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Need pointers on what camera from my hobbies

March 12th, 2010 by , under nnmj.com.

  • Edit: I rushed my title, hence it making no sense. :) New title : Looking for opinions on what will best suite me :)

    Budget $1000

    Hello all

    As you all know, this is my first post on this forum. I am very much a noob to real photography, hence why I come here in seek of some of your expert opinions.

    My goal is to capture cars at their best. I am an avid Motor sports enthusiast so most of my pictures will be of cars moving at great speeds. While also respecting the cars capabilities, I also would also like to capture their beauty at a stand still. While this is the primary goal, Id like to document friends and family night/day/inside/snow whatever have you. So the camera I need must fit all these categories of my life.

    I first became in love with pictures when a friend of mine (part time professional photographer) captured my car in what I think to be the best picture of my car to date. At this time, I only wish to capture part of what he did.

    http://www.m3pix.com/albums/051119/


    The primary goal is to be doing a lot of motorsports pictures like this one for instance.


    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/359901362_95fdc2246b.jpg






    In my attempt to keep this as short as can be...from my little knowledge it seems either an XT or an XTI would be my best bet. I am a rookie...and let me stress ROOKIE. So there is so much to be learned and I realize that. I just don't want to make the mistake in getting a cheapo camera when I know this is going to become a huge hobby of mine. I stress doing things right the first time.:thumbup:

    Thank you guys so much for any help you can offer. Lenses, extra gear...whatever you can think of, I wanna know all about it. I have a budget around $1000. A friend recomended the site www.onecall.com (http://www.onecall.com). They seem to have some great deals, plus no tax since there in Oregon. :mrgreen:


    http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=33752

    Again, thankyou so much!

    -Andrew


  • Thanks very much for the response. I'm actually being guided by a friend who attends the Brooks college (hes a pretty good photographer). He said, the 18-55mm is not a very good peice of glass, and rather I should just spend the extra money for a good lens (17-85mm).

    I suspect a 70-200 may be in the future, but in regards to money it cant happen just yet. I think that the 17-85mm would be a great starter lens, somthing I can really get going with.

    Opinions? I dont want to be making the wrong choice. ;)


  • I checked reseller ratings for OneCall - it seems like they're on the up and up, but I have no personal experience with them. (But at least it looks like they're not a bait-and-switch house.)

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


  • Thank you guys so much for the information. I'm going to keep lurking into other sections of the site to try and further my knowledge. I'm starting to get somewhere with this whole thing.:hail:

    Edit: Changed first picture to URL format. If you want to see more of his pictures, go to www.m3pix.com.


  • My instinct would be to find a good price on a Rebel XT instead and put the difference towards a better lens. 8mp is just fine and the difference between 8mp vs 10mp is far less important then getting a better lens.


  • Shooting a parked car is very different from shooting at a track.

    Shooting at a track is very much like shooting any other sport. You'll need a nice fast lens with a long focal length mounted on a monopod. $1000 will be a stretch for camera a lens. I shot an autox once in a small coned parking lot and I was allowed to be in the grassy area along the side. The Canon 100-400mm worked nicely. In a larger area like a Polo field, even the 100-400mm was stretching it. The lens isn't the fastest out there but in those cases I was shooting in bright daylight. Tamron and sigma have alternate (and cheaper) choices for zooms with long focal lengths but they too will be a stretch in your budget.

    Shooting a parked car will be quite different and probably more attainable in your budget. Often using slightly wider than normal focal lengths. Some really interesting car photos can be made with ultra wide optics but they too can be expensive.

    My post and the one before it have the same message... focus on the glass first then the camera.

    BTW... If the photos posted are not your photos, you should post links to the site(s) rather than directly posting just the photo.


  • I shoot Nikon so I'm going to recommend Nikon but Canon will do. The thing is that if you go Nikon then your lenses will fit on a Digital later and older Canon lenses wont fit newer Canons.

    Actually any EOS lens will fit and work on any EOS camera (EOS being Canon's autofocus system) whether film or digital. Most Nikon lenses should work on Nikon dSLRs - but they won't autofocus on a D40. Prior to the mid-80s Canon did use a different lens mount so their manual 'FD' lenses will not work on an EOS... but similarly you may be unable to use an older Nikon lens on a Nikon dSLR except for the higher-end models. Ultimately either system (as well as others) will provide the cameras, lenses and accessories necessary for this kind of photography.


