What digital camera please?, £600 to £800.

[Barrie]

What digital camera please?, £600 to £800.



Hello, I've got a bit of money put away too buy a digital camera to use at Rallycross events. My budgets between £600 to £800. My main gripes with previous camera's

[GORDON STREETER]

Look at the Canon EOS range, with that sort of money you can get a half decent tele lens as well.
Don't be too afraid to buy second hand.

[wolfhound]

Have a look at this site for technical information + reviews, although not motorsport related.

http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/

[M Greenslade]

I have recently purchased a Canon EOS 550D with an 18-135mm lens, a spare battery pack, a 16Mb card and USB card reader from Amazon, £711, stonking value....

Bladders.

[Adam43]

I got the 600 with that lens and the cheapo 100mm to 300mm lens. Less accessories. I am very happy with it.

[GORDON STREETER]

The one thing with the EOS range is that they are well proved and will always have a good second hand value.
I suppose I am also bias because I have a family connection on the repair side with the Canon range.
Obviously there are other manufacturers of good quality cameras out there that will produce similar results, don't forget it's not the camera that takes the picture and a good understanding of how a photographic image and composition is made up in different conditions on a basic manual camera is an advantage even if you only shoot on auto.

[Barrie]

Thanks alot guys, just checking a few Canon SLR's out now.

[Peter Mallett]

I'm a Canon fan too, although once upon a time it was the shooting method that decided the camera, either shutter priority (Canon) or aperture priorirty (Nikon, Pentax etc.). These days they all do the same thing but where Canon may score is the speed of the chip?

I have a 50D and a 7D. Both of which give good results, the 7D is somewhat faster but nonetheless the 50D has produced some good results.

[andrewc]

for motorsport you'll need a lens covering the 200-300mm range.

[NelisB]

Originally Posted by andrewc

for motorsport you'll need a lens covering the 200-300mm range.

300mm might be a bit much for rallycross? You could look at a second hand EOS with a 70-200 f4...

[Tim the Grey]

There's a load of used kit out there, that will easy fit into that budget?
Canon's mid range 40/50/60D are all OK, Nikon have D70/80/90, Olympus have the 510/510 or 620, various Pentax, and Sony (Minolta in old money) ditto.
Go try out various models, and try them with some longer lens. Most offer a 75-300 range lens for bargain money... See which one suits you? Read dpreview.com for tests and opinion (Plenty of opinion in the forums!).
Budget for a couple of cards to match (Don't trust just one card. I've seen Pros cry as an entire days shots disappear into a drain!), and a couple of lenses. Shorter for paddock shots, longer for action.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by NelisB

300mm might be a bit much for rallycross? You could look at a second hand EOS with a 70-200 f4...

I use a 75-300 lens for all my circuit photography (including rallycross), the extra reach of the 300 over the 200 will help get "beyond" fences at places like Brands whereas at Lydden you don't have any problems with fencing but the extra length gives you more options as to where you can shoot from. I'm using a Canon 550D and that's plenty for me as the photos are purely for my own use, both body and lens were second hand and combined came in under your budget (with an 18-55mm lens, memory cards, charger, spare batteries, lens hood, filters). I've still got my old 350D as a backup but the sensor on that needs a damn good clean as dust spots show up on slow shutter speed photos (the later models have self cleaning sensors so this is no longer a problem).

[frostie]

I got a Canon 60D when I was on holidays in the US for €1200, approx £950. That did come with two different lenses however,a 18-135mm and 70-300mm, so presumably with just the one lens you'd get it pretty close to the top end of your budget.

Ive been delighted with the new camera, I had previously been using a fixed lens camera, and I cant believe the difference in the 60D. It really has made it much more enjoyable shooting. Im not a great photographer, Im still trying to figure it out!, but Im pretty pleased with the 60D. Lots of FPS and good crisp images which is the most important thing for racing really.

Just to give an example of the 60D (top) and the difference in quality compared to my old one(bottom):

[BertMk2]

Are those two photos taken using the same lens or a different one? I'm thinking that if wanted to upgrade my set up I'd be better of looking the glass rather than the body.

[dex92]

Spend the most of your money on glass rather than on the body is my two cents, i have a 20d with a 70-200 f4.0 and absolutely love it.
Assorted bunch cars and bikes, all taken on the 70-200 accept 1,2,8,11 and 12.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/for...d.php?t=389651

Can show you more pictures if you like or answer any questions you may have.

[frostie]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Are those two photos taken using the same lens or a different one? I'm thinking that if wanted to upgrade my set up I'd be better of looking the glass rather than the body.

The top one was taken with the 60D and the 70-300mm lens. The bottom was taken with my old camera, just wanted to show the difference between the quality of the two. My old camera, a fixed lens, losses a lot of the colour and grains the image whereas the new one, while not perfect by any stretch (but most of that fault lies with me!) is a lot clearer. I just wanted to illustrate the jump in quality that I got from my images for much the same money as the OP.

And I'd agree that youre much better upgrading the lens rather than the body but if youre in the position that I was in, which Im reading as being similar to the OP, its necessary to buy the body and then in future pick up a few lenses

[lemansfan]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemansf...7627791949837/

All the Pics are made with the Canon 1000D and the Canon 70-300 is USM Lens .Most important Thing is a good Lens . You can start with a used Body , and if you have some Experience you can make a Upgrade with the Body .

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by dex92

Spend the most of your money on glass rather than on the body is my two cents

Completely agree. Look at a second hand 70-200f/4L and then get a camera that you can afford with the rest of the budget. You'll get much better results than a top notch new camera and a cheap lens. The lens will stay with you for years and then you can upgrade the camera when you can afford it.

Don't get too hung up on frames per second. You still have to press the shutter at the right moment. 10fps is nice, helpful in the right hands, but 3fps is sufficient. It's 2 more than I had back in the film days!

[Barrie]

Canon EOS 500D 15.1 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ 75-300mm Lens)

How about one of these for £350 please?

[Barrie]

Originally Posted by Woolley

Completely agree. Look at a second hand 70-200f/4L and then get a camera that you can afford with the rest of the budget. You'll get much better results than a top notch new camera and a cheap lens. The lens will stay with you for years and then you can upgrade the camera when you can afford it.

Don't get too hung up on frames per second. You still have to press the shutter at the right moment. 10fps is nice, helpful in the right hands, but 3fps is sufficient. It's 2 more than I had back in the film days!

Thanks for the advice guys, will check that lens now.

[dex92]

Originally Posted by Barrie

Canon EOS 500D 15.1 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ 75-300mm Lens)

How about one of these for £350 please?

The cameras good but the lens is not rated very highly, the best telephoto lens you can get for around £120 is a 55-250, i used one before my 70-200 and for the money its an amazing lens for most situations, its not as good when the light falls but for that price you cant go wrong.

If your looking at second hand stuff you cant go wrong with mpbphotographic,misfuds,ffordes. I used mpbphotographic for my 20d and i was extremely happy when I received it, its only till i look really closely that i can see tiny scuffs, not bad for a camera that's nearly 10 years old.

[Tim the Grey]

London Camera Exchange are another reccomendation for Used kit. Jessops USED to be, but they stopped dealing 20+ years back!
Reinforcing the message about good glass, BTW? My camera body was £1200 7 years back. I'd be lucky to see £100 for it now. The long lens was £800, and I'll likely get well over £600 for it now. It's STILL a cracking bit of glass, but the body's now considered a paper weight!

[dex92]

I forgot to say that no matter what digital slr you use youll get good results with it as long its paired with a good lens, its like putting a super car on a super minis tyres, it will work but it wont be as good as if you put the tyres that are meant for it.