Olympus E3 or Nikon D300 for sports

391615 · Jul 30, 2008

What would be the best camera to go for, to shoot sports photos. I'm not getting the best with my current camera. And I'm in the hunt for a new camera anyway.

I like the 51 focus points on the D300 that would be awesoem for sports focussing. I'm sick of getting a good shot come up and the damn camera won't focus. I'm looking at a 300mm f2.8 lens also, I'm not sure if its worth getting the IS versions, as I'd be using a monopod anyway. And the cost is huge. Quick focus is important.

The Olympus E3 is a full frame senosor, and they provide a lens of 300mm 600 in 35mm format. about 8k though thats the problem. Iv'e heard great reviews about the E3. But what would be teh best camera for me?

I want to be able to get great shots so I can push my abilities, in getting ground access for games, and then making money from my shots.

Basically atm I'm stuck to shots within 30 metres of my camera, to get any good shots.

reg · Jul 30, 2008

391615 said:
The Olympus E3 is a full frame senosor, and they provide a lens of 300mm 600 in 35mm format.

These two statements completely contradict each other.

Well, technically, they don't, but if you consider full frame to mean a 35mm sensor then it's not full frame.

That being said, the Nikon will likely be the better choice for sports.

SpeedTrap · Jul 30, 2008

Go to any sporting event and you will only really see 2 names on the sidelines.
Nikon and Canon.

Village Idiot · Jul 30, 2008

The Olympus E3 is not a full frame sensor. The Olympus E3 is a 2.0x crop sensor that fills the frame of the 4/3 lenses. The lenses are made for the sensor but it's half the area of a true 35mm full frame sensor that's in the D300. The D300 should win hands down any day of the week as far as IQ is concerned.

Edit: Also look at the Canon 1DMKIII. It's uses a 1.3x crop sensor. Not quite full frame but still larger than average.

Hertz van Rental · Jul 30, 2008

SpeedTrap said:
Go to any sporting event and you will only really see 2 names on the sidelines.
Nikon and Canon.

You'll also see Nike. So by the same logic he'd be OK taking pictures with a pair of trainers? :mrgreen:

The Nikon may look good in some areas but in others the E3 leaves it cold. And it has a couple of very fast focussing lenses.
At the end of the day, though, the make of camera is not really important. All that matters is having a camera that you feel comfortable using.
Don't listen to anyone else's opinion because they are not going to be the one using it.
Go to a shop and have a go with all the cameras they have. Sooner or later you will pick up one that feels right. Don't look at the make. Don't look at the price. Just buy it.

Bifurcator · Jul 30, 2008

Village Idiot said:
The Olympus E3 is not a full frame sensor. The Olympus E3 is a 2.0x crop sensor that fills the frame of the 4/3 lenses. The lenses are made for the sensor but it's half the area of a true 35mm full frame sensor that's in the D300. The D300 should win hands down any day of the week as far as IQ is concerned.

Edit: Also look at the Canon 1DMKIII. It's uses a 1.3x crop sensor. Not quite full frame but still larger than average.

What? The D300 has a FF sensor? Huh? I thought I just learned that it didn't. Only the D3 and D700 are FF in the Nikon name.

Isn't that right?

EDIT: This says it's a DX (not fullframe) and not the FX (fullframe) format. The D300 is a 23.6 x 15.8 mm CMOS sensor (DX format). What am I missing?

shivaswrath · Jul 30, 2008

All of these cameras are crop sensors, there is SO MUCH WRONG INFORMATION IN THIS THREAD!!!

JerryPH · Jul 30, 2008

Yikes! Some people need to check out easily verifiable camera characteristics before putting in their 2 cents!!

Bifurcator · Jul 30, 2008

It's not a big deal that VI made a mistake (if indeed the mistake is actually his) I just thought I was going crazy there for a sec.

The OLYE3 is: (18.00 x 13.50 mm, 2.43 cm²), PD= 4 MP/cm², Type=NMOS
The D-300 is: (23.60 x 15.80 mm, 3.73 cm²), PD= 3.3 MP/cm², Type=CMOS
The D-700 is: (36.00 x 24.00 mm, 8.64 cm²), PD= 1.4 MP/cm², Type=CMOS *Full Frame
The D-3 also: (36.00 x 24.00 mm, 8.64 cm²), PD= 1.4 MP/cm², Type=CMOS *Full Frame
The 1DMIII is: (28.70 x 18.70 mm, 5.36 cm²), PD= 1.9 MP/cm², Type=CMOS
The 1DsMIII is: (36.00 x 24.00 mm 8.64 cm²), PD= 2.4 MP/cm², Type=CMOS *Full Frame

The ones in blue are the ones being discussed by the OP.

Bifurcator · Jul 30, 2008

Also:

Nikon D-300 shoots ~6 fps,
Olympus E3 shoots ~5 fps.
So I guess they're the same in that regard (ie. "for sports" continuous drive).

The Oly E3 supports ISO 100 ~ 3200
The D-300 supports ISO 200 ~ 3200 (but has a "boost mode" that kicks it to 100 ~ 6400

The Oly E3's shutter is 60 sec. (+ Bulb) ~ 1/8000 sec.
The D-300's shutter is 30 sec. (+ Bulb) ~ 1/8000 sec.

The E3 has in-camera Image Stabilization.
the Nikon needs to have it in the len$.

The E3 has a flip-up LCD

Hehe...

I guess these are the relative features for sports... What else? Anyone?

Peter_pan91 · Jul 30, 2008

The D300 probably blows the E3 out of the water in terms of high iso performance but you might want to consider the fact that olympus has some awesome fast focusing lenses and that on the telephoto side you will have a huge advantage do to the 2x crop factor, hell a 300 f.2.8 is a 600f.2.8, that's pretty rad... and olympus even has the only f2.0(!!) zoom lens around

Bifurcator · Jul 30, 2008

I don't mean to hijack but I wonder if the resolving factor is significant Peter?

So given that each sensor is 10mp or whatever. Would a 400 mm (800 in E3 crop terms) look significantly worse than a 700 (800 in crop terms) on the D300 - like for shooting the moon, or a far far away street sign on a cold day?

Or would it be considered pixel-picking to even notice the difference?

Peter_pan91 · Jul 30, 2008

Bifurcator said:
I don't mean to hijack but I wonder if the resolving factor is significant Peter?

So given that each sensor is 10mp or whatever. Would a 400 mm (800 in E3 crop terms) look significantly worse than a 700 (800 in crop terms) on the D300 - like for shooting the moon, or a far far away street sign on a cold day?

Or would it be considered pixel-picking to even notice the difference?

That is a good question, but since i don't really know the answer i will foward it to a more expert member here

Village Idiot · Jul 31, 2008

Bifurcator said:
What? The D300 has a FF sensor? Huh? I thought I just learned that it didn't. Only the D3 and D700 are FF in the Nikon name.

Isn't that right?

EDIT: This says it's a DX (not fullframe) and not the FX (fullframe) format. The D300 is a 23.6 x 15.8 mm CMOS sensor (DX format). What am I missing?

Crap. Was thinking of the D700.