Camera for beginner auto photographer

[Tanner sheltry]

my family has been pretty big in the car thing for a long time and I turned 16 about six months ago, so I've been going to a lot of car related things and I have been taking pictures with my iPhone. I want to make my pictures better though. I go mainly to shows and the drag races so would like to be able to get moving pictures and pictures of cars that are parked. I would like to keep it around $700 but I know that would be difficult. Any help would be appreciated. this is a picture I took with my iPhone.

 

[goodguy]

700$ with lenses ?
Oh that cuts it very short.
You can get camera that will produce very good pictures but the AF on it might not be the best for fast moving cars in this price range.

Nikon D3200 with the 18-55 and 55-200mm kit lenses and Nikon 50mm 1.8G for indoor low light shots this should be close to your price.

 

[Tanner sheltry]

Can you explain to me what ap is? I'm really new to this
Canon EOS Rebel T5 DSLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm IS II & 75-300mm Zoom Lens + 32GB Memory Card + Extra Battery Pack + Deluxe Accessory Kit:Amazon:Camera & Photo
I was looking at this as a starter package. Moving pictures won't be a super common thing but I would like to at least be able to get decent ones.

 

[James Baranski]

Craigslist is a great source for cameras. You can get a Canon XT5 for the $500 price range, XT3 in the $400ish... Look at your local Craigslistings

 

[goodguy]

AF=Auto Focus
The Nikon D3200 is a far superior camera to the Canon T5
If you want more reach you can go for a deal of D3200 with 18-55mm + 55-300mm and I highly recommend as I said to add a prime lens 50mm 1.8G for low light situation
I LOVE cars and last year I went to the Toronto car show and there was lots of light and I still couldn't use my kit lens and was forced to use the 50mm prime lens for the extra light

 

[goodguy]

Craigslist is a great source for cameras. You can get a Canon XT5 for the $500 price range, XT3 in the $400ish... Look at your local Craigslistings

I own a camera in the level of these cameras the Nikon D60 and I would advise agains it if you want to get good crisp images of fast moving cars or car in low light situation.

You want to get the camera that is working best in low light with lenses that will bring maximum amount of light into the sensor plus a good AF system for the moving cars, sadly as I said in your price range a very good AF will not be possible.

 

[Tanner sheltry]

AF=Auto Focus
The Nikon D3200 is a far superior camera to the Canon T5
If you want more reach you can go for a deal of D3200 with 18-55mm + 55-300mm and I highly recommend as I said to add a prime lens 50mm 1.8G for low light situation
I LOVE cars and last year I went to the Toronto car show and there was lots of light and I still couldn't use my kit lens and was forced to use the 50mm prime lens for the extra light

I found a kit for $500 and it has the 18-55mm and the 55-300mm, do you have a recommendation for the other lense?

 

[goodguy]

18-55mm and 55-300mm is a good starting kit lens, it will serve you well for all situation that has good lighting condition.
As I said I think a 50mm prime lens is a must for every camera user, its a very useful focal range and is good for everything from street photography, low light situation, portraits and the best thing is that its not an expensive lens.
Get the Nikon 50mm 1.8G, its an extremly sharp lens and cost 200$, you might find it somewhere cheaper but I doubt if it will be much cheaper.
BTW Nikon has another lens the 50mm 1.8D, be carful NOT to get it because it will not Auto Focus on your camera, they look very different and both are good lenses but on your camera only the "G" model will Auto Focus.
I think these 3 lenses should cover most of your initial needs quit nicely.
Most importantly once you get it learn how to use your camera outside the safe but very limiting AUTO mode.
I dont know what you know so assuming you really are new to this learn the 3 basics ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture and learn how to use the camera in Manual mode.
The true magic of photography is the photographers skills.
People think they will get a good camera and few lenses and their pictures will look amazing, sadly they are wrong, they have good equipment but they need to know how to use it correctly or else their pictures will look bad or just plain boring.

Good luck

 

[PropilotBW]

I think you should look into the Nikon 5200. You can get it for a great price used.

 

[KmH]

It is more about photographer skill and knowledge than the camera used.
Shooting moving cars means panning the camera/lens. Panning take considerable load off the camera's AF module.
Making high quality photos of a statically displayed car usually requires knowledge of, and the equipment to do, supplemental photographic lighting.

In the example you posted the car is badly under exposed, which could have been corrected for with the addition of supplemental light, and the car is somewhat out of focus. But the background is reasonably sharp. Which indicates the depth-of-field (DoF) used was to deep and the car was closer to the camera than the near limit of the DoF and outside the range of acceptably sharp focus, or that the point of focus was behind the car instead of somewhere on the car.

I shot these last summer with a 6.1 MP, Nikon D50, which is years older than a Nikon D60, and considered positively ancient and essentially useless by the ya-gotta-have-the-latest-and-greatest crowd.
Lens: Nikon AF 80-200 mm f/2.8D 1-ring (push/pull to zoom, last made in 1997), I bought used for $320.

Experienced photographers know both indoor and outdoor lighting look bright enough to our eyes, but is not all that bright to a camera, and requires using high ISO camera settings. These were shot using the D50's highest ISO setting - ISO 1600.