Recommended Camera

[steve_bow]

Hello,
First time/post on this board. Does anyone have recommendations for Digital Camera to use at motorsports events.

Have Nikon 995 but not quick enough, therefore looking at Canon 20D, is this the best for motorsport use.

Need to get one soon as going to Le Mans for the first time this year and also go to BTCC, been to F1 once but really want to go to Monaco sometime.

Therefore need something capable for this kind of work.

Thanks in advance
Steve

[TerryC]

Really most of the modern DSLR you see are good enough except perhaps the Canon 300/50D which is rather limited in terms of functions/capabilities. Depending on your budget and seriousness about photography, D70/70s/100 and the Canon 20D are very good choices. The old 10D is also worth considering too.

[egor]

I'm really happy with the results I get with my D70. Just need to improve myself to match the camera!

[PaulSands]

My 10D just broke after a year and a half so I'm not impressed

[rdjones]

Originally Posted by PaulSands

My 10D just broke after a year and a half so I'm not impressed

What's the problem Paul, I have heard stories of shutter problems after about 80,000 shots.

[PaulSands]

Could well be...when I take a shot I get a perfectly formed picture of a black cat in a coal cellar...broke midway through Ford Saloon Car Challenge at Doonington on Sunday so I was v v v v v pi**ed off.
I've tried changing both batteries, different flash cards, different lenses but no luck. I can hear something actuating but it's like the shutter isnt opening. Fortunately I have about 8 months warranty left..I'll get it fixed and see if I can upgrade to a 1D MKII, not the S (there's a camera tip) and then use it as a back up...of course now I am sans camera this weekend. Of an holiday to France in a week so it could have been worse timing wise...especially had I planned to take in Le Mans

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by steve_bow

Hello,
First time/post on this board. Does anyone have recommendations for Digital Camera to use at motorsports events.

Have Nikon 995 but not quick enough, therefore looking at Canon 20D, is this the best for motorsport use.

Need to get one soon as going to Le Mans for the first time this year and also go to BTCC, been to F1 once but really want to go to Monaco sometime.

Therefore need something capable for this kind of work.

Thanks in advance
Steve

Personally I use Nikon D2H, did use D100 I feel the D100 was a little slow in focus and tracking but was very able to produce sharp images, its big up side was 3000 images between battery charges with the progrip fitted. Its down side was the buffer was too slow and toosmall. If you shoot in jpeg its not bad but I shoot everything in raw format so D2H or D2X is the only Nikon choice. I’ve not used Canon’s so cannot comment except the early models do appear to eat batteries.

[PaulSands]

Battery wise the 10D seems fine..gets through about 1&1/2 of the rechargeables per meeting

[gi_gav]

Paul - i don't know where you bought yours from but badger them into giving you a loan camera for the holiday. You wouldn't seriously go to Le Mans without one, would you!?

[MikeHoyer]

:O Le Mans without a camera, I think I'd just sell my ticket

I use a D100, very happy with it myself.

[Andrew_S]

tbh i would rather sell my camera than my le mans ticket

[SeaneyC]

Originally Posted by Happy Snapper

I’ve not used Canon’s so cannot comment except the early models do appear to eat batteries.

Would agree, my 1D lasts about 400-600 shots per battery, which isn't THAT bad, until you start getting lazy and shooting max frame rate and you've run out of memory and battery in 2 races

[SeaneyC]

Originally Posted by PaulSands

Could well be...when I take a shot I get a perfectly formed picture of a black cat in a coal cellar...broke midway through Ford Saloon Car Challenge at Doonington on Sunday so I was v v v v v pi**ed off.
I've tried changing both batteries, different flash cards, different lenses but no luck. I can hear something actuating but it's like the shutter isnt opening. Fortunately I have about 8 months warranty left..I'll get it fixed and see if I can upgrade to a 1D MKII, not the S (there's a camera tip) and then use it as a back up...of course now I am sans camera this weekend. Of an holiday to France in a week so it could have been worse timing wise...especially had I planned to take in Le Mans

If you have a sensor cleaning option, you can see if the mirror is not lifting, and if it does, you can see if the shutter is opening or not too. If it's still in warranty i would definately get it off ASAP, although i don't know if the shutter is covered in the 10D or not (has a quoted life?)

[gi_gav]

SeaneyC - The 1D's battery life is pretty awful given the size and expense of the bloody things (the battery, not the camera!) but i haven't ever found that shooting at 8fps makes much of an impact, it's more how much you're using the screen.

I've got some of the Black Diamond Media batteries from mydigitaldiscount.com and they work very well indeed - closer to 600-800 shots per charge at least, although I have to say that I barely notice things like battery life - i'll just replace it and get on with it.

Aside from that, the expected shutter life for the 10D was something like 80,000 actuations but it was never a legal issue - ie. it's not guaranteed to last that long, and it doesn't invalidate the warranty if you've gone over that number.

