Camera for Motorsport

chrismscotland

chrismscotland

chrismscotland

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16 Jul 2009
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Hi folks,

Looking for a little advice, its a few years since I've had any decent DSLR camera gear but after borrowing a friends Sony A77 and Sigma 100-300 to use at a couple of motorsport events I've got the bug again!

I didn't really get on with the EVF on the Sony however so I'm ideally looking at Canon/Nikon or Pentax but I'm not sure what body / lens would be the best combo for motorsport.

I'm probably looking at used and on the Nikon front the best buys would seem to be either a D7000 or a D300 / D300S but I wondered which would be better suited to motorsport, particularly weathersealing and focus speed?

Are there equivalent Canon bodies I should look at?

Also which telephoto lens would be reccomended? The Sigma 100-300 was a good lens but I'm aware that for a Nikon/Canon I'd need to buy lenses with VR built in which the Sigma doesn't...
 
D300s or the 7D with new firmware would be good enough for motorsport. VR/OS isn't a massive plus as you'll probably be using a monopod anyway and a high shutter speed, unless panning to blur backgrounds. Sigma 120-300 F2.8 is a cracking lens, especially since they updated it. Also works insanely well with the teleconverters they do. Its a pricey lens though!

For canon, you could either go for the sigma 120-300 or try the 100-400L out instead. Not as fast but pretty good quality.
 
For motorsport, I'd rather have the 7D, 8fps vs 5fps, nearly half the shutter lag delay and better autofocus.
 
Thanks again mate, will take a look. Based on cost I suspect I might head down the D300 route though although CF cards are a pain when I already have loads of SD cards!
 
Camera for motorsport, any SLR with 8fps and good autofocus.

The real issues are

- a lens for motorsport.
- good access

Depending on the access you have you might need a 600mm, 500mm, or 400mm lens.

Most professionals will secure good access to the event, and attend with 2 bodies. One with a long zoom (400mm plus), and a shorter lens, maybe a zoom these days such as a 70-200mm f/2.8

And more important than VF/IS, get a monopod for the long lens.

If you go to a circuit without any special access and a 300mm zoom you will most likely produce semi-decent shots and nothing special.
 
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I'm lucky enough that my local track is Knockhill which has decent positions for shots even on the crowd side of the fence.
The 300mm was a good length but I do feel there might be better lens options on say Nikon for focal length above 300mm.
I've also noticed that for other shooting there are a good range of affordable primes on Nikon which are my preference for everyday shooting.
 
I use a 4 fps 1Ds2 for motorsport and have little issue (I also have a 7D). As said the tracks you attend will determine your lens requirements, also the style you go for. If you're using slow shutter speeds for panning, IS on a lens isn't going to be very useful.
 
A lot of the newer Canon IS/Sigma OS lens have a built-in "Panning" option in their image stabilisers (mode 2 on both makes of lens) to cope with panning shots.

I'm in exactly the same boat but had to go cheaper so went with a 600D with a 18-250mm Sigma but TBH it's too slow at higher focal lengths so I'm looking at coming down to a 2 lens option instead, a 18-125mm and a 120-400mm or similar combination.
 
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