Looking to get into motorsport photography

[mmdesign]

hello.

Thought I would introduce myself. I have had a little look around this forum - seems really interesting, I just can't believe I haven't come across it before ??

Anyway, I am looking to get into motorsport photography - combining aspects of my existing family business as well as my passion for motorsport - everyone's a winner I imagine the market is saturated with people just like me thought but I will give it a go...........

Andy

[MikeHoyer]

Well, tell us a little about yourself! What equipment do you use, what sort of motorsport do you plan to shoot etc?

[mmdesign]

Sorry - basically I work for the family design agency. We predominantly deal with Government run businesses (at least 70%) but we also get involved in other projects and have a healthy number of small companies we work with.

Some of the Government run businesses need constant image updates which we look after, and we spend lots of money on photography, as we have done for about 4 years now.

Since going on various photo shoots relating to varied working environments I have always found it fascinating - almost like a film set.

So this brings me to my passion. Cars - and motorsport. Having got married recently and bought a family home and had a few children my interest has been on the back burner - but I do attend the odd open pit track day etc.

So the long version is basically I have no equipment, we use someone for our photography - but I am toying with the idea of broadening the portfolio of the business and getting into ANY motor sport photography.

I am sure you can see it is a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, hence my post to gather more info - possibly get recommendations to photography courses etc.

Andy

[924nut]

Well with starting with a clean sheet - the choices probably will be decided around how much you want to spend, but you need to get out there with a digital SLR descent zoom/big telephoto lens and take LOADS of pictures - after all you can just delete them.

Just enjoy and as I have found - the guys on here are most helpful

Good luck

[mmdesign]

Thanks for that advice 924 nut. Can you recomend some decent value for money gear ? I have a digital Konica Minolta i think at the moment with some average lense - should i change the body ? or would i get away with a new lense and using what i have ?

[Kelvin]

Yep get out there, (rain or shine) and get some images under your belt, & with your background you should have the eye for a good 'picture'.

[David L]

Originally Posted by mmdesign

Thanks for that advice 924 nut. Can you recomend some decent value for money gear ? I have a digital Konica Minolta i think at the moment with some average lense - should i change the body ? or would i get away with a new lense and using what i have ?

OK, let's look at this from the other end and think about if you succeed, and if get to where you want to be, what sort of gear would you be carting about then..

Let's think..

Two (minimum) Pro spec DSLR bodies.. D2X or 1Ds Mk2 would be one..

Lenses.. Good quality glass form Nikon or Canon, say a 500mm f4, a 300mm f2.8, a 70-200 f2.8, a 28-80 f2.8, a wide fast zoom, a super-wide fixed length..

A couple of flash guns.. Maybe an off-camera battery pack for them..

An up to date fast laptop computer (mac or PC, your preference) to handle the files..

A buch of software for the laptop..

A storage and back-up system for all the data you shoot (I'm up to about 600 or 700Gb so far this year)

About a billion cables, chargers, adaptors, batteries etc to make all that work..

£25k or thereabouts..

So, from where you are now, work out a development strategy and spend profile to get there one day.. Trading kit up as you go along (sell on eBay for best value) is a good way.. Maybe start with one of the Nikon/Canon prosumer DSLR's and get one or two decent lenses and a flash.. build from there.. A Nikon D70 with a 28-80 f2.8 and a 70-200 VR and an SB 800 flash would be about £3k new..

But, you know, why not just go out and try with what you have and work from there...

My tuppence, FWIW..

[mmdesign]

Thanks for your tuppence - £25k isn't too bad to set up ?

[924nut]

Originally Posted by mmdesign

Thanks for that advice 924 nut. Can you recomend some decent value for money gear ? I have a digital Konica Minolta i think at the moment with some average lense - should i change the body ? or would i get away with a new lense and using what i have ?

Wow someone else that has a Konica Minolta - I thought that I was the only one - is it a 7D?
Would be interested to find out how you go on with that camera as I have been trying to find other users within the motorsports area to compare with.

I am still learning too - so will stay with the lenses that I have but as you can see from David L response the sky is the limit! (only the g/f wont let me spend that much)

[David L]

Originally Posted by mmdesign

Thanks for your tuppence - £25k isn't too bad to set up ?

I look forward to hearing how you get on..

[gungadan]

Originally Posted by mmdesign

Thanks for your tuppence - £25k isn't too bad to set up ?

I think it depends how you look at it. As a purely commercial venture I imagine there are easier ways to make money.

However, if you take the view that you're 'doing something you love and getting paid for it', and the lifestyle appeals, it's a different matter. In any case, as others have said, if you're really keen just go out and shoot for fun for a while and see what happens.

Since I became involved as an amateur - with the very occasional piece of paid work - I've always wondered how people actually make a living out of it. One of the pros on here should write a book about it!

[PaulSands]

Originally Posted by mmdesign

£25k isn't too bad to set up

Thats a dream abandoning stick to the day job kind of figure for some of us

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by mmdesign

Thanks for your tuppence - £25k isn't too bad to set up ?

How do you intend to make money from your motorsport photography to offset against your set up costs? What level of motorsport are you planning to shoot and who are you intended customers?

[Kelvin]

mmm set-up cost of 25k?.... might be cheaper to buy in from the agencies!!
Spend 1k - 3k like a keen hobbyist might, and see how you get on! IMHO

[James North]

I think much of the angency stuff is pretty much covered.

But maybe theres a market for doing some kind of deal with a circuit or series.

[MikeHoyer]

Good old David Lister, always comes up with a conservative figure when reccomending stuff..