  • there are more benefits to the xti then just the two megapixels


  • So I made the buy last night. Ended up buying from B&H. I'm very pleased with the purchase and I took the plunge and bought some goodies.

    Tell me what yuh think. :thumbup:


    1)Canon CAEDRXTI178K EOS Digital Rebel XTi Digital Camera Body (Black) with Canon 17-85mm Lens

    2)Op/Tech USA OPSSC38 Super Classic Strap - Padded Neoprene w/ Anti Slip,QR & Stitched Edges

    3)B+W BWUVMC67 67mm UV Haze 010 (MRC) Multi-Resistant Coating Glass

    4)Filter Canon CAEW73B EW-73B Lens Hood

    5)Sandisk SAU2CF4GB 4GB Ultra II CompactFlash Card

    6)B+W BWCPMCS67 67 mm Circular Polarizer Multi-Coated (MC) Slim Glass Filter


  • Alright, I feel that the XTi may meet the requirements I'm looking to accomplish. This is the package I feel is best for me.

    http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=34273#

    Can people offer their insights on it? This is the best deal I can find.

    Thanks a bunch


    EDIT: This is the best review I've seen of the camera thus far.

    http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/


  • dont concentrate on what camera too much... its a brand/system you need to decide on.
    ie Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax etc etc

    the reason for this is the accessories, lenses etc.... for instance you may buy a good camera now, but in 5 years upgrade to a newer camera with more mega pixels and functions, however the lenses from your old camera will fit the new one too.... saving you money :)

    as most of the people on here will tell you Canon and Nikon seem to have the best choice of accessories at the moment. some people on here have had the same lenses for many years, but had several camera's

    Hope that all makes sense :D

    obviously when you decide what camera system to go with, buy the best you can afford.

    all SLR and Digital SLR cameras will be good for shooting cars ;) as you will be told on here often, its not the camera that will take a good picture of the cars..... its YOU :)

    Good luck


  • First decide which Lenses you will need than buy a camera that will fit them.

    As stated any camera that has a shutter speed of 1/2000 will do so go to go to http://www.pbase.com/cameras or http://www.photosig.com (http://www.photosig.com/) and look for color rendition, sharpness, speed (you need this because you do need a correct exposure and if your lens won't go to a small enough aperture you will loose shutter speed to compensate.

    If you really want your photography to shine and you won't be taking too many shots, look into medium format cameras. They make Amaazing photos. Talk to your friend about it, you can get a god used Mamiya 645 setup very reasonable these days.

    If you want to stay in the 35mm format you will need to stay in film for under a $1000 because you are going to need to spend about that much in glass. Get a 28mm, a 35mm or maybe a 50mm, a 80-200mm f2.8 and a 1.4/1.7 or a 2x doubler. (the doubler will take your zoom out to -with the 2X- 400mm at f5.6).

    I shoot Nikon so I'm going to recommend Nikon but Canon will do. The thing is that if you go Nikon then your lenses will fit on a Digital later and older Canon lenses wont fit newer Canons. (this gives you a Huge range of used Nikon lenses) Some will point you to Pentax and I won't argue that point either.

    A good film body would be a Nikon (f)N90s- gives you practically everything you want in a pro type body including a spot meter with a film advance of 4.3 fps (0.7 fps under a D200)- uses AA batterys- at a price that still allows you to buy the glass you need.

    mike


  • I'm sure the XTi would be more than adequate. I don't know Onecall but it seems strange that they don't go into any detail about the lens; they don't even mention the aperture anywhere. It's a 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens; it has image stabiliser which should be good for compensating for camera movement in relatively low light but won't compensate for subject movement. Being reasonably wide at 17mm it should be good for the shots of stationary cars from up-close (later on you will probably want a wider lens) however it's 85mm at the longest end and has a max aperture of f/5.6 there... I suspect it wouldn't be great for the shots of moving cars unless it's a bright day and you could get close. It looks like a good general purpose lens but for those shots of fast-moving vehicles quite far away, unfortunately you may have to look at something quite a bit more expensive - possibly something like a 70-200mm f/4 or preferably f/2.8.







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