Camera and lens for Wildlife and Sport photography

stened91 · Sep 14, 2012

Hi i need a camera and lens for wildlife and sport photography. It needs to handle som drizzling rain, water splash and som dust.
I am going to use 1 lens mostly (telephoto or telezoom lens) becouse i have the Fuji x100 as a walkaround camera.

I have been looking on a few cameras and i want some input in what is the better deal/combo

Eos 7D with 70-200 IS or 300mm F4

Sony A77 with 70-400

Nikon D3 and a 70-200 + teleconverter

and thats about it. Feel free to add more combo`s that you think is better or a combo i should consider.

TheLost · Sep 14, 2012

A crop sensor body will give you more 'reach'.. (1.5 crop x 200mm = 300mm)

Canon 7D w/ 70-200 f2.8
or
Nikon D7000 (or D300s) w/70-200 f2.8

If you want Full Frame a Nikon D700 or Canon 5DmkII are good choices.. The D3 would give you the best build quality but in an older camera.

IMHO, I'd stay away from Sony. You have better lens options with Nikon or Canon.

Big Mike · Sep 14, 2012

I'd look toward a Canon 7D or Nikon D7000. As for the lens, that will depend on many factors....budget being a big one.

sovietdoc · Sep 14, 2012

Canon 7D with 100-400L

sovietdoc · Sep 14, 2012

stened91 said:
Hi i need a camera and lens for wildlife and sport photography.

TheLost said:
If you want Full Frame a Nikon D700 or Canon 5DmkII are good choices..

Just No.

stened91 · Sep 14, 2012

TheLost said:
A crop sensor body will give you more 'reach'.. (1.5 crop x 200mm = 300mm)

Canon 7D w/ 70-200 f2.8
or
Nikon D7000 (or D300s) w/70-200 f2.8

If you want Full Frame a Nikon D700 or Canon 5DmkII are good choices.. The D3 would give you the best build quality but in an older camera.

IMHO, I'd stay away from Sony. You have better lens options with Nikon or Canon.

Why stay away from sony when i am only going to use 1 lens? I dont need alot of lenses to choose from.

And when it comes to Nikon. D300s or D7000? who whould win? and i read that 7D have terrible dust and moisture ressistans

and i got about 3.5k to use

Overread · Sep 14, 2012

I've not heard about the 7D having poor weather resistance, indeed the general impression I've got is that its as good as you can get without getting a 1DMIV series camera body at much higher cost.

Also what kind of budget are you thinking for all this?

Big Mike · Sep 14, 2012

If weather resistance (and solid build quality) is a high priority, you might consider an older/used pro body. A Canon 1D mkIII can be found for around $1300.

stened91 · Sep 14, 2012

The build quality is not the main thing.. the priority is tracking birds and cars/bikes well

i have a budget of about 3.5k

and 1 thing i didnt mention, i whould like some movie function. Becouse it whould be cool to record a bird fly and make it slow motion in pp

sovietdoc · Sep 14, 2012

stened91 said:
The build quality is not the main thing.. the priority is tracking birds and cars/bikes well

i have a budget of about 3.5k

and 1 thing i didnt mention, i whould like some movie function. Becouse it whould be cool to record a bird fly and make it slow motion in pp

For 3.5k yes, 7D with 100-400L

stened91 · Sep 14, 2012

sovietdoc said:
stened91 said:

The build quality is not the main thing.. the priority is tracking birds and cars/bikes well

i have a budget of about 3.5k

and 1 thing i didnt mention, i whould like some movie function. Becouse it whould be cool to record a bird fly and make it slow motion in pp

Click to expand...

For 3.5k yes, 7D with 100-400L

can i ask why? Who do you jump on the 7D? whouldn`t the A77 with 70-400 do the same job? or am i missing something?

i wonder why everyone is hating sony and pentax. hmm

SCraig · Sep 14, 2012

Wildlife and sports are not necessarily the same thing. For wildlife you need a lot of reach, for sports you need a lot of light. Lots of reach and lots of light in the same lens is very expensive, very large, and very heavy.

I use a 70-300 zoom for motorsports. In fact I use my 70-300 zoom for most things. I wish it were a bit faster, but I make do with it. I use a 150-500 zoom for wildlife and birds. No matter what you have for birds it will never be long enough or fast enough. Fact of life.

A camera with an APS-C sensor gives you 50% (Nikon) to 60% (Canon) more effective focal length but at the cost of a bit more noise. That remains true regardless of the lens, so if you plan to shoot with a wide-angle lens at any time it would not be the best choice.

As to Nikon or Canon, I'm not going there. Too many arguments already stirred up by that question. Pick the one you prefer, learn to use it, and never look back. They are both equally good, and with an experienced photographer behind you'll never see any difference.