I finally have a budget for a new camera, but which one???

[JohnG]

Unfortunately, the 70-300 won't be at all useful for the indoors stuff. For indoor sports you need an aperture of at least 2.8 - usually 2.0 or better unless you have an extremely well lit gym. That's why I throw out the 50mm 1.8 lenses. They're the best bet at under $100. A 2.8 zoom lens will cost quite a bit of money and you already indicated you don't want to spend $1000 on a lens. So, given your budget I would suggest the something like a 70-300 lens (which has a variable aperture - usually 3.5 at the wide end and 5.6 when zoomed out) and a 50mm 1.8. That's about as inexpensive as you can get.

You can't save any more money on the indoor lens, and the only way to save money on the outdoor lens is to go with a third party lens like the sigma 70-300. The problem with that lens is that it doesn't have HSM (Sigma's faster focus system) so focus speed is pretty poor. The image quality is on par with the Canon but the focus speed is not - and for sports shooting focus speed can help.

[futbol mom]

JohnG, what kind of lens usually comes with the camera. Isn't it something like the 50mm lens your suggesting for indoor pictures? If I got the "stock" lens that comes with the camera, would that work for an indoor lens, or are they just a waste of $$.

FB Mom.

[JohnG]

FB Mom,

The stock lenses may have similar focal length - but it's not the focal length that I'm referring to. It's the maximum aperture value of the lens. Most stock lenses have variable apertures similar to the 70-300 (that is something like 3.5-5.6). Apertures that narrow are not going to get you the shutter speeds you need to stop action.

ISO, shutter speed and aperture work together to determine exposure. Let's say you have a correct exposure with ISO 400, f5.6 and 1/250. If you want a faster shutter speed - say 1/500 you have to either increase ISO or aperture. ISO values go 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200. Aperture values go 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22. If you increase the aperture from 5.6 to 4.0 (one "stop") then you can increase the shutter speed from 1/250 to 1/500. If you increase the aperture another "stop" to 2.8 the shutter speed goes up to 1/1000. ISO has the same affect. In our example above (ISO 400, f5.6 and 1/250), if you increase the ISO one "stop" to ISO 800 then the shutter speed goes up to 1/500. Increase it to 1600 the shutter speed goes to 1/1000.

In sports, you need fast shutter speeds - I've found for most human sports, 1/400 is the bare minimum shutter speed yielding acceptable results.

Now, I haven't started basketball yet, but shooting volleyball this past fall in the same gyms I'll be shooting basketball in, I needed to use ISO 1600 and f2.0 to get the necessary shutter speeds of 1/400. If I had a 5.6 lens, my shutter speeds would have dropped to 1/50 (f5.6 is 3 stops difference from 2.0) so you have to adjust shutter speed by 3 stops)- WAY, WAY too slow for stopping action.

Let me reiterate: the 50mm 1.8 lens is the absolute cheapest way you are going to shoot indoor sports. You can't use a kit lens for it and get good results. You MUST have a lens with a max aperture of 2.8 or better (better being a lower number like 2.0 and 1.8).

Now, kit lenses are good for what they are. And, you're going to need lenses for your non-sports shooting - remember the 50mm lenses I'm referring to are PRIME lenses - which means they are fixed focal length and can't zoom. So, it's not a very practical lens for all-around use. The kit lens is a decent way to get started - but it's just not useful for sports use.

So, buy the DSLR with kit lens and also a 50mm 1.8 prime AND 70-300 type lens (and don't forget the 70-300 type lenses are only good for day games).

Hope that helps somewhat.

[futbol mom]

Thanks JohnG. I have a pretty good handle on the whole lens thing, so now all I need to do is make my Camera decision. :? At this point I think it's between Canon 20or 30 D or Nikon D80. I was trying to find a 20D as you suggested, but there were not many around.

Thanks again for the info.

FBMom

[bobbyz]

Well all I will say is skimp on the body but not on the lens.

I would take a rebel Xt/XTi (even though I hate it) with say sigma 70-200 f2.8 than 30d with any 70-300 lens. BTW, I do have 30d.

[futbol mom]

I was looking around for a 50mm lens on e-bay, and there are so many with varying prices. What is the "verbiage" I'm looking for. One said New Canon lens, 50mm 50 1.8 f1/8 f/1.8 II EF lens....it was only $70...what the heck does all that mean? I thought I would be spending more like $150....Can anyone direct me.

Thanks,

FB Mom

[futbol mom]

OK, another question....How can the below web site offer a Nikon D80 (body only) for $399??:shock:

http://www.expresscameras.com/prodet...00&start=1

Thanks again.

[JohnG]

futbol mom wrote:

One said New Canon lens, 50mm 50 1.8 f1/8 f/1.8 II EF lens....it was only $70...what the heck does all that mean? I thought I would be spending more like $150....Can anyone direct me.

Thanks,

FB Mom

As I mentioned the cost of a 50mm 1.8 lens is less than $100. $70 is about the going rate for the lens you're looking at. the II refers to the second version of the lens. It's pretty tough to find an original version. There were some differences (I think the original had a better mount) - but $70 is about right.

The Nikon version is a bit pricier - going for around $115


As to express cameras, always check out resellerratings.com for online vendors. They have a 0.36 rating out of 10. Think they're legit?

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Express_Cameras

The cheapest price (with shipping) I see from a legit dealer is about $910 from butterfly photo or $920 from beach camera. I'd be VERY leary of any place selling it for less than about $890.

[futbol mom]

Thanks JohnG!

[TDN]

As said above, I wouldn't spend more than 1000$ on the body. That will leave you with about 500$ or more to spend on lenses, which is a nice budget.

make sure all your lenses are fast. This means f2.8 or better, you'll need all the shutter speed you can get.

I'd recommend one of the 50mm's for close work, and a nice telezoom with the long end at 200 or 300mm. The last one will be expensive.

Good luck on the camera hunt