Nikon D3200/ Canon T3i (camera upgrade)

[dctm]

New to the forum. I have at least a 7 year old Sony point and shoot camera and would like to upgrade. I have been looking at both the Nikon D3200/ Canon T3i. I am leaning towards the Nikon D3200 and can get a bundle deal for $579 which includes the camera, bag, 18-55mm and 55-200mm lens. I will mainly be taking pictures my children both who play sports.
Son plays baseball/basketball and daughter plays high school volleyball so at times were are pretty far away from the court depending on the gymnasium.
In your opinion would either of these cameras be good for sports shots and re: the lens do you think the ones in the bundle deal would be adequate for volleyball (knowing that would be all the way at the top of gym seating and the floor down below (you never know the set up they w/ have). Thanks!

 

[dctm]

Any advice/ suggestions? Any help is appreciated

 

[KmH]

Go ahead and get the D3200.

It has much better color depth, dynamic range and high ISO (dim light/indoor sports) performance than the T3i (600D, Kiss X5).
Nikon D3200 versus Canon EOS 600D - Side by side camera comparison - DxOMark

 

[PWhite214]

I am not a Nikon owner, but that seems like a good deal. My concern is the 55-200mm f4-5.6 lens seems a little short and slow for the sports you describe. You might be better off just buying the camera and kit lens, putting the other $100 toward a faster 300mm lens. Example: Nikon AF Nikkor Ed 300mm F 4 Lens | eBay, though f4 may not let in enough light to keep the shutter speed up. I have a Sigma 300mm f4 but I have never tried shooting fast action sports.

I own and use a Canon T3i, mostly for use with old manual lenses. The T3i is impressive!

I am sure some Nikon Owners will give more detail.

Phil

 

[dctm]

Thanks. I can Also get the 70-300mm lens for an additional $250 with this bundle deal so I was thinking of purchasing it as we'll.

 

[KmH]

The Nikon AF 300 mm f/4 lens PWhite214 recommended will not auto focus on a D3200 (D3XXX or D5XXX) and would be manual focus only.
The D3XXX and D5XXX cameras do not have an auto focus motor in the camera. AF lenses also do not have an auto focus motor.
The D3XXX and D5XXX cameras need to use AF-S Nikon lenses to auto focus. AF-S lenses have the AF motor in the lens.

 

[goodguy]

Go ahead and get the D3200.

It has much better color depth, dynamic range and high ISO (dim light/indoor sports) performance than the T3i (600D, Kiss X5).
Nikon D3200 versus Canon EOS 600D - Side by side camera comparison - DxOMark

What the man said, get the D3200

 

[robbins.photo]

New to the forum. I have at least a 7 year old Sony point and shoot camera and would like to upgrade. I have been looking at both the Nikon D3200/ Canon T3i. I am leaning towards the Nikon D3200 and can get a bundle deal for $579 which includes the camera, bag, 18-55mm and 55-200mm lens. I will mainly be taking pictures my children both who play sports.
Son plays baseball/basketball and daughter plays high school volleyball so at times were are pretty far away from the court depending on the gymnasium.
In your opinion would either of these cameras be good for sports shots and re: the lens do you think the ones in the bundle deal would be adequate for volleyball (knowing that would be all the way at the top of gym seating and the floor down below (you never know the set up they w/ have). Thanks!

The 3200 will be the better option hands down, because of it's better low noise to high ISO ratio. The lighting in most gymnasiums is terrible. As a result to be honest with you though I would not recommend the bundle deal, the 55-200 is going to be slow glass, meaning it's aperture will vary between 4.5 and 5.6 and it just isn't going to let in a lot of light. In a gym with indoor lighting I think you will find you will have to push the ISO pretty high to get even a halfway decent shutter speed, so it will be a big tradeoff as you'll be forced to either introduce a lot of noise and lose a lot of dynamic range by using high ISO, or you'll have to shoot at shutter speeds that are a lot lower and put up with motion blur.

Unfortunately fast glass plus telephoto equals big money. So....

My advice would be the D3200, body only - buy the kit lens separately an then also get an 85 mm 1.8 af-s G lens as well. It won't have quite the reach of the 55-200, however it is fast glass so you'll be able to keep your ISO lower and still maintain a good shutter speed, and I think you'll find with the 24 mp sensor you'll be able to crop sufficiently that the fact that it's 85 mm won't be that limiting.