Planning on buying a camera

[Backslayer]

After stumbling onto this section of the forums I realized that these pictures are perfect in my eyes, and after extended searching, I still don't know what all these lenses mean.
My question is this I want to buy a camera but am on a limited budget for the body, I will buy a body first then wait a couple weeks to get a lense, my question is this I want to spend no more than 600 bucks for a body, what camera range will this put me in. And if you recomend me a body what lense should I buy,do i need two different lenses one for mx and one for general photo taking. and Down here races are under lights so what then does this matter when selecting a lense. I don't wanted to be limited to just day or just night. Thanks for all your input.

 

[IndyMX]

If you are expecting results like you see from some of these guys on here, you may want to save your pennies a little longer, especially for night time stuff.

At minimum you'd need a Canon XTi for a body. The lens is where you will have to spend the majority of your cash.

The lens is the most important piece of equipment you'll need to buy. The best camera body in the world will not be able to compensate for garbage glass. But, a superior lens will make a marginal body look pretty good.

If you are going to be doing night time work, even under lights, you will need lens that is a constant f2.8. You'll probably want something in a zoom.. 70-300 or so.
Count on something that's not junk to cost you around $1500 or more.

Sure, you can get a 70-300 for $300, but it's crap even in bright sunlight, unless it's tripod mounted and you are shooting completely still subjects.

I'm sure others will be along soon to tear what I just said to shreds, but that's my take on your situation.

 

[olderndirtmom]

I'm beginning to think this forum needs a permanent questionnaire "What camera is for me?" (But only if we keep the California question to weed out the usual shady suspects....)

Backslayer: Here is a thread that is nearly an index to the "what gear should I buy" discussions within DRN. It also links to some photo equipment websites. There's a wealth of info here:

http://dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=155038

I'm not sure how exhaustive it is, so also do a search. There's a ton of great discussions on gear, many of which discuss how the equipment performed. Don't be too hasty in your decision.

http://dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=152838 (This one talks about price to some extent and the limitations of the lower end bodies.)

I agree with Indy...You may want to save your pennies. Good luck. :)

 

[Bspeed]

I'm beginning to think this forum needs a permanent questionnaire "What camera is for me?"

And one consistent answer could be:

the preferred camera (setup) is one that sets you back a minimum of $3,000 (body, 1 lens, and flash) :pissed:

but ain't it the truth ?

 

[mdkuder]

www.dpreview.com

 

[Backslayer]

Wow sounds as if I should save my money a little more, I appeciate all of your replys. And will be doing extensive searching on what would be the right camera for me. Well when I finally do figure out what camera supports my budget and wants I know you guys will be there to help me along the way Thanks again.

 

[cujet]

I just picked up a new Nikon D200. 10.2MP digital SLR along with a 100-300 VR lens. The price is coming down on these (or will soon) as Nikon is now producing the D300.

The D200 is one of the fastest "consumer" DSLR's at 5 frames per second. It is "instant" in response and has predictive autofocus along with support for VR (vibration reduction) lenses (which are priced very reasonable).

The D200 is a great performer and will produce professional level photo's. It is also quite tough, as the body is all metal (magnesium and aluminum).

If you are going to purchase a point and shoot camera, consider a top of the line Sony, as they have the fastest shutter release delay and the fastest autofocus. They do not match the speed of a DSLR though. Expect about 1 to 2 tenths of a second shutter delay with a good Sony. Expect a bit more with other brands, often half a second or more.

Consider this, 60MPH is 88 feet per second. So a shutter delay of any sort really messes with your "perfect picture".

Good luck!

Chris

P.S. I own a "fast" Sony, a "slow" olympus. a "slow" point and shoot 8MP Nikon and a ultra fast D200. Guess which one works properly taking pics of dirt bikes?

 

[Rich Rohrich]

P.S. I own a "fast" Sony, a "slow" olympus. a "slow" point and shoot 8MP Nikon and a ultra fast D200. Guess which one works properly taking pics of dirt bikes?

The one in the hands of the best photographer.

 

[cujet]

The one in the hands of the best photographer.

Ain't that the truth!

Chris

 

[TheGDog]

Budget Film Cam that takes great action shots!

For what it's worth.... I bought a Canon EOS Rebel Ti in '03 because I was going on a vacation to Egypt and was gonna see the pyramids as part of that tour.

It came with a 28-90mm QuantArray lense.. and I bought a 100-300mm QuantArray lense for it too since I knew I'd want to take it to SuperCross events and to off-road trips to capture jumps with it.

This thing is soooo easy to take great action shots with.

For a jump... I click the lense over to Auto-Focus.... point at the crest of the jump... half-press the shutter release.. the auto-focus stuff does it's thing... then take it off of AF and just wait for the rider to come by. While waiting... I have both eyes open... the one not looking in the lense and the one looking in the lense.

Big thing to remember that greatly influences the shot is how you are holding the camera. And how easy you press the button cause when you're all zoomed-out to the max playing "Mr Myopic Man" from the nose-bleed bleachers... any shaky movement is very magnified. But from those very-same noseblead bleachers.. I'm taken some shots I was quite impressed with.

Hope that helps in your decision process.

This cam does allow you to manually set all the various setting as you desire and see fit.. if you're so inclined to experiment with hand-setting all the parameters.

But.... for the most part... the only thing I'll dork around with is manual focusing to ensure the subject *I* want the focus to be on is getting the focus. As the Auto-focus features tend to just pick the biggest object in the line of site and that's not necessarily the one you'd like in focus.

So anyhoo.. unless you're having visions of your work being shown in magazines, you would be quite pleased with this very reasonably prized gem.

And if ya want digital photos.. just have the prints made to CD by the lab. They're sittin' there using a $250K machine to do the scanning of the negatives... and thus much higher tech that most Digital pro cams are gonna give ya anyway.