Sports photography on a budget?

[tr0gd0o0r]

From my experience shooting football (high school), the lights tend to really suck and to get a decent shutter speed, I had to use high iso, f2.8 and a flash.

The 200mm lens can work just fine for up close shots, just not as frequently and not as safetly. You can't be more than 5 yards from the line of scrimmage and if the play isn't on your side of the field, forget about it.

 

[Riggaberto]

I have a rebel xti and the f/4 70-200 lens. For just the camera, the rebel xti would be "good enough" at 3 fps. Sure more would be better, but it's still very doable, and a budget constrait is a budget contstraint. I have plenty of fun shooting soccer with it. You'll run into the problem with the lens. I would get the f/2.8 70-200 canon offers, but I think that alone is a bit more than 1k. You would need the faster lens for at night, assuming you're talking about american football. If you cant go over 1k total, you are kind of screwed , unless you want to go manual focus. What I just described is ~$1800 very roughly. You could do a lot with that setup.

 

[Riggaberto]

Well except for this guy.



Makes me cry just looking at it.

That guy looks like he just lost a child. That and his boss is going to killlll him. That is not pleasant to see such an expensive lens in that condition, haha. Do you know what happened?

 

[RacePhoto]

Not to hijack the thread but, is the 30d worth the price over the 20d?

From the don't know gallery. I have a 10D and it's just fine. More than enough for sports, and I spent the money on a 70-200L IS USM 2.8 which will fit onto a 40D should they start making them in 2008 or something.

The lens is more important. It will still be a great lens on the next camera. That's my opinion. It was that or a cheaper lens and a 30D. I picked the lens...

 

[Seefutlung]

I have a rebel xti and the f/4 70-200 lens. For just the camera, the rebel xti would be "good enough" at 3 fps. Sure more would be better, but it's still very doable, and a budget constrait is a budget contstraint. I have plenty of fun shooting soccer with it. You'll run into the problem with the lens. I would get the f/2.8 70-200 canon offers, but I think that alone is a bit more than 1k. You would need the faster lens for at night, assuming you're talking about american football. If you cant go over 1k total, you are kind of screwed , unless you want to go manual focus. What I just described is ~$1800 very roughly. You could do a lot with that setup.

The dif between a used 20D and a new XTi is about $100USD (just had a friend decide to buy a used 20D.)

The dif between 5FPS and 3FPS is almost like night and day. One can rely upon the 5FPS to capture most of a sequential action play ... the 3 FPS, if used similarly as a 5 FPS, will miss most of the shots in a sequential action play. 5 FPS allows you to follow the action ... 3 FPS requires you to release the shutter at the peak of the action.

Gary

 

[Reverend]

Another vote for a 30D and a constant aperture lens (rented)

 

[table1349]

That guy looks like he just lost a child. That and his boss is going to killlll him. That is not pleasant to see such an expensive lens in that condition, haha. Do you know what happened?

At the Yankees game a couple of weeks ago shooting from the dugout. That is quite a foul ball shot he took. Looks like the 400mm f2.8 at a loss of $6500.00. Hopefully he is a paid employee and the newspaper/magazine owns the lens and not a free lance that bought it himself. Although I would venture to guess that if he is, he has insurance.

Of course the damage would have been a lot less if he had a UV filter on for protection.

 

[table1349]

The dif between a used 20D and a new XTi is about $100USD (just had a friend decide to buy a used 20D.)

The dif between 5FPS and 3FPS is almost like night and day. One can rely upon the 5FPS to capture most of a sequential action play ... the 3 FPS, if used similarly as a 5 FPS, will miss most of the shots in a sequential action play. 5 FPS allows you to follow the action ... 3 FPS requires you to release the shutter at the peak of the action.

Gary

Amen. 30D is the way to go.

 

[usayit]

I like the idea of renting. Sports photography is among the most demanding on equipment. It is expensive.... no doubt about that. rent until you can afford and you know exactly what works for you.


In regards to the DSLR... people always seem to focus only on FPS. Do not forget to remember that your camera will have to buffer those images until it can write them to the card. The larger the buffer the better the performance. 10FPS will mean nothing if the most your buffer can hold is 10 shots.

With that said.. don't forget to make sure the media card itself is fast enough to allow the camera to do its job.

Honestly.. I think 5 fps is more than enough to get started anyways.

 

[Zoran]

Well, I might just blow my budget out of the water. I'm about to pull the trigger on the following:

• 30D - Two months old with 5250 actuations and original box contents
• 4 batteries - Two Canon, two generic
• 2 battery chargers
• Canon strap
• Sandisk Extreme III 1 GB CF card
• Fujifilm 128mb CF card
• ATP 1GB CF card
• Sandisk 512mb CF card
• EP-EX15 Eyepiece extender

All of this is $930 shipped.

Personally, after looking at the prices on eBay, I think that's a very good price on the camera alone. The rest is just gravy.

 

[Seefutlung]

Pull the trigger and never look back ... looks like a pretty good deal to me ... after you figure out a lens ... you'll be one happy camper. ^5

Gary

 

[MikeR]

Well, I might just blow my budget out of the water. I'm about to pull the trigger on the following:

• 30D - Two months old with 5250 actuations and original box contents
• 4 batteries - Two Canon, two generic
• 2 battery chargers
• Canon strap
• Sandisk Extreme III 1 GB CF card
• Fujifilm 128mb CF card
• ATP 1GB CF card
• Sandisk 512mb CF card
• EP-EX15 Eyepiece extender

All of this is $930 shipped.

Personally, after looking at the prices on eBay, I think that's a very good price on the camera alone. The rest is just gravy.

Good choice. Let us know which lens you get.

 

[keith204]

Wow, thanks for all the responses. Glad to know I'll be able to give sports photography a shot (no pun intended). I'm definitely going to have a look at getting a used 20d and a 70-200mm F/2.8 to go with it. Any suggestions of where to start looking beside eBay?

go to http://www.sigma4less.com. I bought my Sigima 70-200 2.8 there and LOVE IT. They've been excellent with service too. I ordered over the phone, and talked them into upgrading my generic filters to Hoya ones at no cost. Since then, I have ordered more lenses from them and their service has been great. I returned a couple lenses just cause I didn't like them, and they let me swap them out with another one with no restocking fee.

Be sure you get USA ones though. Anyway, you'll find some good prices there.

 

[Jon, The Elder]

I shoot for money. The deal you posted looks good from here. I shoot with similar gear.
You still have enough left for the Canon 70-200 in some form.

And, yes, the 5fps. counts for a lot in action shots.

Looking forward to your first "WOW" thread.