surf photography from the beach

[lazarus219]

The 5100/5500 still will have no shutter lag with the half press (i use it all the time for my skatign shotd and get the timing i want) The start up time is relatively slow- 4 seconds i think, but that isnt really a problem for me because i never really see something and have to get it straightaway, with surfing you could follow the surfer along the wave (maybe a monopod would be a good option) holidng the shutter halfway and then once you want the pic, hit the shutter all the way and you should get good shots.

Anyone that shoots surfing, do you ever have issues with AF having trouble trying to pick out the focus over that area?

Also even if the camera are old, they are still great cameras, i have a friend with a 4 year old digi thats still got better features than heaps of current one and the only issue is shutter lag

 

[mrsid99]

Holding the button at half-press is the pre-focus.

 

[cpimp]

so I bought the fuji s5100 today! I am really really stoked, should be here in a week...
I paid 315- that includes the cam, 256mb card, little lens cleaning kit, case, tax, and shipping. I thought it was a pretty good deal.

Thanks for all the advice, I'll post some of my surf shots ASAP, hopefully there is some swell... its been pretty small

 

[DocFrankenstein]

IMO none of the current digicams are capable of shooting surfing.

You have so much things that have to be there to get the shot!
The Auto Focus has to be on the surfer, and not on the splashes
The shutter has to be tripped at the right time...
The image quality of 10x zoom is bad...

Even if it's zeiss or leica... it's a low contrast lens at the tele end with chromatic aberrations all over the place.

What is your budget?
You can pick up 10D/Digi rebel for around 650:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65038

Lens... hmm... Ideally it'd be:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=162616&is=USA
Or:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=192445&is=USA

But obviously the budget constraints limit you to something else. 500 f/8
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=707&item=7504855436&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

100 bucks... it's not fast, it's manual focus

BUT: The contrast is quite good and the sharpness is acceptable, because it's relatively easy to build a lens this slow.

You don't need a fast lens for surfing. At a sunny day, f/8 is gonna give you 1/400 shutter speed at ISO 100

And you can go to ISO 400 with no problem, giving you F/11 at 1/800

With that setting you will get very sharp results with great contrast and high resolution. That combo will beat any point and shoot to death, giving you 800mm effective focal length.

My 2 cents

 

[cpimp]

well, you've thoroughly discouraged me, its alright though

 

[thebeginning]

Part of this really depends on what you are hoping to achieve. If you are looking for nice close up shots of the person filling the frame, you are probably looking at at least a 200-300mm (or more) lens with a film SLR. Also, being that it is fast moving, you would ideally have a relatively high-end lens that is fast (f2.8) and has a fast focusing system. None of this is going to be too cheap.

A 10X digital may not be a bad solution considering the prices have come down quite a bit. The downfalls are going to be less quality (which may or may not be a huge issue) and the shutter lag that most standard digitals exhibit. Shutter lag can be a HUGE issue when you see that perfect shot, hit the button, and then sit and wait for the shot to be taken....meanwhile the perfect shot just isn't as perfect anymore.

A film SLR or digital SLR would probably be your best bet, but you need to decide if you want to put out that kind of money for the components that would be best for the job. Hope this helps some!

i would agree somewhat, in suggesting that you buy a film slr and a large lens. with manual focus (it might be a tad harder because the surfer moves alot) you can get some relatively large lenses for pretty cheap. (you can easily get a 500mm mirror lens for under $80 or so). i dont think you will need a fast lens, because usually beaches (since they are so open) and large bodies of water provide ample lighting conditions. im sure even at f22 you can get around 1/250 or even 1/500 on bright days for shutter speed. so i think anything f8 or below will work fine for you. i have a 70-210 zoom lens that i got for like $40 that has f3.5 (which is medium-fast for a large lens). if you are going to get an autofocus 300mm or above and f2.8 or lower, be prepared to fork over a couple thousand dollars. if you are willing to spend that much you might as well just by an expensive digital camera (20d and above) and get a 70-300mm lens and just crop some zoomed in shots to get the results you want?