It is worth spending money on top quality gear IMO, but you can spread the cost gradually, i.e. don't buy everything all at once if you have no experience. Get yourself a decent camera and half decent lens, and practice for a bit with that. If you think it's something you can do, and enjoy doing, then you can start upgrading.

Go for a mid level DSLR, Canon 20D, Nikon D100 perhaps, you should be able to get that for under a grand.

The lens issue is a little tricky, you could get an "all purpose" zoom for reasonably cheap, i.e under 500 quid, but I'm not too keen on them these days. At the long end (which you will probably use quite a lot...), they sometimes don't perform too well, I had a Sigma 135-400 f4-5.6, or something like that, and at 400mm it was awful. You could get a fixed aperture zoom, but that's when it gets a bit pricey, and you will generally need more than one to cover everything. Or you could go for a prime or two, but that's generally even more.

A laptop, perhaps you can do without for a bit, unless you already have one, unless you need to edit and send pictures from the circuit, you can always do it at home.

At present I have :

1xD100 body (bought off my dad for £700)
1xD100 battery grip (£100)
1xNikon 300mm f4 lens (£800 new)
1xNikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens (£520 second hand, but mint condition)
1xNikon 28-200mm f3.5-5.6 lens (came free with camera...hehe)
1xNikon SB-22s flash (came free with camera)
Manfrotto 679B monopod (£42)
Cheapo tripod from Asda... (£20)

Plus bag (would be about £40) 4 batteries (tenner a throw from a chap on ebay), more batteries for the flash, 3 1GB memory cards (about £40 each), portable hard drive (not sure, it's my dad's really...), filters (£10 each, advantage of having a brother that works in Jessops), and laptop (cheap ebay effort, about £200).

So as you can say, that's a very pricey amount of stuff, and I don't have massive prime lenses either.

You don't need ALL that stuff to start off with, but that's what you'll be looking at eventually, if you want to take this seriously.

Check ebay, and Jessops used for bargains on equipment.

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by 924nut

Well with starting with a clean sheet - the choices probably will be decided around how much you want to spend, but you need to get out there with a digital SLR descent zoom/big telephoto lens and take LOADS of pictures - after all you can just delete them.

Just enjoy and as I have found - the guys on here are most helpful

Good luck

Yes that’s about it “how big is the cheque book” many of the beginners start with something like a Nikon D50 or D70, I think there are few deals were you can get two average lenses and the camera for about £600. That gives you a starting point OK for web pages and not to large prints, the D70 like the D50 and D100 work fine sharp(ish) images and as long as you shoot in JPEG not too slow. Be a little careful if Its’ raining these camera’s are not designed to be too weather proof, ask some of the guys who did the ALMS and Britcar 24 at Silverstone!

If you plan to mix it with the “big boys” many of them use Canon the EOS 1D MK11 retails at about £5200 and then with a 600mm Telephoto add something like £6000 on top of that!! The main advantage of this type of body is its speed i.e virtually no shutter lag and it will shoot at 5-8 flames per second. You could spend the earth or take it steady like the rest of us! I guess if you were starting from scratch you would need a budget are £35,000-45,000 for everything (laptop plus backup, 10 Flash cards portable hard disks DVD writer two bodies 4-5 Pro grade lenses, flash guns, licensed copies of photoshop or similar, etc etc)

Then you need to vector in getting to and from races staying at hotels etc. Here are a few very important questions you will need to ask your self. What type of motor sport are you planning to cover, will you be able to get media passes how much travel am I prepared to do, the novelty or jumping in the car or on a plane every weekend from February to November soon wares off! A friend of mine has been to the USA something like 90 times in the past few years! So far this year I have spend nearly sixty days away from home at race meetings!

Not that I trying to put you off just trying to paint a realistic picture. Only you can decide what you want or need from it..

[PaulSands]

Dont reccommend that..sheesh thats all we need more Mallory situations

[PaulSands]

Originally Posted by PaulSands

Dont reccommend that..sheesh thats all we need more Mallory situations

I don't know what happened above cos I posted that, quoting James, last night but it seems to have slithered through 9 hours or so later

[David L]

Originally Posted by MikeHoyer

Good old David Lister, always comes up with a conservative figure when reccomending stuff..

[snip]

Ha.. You're right.. too conservative.. should have been more like £30k to £35k..

I'm not being funny, though.. That's the sort of gear that anybody looking to work seriously in this game is going to have to lug about and if you're not using agency equipment then you're going to have to fund it yourself at some point..

Of course, buying all the gear does not a pro make and the original poster may want to learn their trade by a more cautious path..

[MikeHoyer]

Oh I agree with you really, just messing about. I've already spent a considerable sum myself on "semi-pro" gear, especially considering I don't have a particularly well paid job outside of photography, and I fund most of my photography exploits myself. It's all about being careful with your cash, spending it wisely, and gradually building up your gear. Having the commitment (like I think I've got) to go to circuits every weekend in all weathers helps aswell.

Hey David, I think I've bumped into you a couple of times without quite realising who you were... where you in the bus to the first corner with John Brooks and David Lord at the Nurburgring LMES?

[David L]

Originally Posted by MikeHoyer

Hey David, I think I've bumped into you a couple of times without quite realising who you were... where you in the bus to the first corner with John Brooks and David Lord at the Nurburgring LMES?

Dang.. spotted..

[MikeHoyer]

Hehe, thought I heard someone mention you name. It was nice not meeting you!

[PaulSands]

We really ought to get a few musgshots up somewhere

[MikeHoyer]

Is that really such a good idea...?