a t-shirt or something. I am going to take some pictures with P&S camera soon, my parents say if they see I am really into it, they will buy me a nice camera.

Txaggie08 · Mar 19, 2007

<3, I'll get you a picture of the enclosure im building for my rebel as soon as its finished. I did some photography with it in a woodsball game last week......I hope you know how to superman without digging your barrel in, you'll be doing alot of that in game.......

What gun do you shoot? If you frequent PBN, PBF or AO, I'm the same Txaggie....

JonR · Mar 20, 2007

I'd point you towards the DSLRs or a camera which can take filters. Just because some of the lenses on the P&S's are so small, if you get any paint on it you're gonna be forever cleaning it.

If you have a clear filter in front of your lens, if it does get covered in paint, you can always take the filter off, swap it for another and then carry on.

BTW - hello everyone, I'm new!

Txaggie08 · Mar 20, 2007

your also going to want to factor in chassis quality with this. Even with the shield bx im building, im still nervous about taking a lens hit. Were talking about a little plastic, liquid filled, ball flying around at 280+fps.