Sports & wildlife

toejam237 · Jul 16, 2018

What's the best camera setup for sports and wildlife .. full frame or mirrorless..I have a Panasonic g80 with pan 100-400 lens, but I'm disappointed with the results.
Cropping seems to make the pic worse, is that down to my 16mp sensor on the g80? Should I change for a full frame such as the nikon d810, 36mp ,would that improve things image wise while cropping.
It may well be user error. But I'm thinking I need more detail im my pics.

Jeff15 · Jul 16, 2018

Hello and welcome. For wildlife, I use the Lumix G9 + Panasonic 100-300mm II and I am very pleased with my results.

Overread · Jul 16, 2018

Sports and wildlife are two areas that are actually very demanding in performance of both camera, lens and user and can often highlight weaknesses in gear/method far more so than other mediums.

First up I'd say lets see what you're getting and what problems you've got with specific photos that you've taken. A 100-400mm lens should do well (esp on a crop sensor) in terms of reach for sports and wildlife; so lets have a look at your actual photographs. It might be that a few changes to your method will give you far improved performance beyond what a new camera would achieve (since a new camera wouldn't be resolving any method problems).

zombiesniper · Jul 16, 2018

As Overread has stated. It makes finding issues difficult without an image to go by.

In general FF/APC/M4/3 has less to do with image quality, instead the camera body is where your focus and frame rate issues can come from.
Image quality has a lot more to do with the lens. Clear, fast glass will get you a clear image. Mediocre glass will produce a mediocre image. No way around it.
I can take a 5 year old 18mpix T5I on my 500mm and get a much cleaner image than a 75-300 on a 1DXmk2.

Sometimes a tweak of a few settings cam make a camera produce better results as well.

In short. Lets see a pic 'cause we're just guessing here.

Peeb · Jul 16, 2018

toejam237 said:
What's the best camera setup for sports and wildlife .. full frame or mirrorless..I have a Panasonic g80 with pan 100-400 lens, but I'm disappointed with the results.
Cropping seems to make the pic worse, is that down to my 16mp sensor on the g80? Should I change for a full frame such as the nikon d810, 36mp ,would that improve things image wise while cropping.
It may well be user error. But I'm thinking I need more detail im my pics.

Full frame vs. mirrorless has nothing to do with resolution, so I'm not sure what you are getting at there. Are you having trouble with high ISO shots in low light or having trouble capturing motion, or simply lack of sharpness in general? If you are interested in nikon, the D500 is a much better suited sports/wildlife camera with newer tech and more sensitive sensor than the D810 (which is a stellar landscape camera). Of course, changing systems means investing in new glass too. The nikon 200-500 is wonderful.

EDIT: The focusing system on the D500 and the frames per second are both also superior to the D810.

dunfly · Jul 16, 2018

Like others have said, it is hard to tell without an example. My question would be, are you using a tripod or other means of support for the camera, or are you hand holding the camera? The most common problem with high focal length photos is camera shake.

BrentC · Jul 16, 2018

The Panny 100-400 is a very nice lens and great for wildlife. I use Olympus not Panny but from what I have read the G80 is more than good enough for stills. Where you may see issue is fast action sports and bifs and that would be issue with the body not the lens.
You need to be more specific in what your issue is and show some examples. There is a lot of people using your combination for wildlife with great results. IQ should not be an issue.

ac12 · Jul 17, 2018

TJ
You need to be much more specific.

Sport; what sport.
Wildlife; what wildlife (size); small bird or buffalo or whales.

How far are you from the action/wildlife
What are the lighting conditions

Without this info, it will be impossible to give a decent recommendation.

TonyUSA · Aug 12, 2018

I believe in better gear can lead to better results. Fast frame rate (FPS) is very important and fast glass is also very import in sport. My Canon 5D3 is very slow for sport (6FPS) at the time I bought my 5D I am not sure if I am going to like portrait or sport. If I knew that I am going like more in sport I will buy faster frame rate camera because a fraction of a second matters in sport. But over all for me, I will put more money in lens than camera.

Gary A. · Aug 12, 2018

The 'Best' camera for sports and wildlife (non-macro wildlife) would be the flagship Nikon, Canon.
Nikon- D5
Canon- 1D Mark X

or Nikon and Canon APS-C 'action' cameras.
Nikon- D500
Canon- 7D

Action photography is all about quick focus, high FPS and the fast lenses needed for low light, higher shutter speeds and subject isolation.

I'd also include the Sony a9, but I'm not sure about their lens system.

ac12 · Aug 12, 2018

TUSA
HIGH frame rate is nice to have but not critical.

IMHO, after 6 FPS, you need to get faster than 10 FPS to make a significant difference
And for some sports I would like 20+ FPS.

I will many times shoot sports in single shots, rather than burst/continuous.
IF you know the sport, and have the experience to time the shot well, you can shoot a single shot and be comfortable that you got the shot.
There were a LOT of good sports photos taken, back when we shot as fast as our thumb could cock the film advance lever. It was not frames per second, it was seconds per frame.
But, I will admit that having a continuous shooting option is nice to have.

IMHO, more than high frame rate, it is what GaryA said, 'quick focus.' The ability to quickly shift from player to player and nail the focus is the greatest single thing that I like about today's cameras.

The 2nd is good high ISO performance. In yesteryear, black and white Tri-X pushed to ASA 1200 was as good as we got, and it was grainy. Today I can shoot color at ISO 12800, and get decent pictures. This is important for night games under light and gym games in dim gyms.

Fast glass is important in low light (night games under lights, and indoor gym games), but less so in daylight. So this depends on what sport you are shooting and the lighting conditions.

TonyUSA · Aug 12, 2018

Yes, Canon 1D X II is my next on the list after 400mm 2.8 lens. The best Canon camera in sport period (as 2 of the pro photographers I met at game said the same thing 1D X mk II.).