Newb Question

[Skee]

This is my first post and my first visist to this forum. So HI to all!! I am thinking of purchasing the Nikon D200. I am new to 35mm picture taking. I take a lot of pictures of my kids. A lof of them are them playing sports or tubing. I was wanting to know if this is a good camera to do that? Also, what type of lense should I get? I like to take pictures from the boat of my kids tubing and even though they are only about 50ft away, my pictures turn out like they are 200ft away. My current camera is an old Minolta film 35mm with a 35-80 lense on it. It takes good pictures but lacks the fps I want to take during some sporting events and doesn't get as close as I want. Any advise would be appreciated. Any camera suggestions would also be appreciated. This Nikon may be too advanced for me I don't know?

Thanks for your time,



Skee

Skee wrote:

This is my first post and my first visist to this forum. So HI to all!! I am thinking of purchasing the Nikon D200. I am new to 35mm picture taking. I take a lot of pictures of my kids. A lof of them are them playing sports or tubing. I was wanting to know if this is a good camera to do that? Also, what type of lense should I get? I like to take pictures from the boat of my kids tubing and even though they are only about 50ft away, my pictures turn out like they are 200ft away. My current camera is an old Minolta film 35mm with a 35-80 lense on it. It takes good pictures but lacks the fps I want to take during some sporting events and doesn't get as close as I want. Any advise would be appreciated. Any camera suggestions would also be appreciated. This Nikon may be too advanced for me I don't know?

Thanks for your time,
Skee

I'm assuming that you meant you are new to digital photography (instead of 35mm, since you already have a 35mm film camera).

A Nikon D200 is pushing the Professional edge of DSLRS & probably more camera than you need. For one thing, the file sizes are huge and unless you are a Photoshop Guru, you will probably be wasting a lot of it's abilities.

Unless you are stuck on the Nikon brand, I would recommend a Canon Digital Rebel 350XT or their 30D. You will save a lot of money that can be sunk into lenses & memory cards & they take great images. For a decent range walk-around lens, the Canon 28-135IS (Image Stabilized) is hard to beat. They also make a very reasonable 70-200mm/f4.0L lens that is top notch.

[Skee]

Thanks for your reply. I only picked the Nikon because of the really good reivews it had.

Thanks again,

Skee

[jacks]

You need a longer lens to get the action closer. Probably about 200mm for the distance you mention. For sports you also need a fast lens so that you can get shots with fast shutter speed otherwise the movement of your subject will cause blur.
To get REALLY good shots, any dslr + a 70-200f2.8 zoom is probably what you need. The cheapest such zoom is from sigma and will cost around the same as your camera so you are looking in the region of US$1800+. This might be overkill for what you need.
If you don't want/can't spend this much then you are probably better off getting a point and shoot. Look for one with a 35mm zoom equivalent of 300mm or so. An slr with a slow or too short lens will not really do any better.

[mtclimber]

jacks-

You have given great advice right up to the lens price. I am sure skee can fint a nice 70-200mm for her Nikon for less than $1800.

This is a long ways away but it is a bargain. Take a look:\

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-70-210mm-A...QQcmdZViewItem

MT

[Log]

for the kind of pix hes talking about i think that a nikon d50 (i love mine) the kit lens and the sigma 100-300 f4 or 70-200 f2.8 sounds like a primo choice... http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...mp;Submit.y=17

all can be had for around $1600 USD

just my 2 cents...

-Logan

[mtclimber]

That makes an excellent combination, Logan-

I agree with you.

MT

[JohnG]

What other sports besides tubing. If tubing is really about it then any entry level DSLR with a good 200mm lens will meet your goals.

But, depending on other sports you shoot other factors such as frame rate, high ISO performance, focus ability come more into play. The sad truth is there is no one great camera - every camera out there has pros and cons.

Also, I highly recommend handling each camera - the Canon 350, 30D and Nikon D50 all handle differently. You may have a personal preference towards one or the other - ergonomics are a huge part in deciding which camera to go with. Since both Canon and Nikon have excellent lenses and are similarly priced at the prosumer level (i.e not top of the line $5000 plus primes) it is a safe assumption that either lens system will likely meet all of your future goals.

So, let us know what other sports you shoot - that could make the difference between whether the Canon 350 / Nikon D50 is good enough or whether you need the added feature set of the Canon 30D

[Skee]

They both play baseball and do a little golfing. I would like to get some good pics of them hitting the ball or sliding home. Stuff like that.

Thanks everyone for your help. It's nice to come to a forum and meet such nice people that like helping out those less informed on this issue.

My kids are only 9 & 6 and I would like to have some good pictures to remember their childhood.

Thanks again!!



Skee

[JohnG]

OK - golf and baseball:

The good news is both are done in decent lighting so the ISO 1600 capabilities of the Nikon D50 or Canon 350d will be plenty for your needs. But, don't kid yourself - even with those sports you'll use ISO 1600 - so you want good ISO 1600 performance which really means Nikon D50 and Canon 350 - they're the best performing ISO 1600 cameras in that price class.

Now, the Canon 20d/30d will have better focusing and servo tracking than the 350 (especially with a lens with 2.8 aperture or better which takes advantage of a high precision focus ability built into the 20d/30d). I really haven't seen anything that compares the Nikon to the Canons in terms of focus speed. But, I still think either entry level camera is sufficient. The lens is more critical, IMO - assuming a quality lens I've seen enough good shots from both entry cameras to say the focusing ability is good enough for your needs (I might have a different answer if you were planning on selling work vs. just a hobby).

The one area where the 20d/30d would help is frame rate - 5fps (20d/30d)vs. 3 in the 350 / D50. Especially with bat on ball shots - timing a pitcher is pretty difficult so the extra frame rates can be really beneficial. With golf it isn't that important since you shouldn't be shooting during the down swing anyway (it's an etiquette thing - you should only shoot the follow-thru if that so you don't disrupt the golfer).

IMO, the extra frame rate alone isn't enough to justify the added cost. You're better off buying an entry level camera and a 70-200 2.8 lens.

I really want to emphasize the 2.8 lens - you plan on doing sports shooting and if you don't start out with a 2.8 lens you'll eventually want/need one. So, you'll save money in the long run by buying it up front. A 200mm 2.8 lens is leagues above a 200mm 5.6 lens it's even above a 300mm 5.6 lens - as a sports lens. It will give you better results from the start and you can add a 1.4x TC to any of the Nikon / Canon / Sigma 70-200 2.8 lenses and still have outstanding quality, fast autofocus results (albeit at a loss of 1 aperture - with a 1.4x TC a 2.8 lens becomes 4.0).

So, my advice - handle both the Canon 350 and the Nikon D50 and whichever is most comfortable / intuitive to you - buy it with a kit lens and the appropriate 70-200 2.8. You'll accomplish more of what you want to do that way than buying a higher level camera and lesser glass.

That's my two cents for what it's worth