Ideal camera and lens for parachuting photos?

[chrismgtis]

I am a skydiver and spend most of my weekends at the drop zone. What I want to use the camera for is taking photos of parachute landings from about 50-300ft away, parachutes in the sky (at about 500 ft or so) and activities at the DZ.

I've thought about getting either the Digital Rebel XT or the Nikon D40. The camera will need to be able to handle sunlight well. I will need a lens that can zoom in decent at a few hundred feet (no extreme closeup - just to get the parachute in the shot). I'm also looking for a way to get really sharp clear images with as little noise as possible in different lighting conditions.

I'm selling my Canon Powershot A620 so I need a new, better camera.

- what kind of lens to use to get sharp, clear images
- a decent lens for zooming a few hundred feet (nothing really expensive)
- recommend a camera?

I know nothing about lens.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

If you're going to get a D40 and are only going to be using this thing in sunlight, than get the Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VR. The other versions i'm pretty sure won't autofocus with the D40 and the VR version is newer and sharper with less vignetting.