[PaulSands]

Whats the expected shutter life of the 1D MKII?

[gi_gav]

200,000 actuations

[PaulSands]

And after that? Repair, new parts? new camera?

[gi_gav]

well, that's just a rough reckoning. The original 1D was rated at 150,000 and there are many of them still going strong way over that expected lifespan.

Before I got the Mk2 i bought a very reasonably priced 1D which, whilst cosmetically perfect, had about 127,000 actuations on the clock. At first, I was really tentative about firing it at 8fps but now I just get on and use it without too much worry. It is built like a small tank after all...

I would reckon on about £200 to replace the shutter, so certainly not a new camera sort of job. As an aside, I think that the Mk2 is every bit as good as most people will ever need and it's built such that you could still be shooting it in a decade's time. That's an excellent way of justifying it to Mrs. Sands - "I'll never need to buy another camera..."

[PaulSands]

[SeaneyC]

Originally Posted by gi_gav

SeaneyC - The 1D's battery life is pretty awful given the size and expense of the bloody things (the battery, not the camera!) but i haven't ever found that shooting at 8fps makes much of an impact, it's more how much you're using the screen.

I think my comments were ambiguous, it's not the fact that at 8fps eats more battery per shot, it's just that at 8fps i get through so many shots much more quickly than with my trusty old Sigma at 2.notmuch fps! Sometimes i just get lazy and leave it on 8fps, slack i know.

I've got some of the Black Diamond Media batteries from mydigitaldiscount.com and they work very well indeed - closer to 600-800 shots per charge at least, although I have to say that I barely notice things like battery life - i'll just replace it and get on with it.

I bought a replacement battery from a German Ebayer, which gets me way more shots than the Canon one, not actually run it out in an extended session, so probably similar to your experiences. Certainly £30 beats paying the £100 (something like that isn't it?) to Canon for less battery life! Love the 1D already, it's certainly something that will take me a while to really get to grips with, but so much happier i spent the little bit extra to get it over the 20D

[gweilo8888]

Interesting thread, thanks folks! I'm looking to buy myself a DSLR and lenses for general use, with a particular edge towards motorsport photography. I have a preference for Canon gear, like their ergonomics / interface, but am less sure on what I need lens wise. I've got around US$3000 to spend (I'm based in the US), and want something that gives me good quality *and* good flexibility.

I'm pretty much settled on an EOS 20D body. From looking at reviews etc. online, I'm thinking of the following two lenses:

* EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM
* EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

That'd give me a continuous ~27 to 480mm equivalent on the 20D's 1.6x crop, which sounds pretty useful to me. All of that would be image stabilised, and the 70-300mm offers the third-gen IS with panning mode, presumably good for panning motorsports shots.

As I could afford it, I'd then look to fill in the bottom end with the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM for those times when I wanted the widest angle possible (which would expand my effective coverage from the three lenses to 16 - 480mm equivalent). It'd also hopefully keep lens changes to a minimum, saving me missing shots or getting the sensor gunged up with dust.

From what I've heard, the 17-85 is a pretty nice lens; most people seem to have the same feeling on the 70-300 although it apparently can have unattractive "target" patterns in bokeh, and is very prone to flare / dreamy-looking highlights. For the money though, I can't see better choices to go for (I simply can't afford to step up to L glass, at least in the short term).

Any thoughts on this setup? Am I making any obvious errors of judgement here, and does anybody have suggestions for better choices I could make?

[rdjones]

I've got the EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM on my 10D and its a good lens and it does the job, the focusing speed can be a little slow at time, but I have learn to live with it.

Below are a couple of example shots which I have taken with it.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4

Having said that I have just been in Jessops getting a new lens, cleaning cloth and they had the EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 L IS USM on display, now that looks a nice peace of glass, it also has nice price tag......

[gi_gav]

Personally I don't think the DO lens is worth that much money - it still retails here for just under £1000 without really offering all that much over a standard 70-300 zoom.

I'd go for 70-200 f4 L and get the 1.4x convertor if that's not long enough. Both are of absolutely superb optical quality and cheaper and better value than the 70-300 DO IS.

[gungadan]

Originally Posted by gi_gav

Personally I don't think the DO lens is worth that much money - it still retails here for just under £1000 without really offering all that much over a standard 70-300 zoom.

I'd go for 70-200 f4 L and get the 1.4x convertor if that's not long enough. Both are of absolutely superb optical quality and cheaper and better value than the 70-300 DO IS.

Seconded. I use exactly that combination and even with the Kenro Pro converter rather than the Canon L jobby, it gives great results. The only caution is it's still not that long a focal length for somewhere like Silverstone.

Example without converter

Example with converter

PS
My first post so fingers crossed

[gi_gav]

Welcome to the forum, and those are some lovely shots - esp. the lighting on the Bugatti