First Sports Camera have $600-1200 To Spend

[justhermz]

Hi, I know you guys must be tired of these threads, but I really cannot decide on what to get. First camera I'll own I want one that lasts.

What I am looking for:
- One good lens (I will most likely only buy one)
- Camera Good for Outdoor Sports (Hockey, Soccer)
- Will be taking pictures from the sidelines
- Picture quality over Shots per second
- Would like to be able to blow them up to around 24"x48" and still look good
- Daytime pictures

$600-1200 with lenses included.
Any suggestions will be great, thank you.

 

[bikefreax]

Buy Olympus and nothing else, just kidding. I did that because not many people shoot with Olympus. I will say what others do. Go to a big camera shop and hold and play with each one to get the feel of them. I know for some the Canon feels better, others it's Nikon. I went with Olympus because I liked the image stabilization in the body and the live view which at the time it only had. Go play and decide for yourself which feels best to you. Dont let anybody decide for you since you will be using it.

 

[JimmyO]

Nikon D80 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8

Thats one suggestion
There are thousands of combinations that will work for this.

 

[tirediron]

Is this professional, semi-pro, or personal? If it's the latter, up your budget and get a used to D2Xs, if it's personal or moderate semi-pro, Jimmy's suggestion is a good one (and make sure you do what bikefreax said too!)

 

[reg]

Is this professional, semi-pro, or personal? If it's the latter, up your budget and get a used to D2Xs

Why would someone use a D2X for personal photography??

 

[dylj]

That was just a typo. He meant D80 + 80-200 2.8 for personal

But I don't think that fits in the budget ... and I'm not sure that budget is quite enough for everything.

Although for outdoor sports you can do with a slower lens, I think.

 

[justhermz]

How does it compare to a 40D it seems to be close enough in price that if the 40D was better I wouldn't be too afraid to break the bank. I think the D2x price might be a little much but if it's leaps and bounds better I may consider it. Thanks for all the help by the way.

Oh it's not going to be pro, actually we play alot of sports and I'm trying to do this so when I watch my friends I can take alot of pictures and choose a few poster quality pictures and give it to them as birthday presents so quality is a must. I'll want to be shooting in hi-res, I dont know what that means in terms of ISO or whatever : /

 

[RyanLilly]

For Canon, a used 20D or 30D and a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 would probably come in right around $1200, you could probably even get away with the canon 70-200 f/4, you can get some pretty good deals on used gear on craigslist.
-Ryan

 

[RyanLilly]

Also if you wanted to go Nikon, you still have the option of the sigma 70-200 as well.

 

[jg123]

You can get the xsi with two IS kit lenses for that price range

 

[brileyphotog]

Picture quality is just fine out of an older camera. I would look at the old D2's (H, HS) used and put the rest of my money into something that gets you up to 300mm @2.8 at least. Or even a 200mm prime lens if you are looking to save some money. You might be able to do this with $1200 if you shop around. I ended up shooting a lot more sports than I thought I would and I can tell you that the 3fps on my D80 absolutely kills me. 6+ is a must for any semi-serious sports photography IMHO. I know that a D2 is going into my bag fairly soon.

 

[Buszaj]

Rebel XTi or Nikon D80 with Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I've used the 70-200 f/4 for hockey, won't cut it.

 

[JimmyO]

Rebel XTi or Nikon D80 with Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I've used the 70-200 f/4 for hockey, won't cut it.

Sigma 70-200mm is also a great sports lens, and pretty cheap. Match that with any midrange DSLR and you have a nice combination.

 

[Village Idiot]

Rebel XTi or Nikon D80 with Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I've used the 70-200 f/4 for hockey, won't cut it.

The xti and D80 are slow cameras iirc. Something like a 20D for $400 or the 30D for about $600ish used will shoot 5fps where most all entry level cameras are 3-3.5fps.

That can make a huge difference if you're shooting action photography.

 

[JimmyO]

The xti and D80 are slow cameras iirc. Something like a 20D for $400 or the 30D for about $600ish used will shoot 5fps where most all entry level cameras are 3-3.5fps.

That can make a huge difference if you're shooting action photography.

Agreed
Thats a huge leap which is very helful when shooting sports.