Camera for Rugby

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I'm still of the opinion that for the question that was asked, a 1DX with a 70-200 attached is the best option for his circa £ 1k budget. It has all the same semi-automatic modes that will help, and various sports photographers can give him suggestions for rough settings - eg aim for 1/800+ shutter speed, maybe f/4 aperture and adjust ing ISO to suit. Sensible buying will mean that if he doesn't enjoy it, or his daughter stops, kit can be resold with minimual loss. It takes CF cards which are cheap and readily available, unlike those on the newer bodies, and the 70-200 will happily accept teleconverters if a bit of extra reach is required. It will also shoot video if thats required.
 
andrewc said:
I'm still of the opinion that for the question that was asked, a 1DX with a 70-200 attached is the best option for his circa £ 1k budget. It has all the same semi-automatic modes that will help, and various sports photographers can give him suggestions for rough settings - eg aim for 1/800+ shutter speed, maybe f/4 aperture and adjust ing ISO to suit. Sensible buying will mean that if he doesn't enjoy it, or his daughter stops, kit can be resold with minimual loss. It takes CF cards which are cheap and readily available, unlike those on the newer bodies, and the 70-200 will happily accept teleconverters if a bit of extra reach is required. It will also shoot video if thats required.
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Well it's a reasonable opinion based on experience, and there's certainly no problem with recommending such. Personally I'd be staying well clear of an 11 year old pro-level camera for £500, as Demi Lion was suggesting, as anything at that price will be properly battered and very heavily used (shutter counts well above 100,000). But for that same £500, you could be getting a much more recent yet still excellent 'prosumer' type body; MPB offers things like the Canon 80D, 6D, 7Diin in 'excellent' or 'like new' condition for under £500. Cameras that would have far more likely to have not been through the wars, unlike the 1Dx 'well used' bodies they have in for under £500. And away from MPB (their prices are pretty much top end for used gear), you'll likely find far more bargains to be had for such a price. Plus; they'll be smaller and lighter, so easier to travel with etc. Plus they'll likely use SD cards, so far better than the ancient CF cards; faster, more storage and you can find them cheap all over.

Buying tatty, heavily abused pro-level kit is never a great idea.
 
andrewc said:
To the original poster, if you need any assistance with whatever camera you end up with, just shout. Ignore the others trying to win an argument.
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This is very much ‘only listen to me because I know best’. Hmm. Questionable.


Or alternatively; listen to as many different opinions in order to get a more balanced, nuanced view. That’s how I approach life. Seems to work out ok for me. Others may have differing opinions.
 
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Abdichoudxyz said:
This is very much ‘only listen to me because I know best’. Hmm. Questionable.


Or alternatively; listen to as many different opinions in order to get a more balanced, nuanced view. That’s how I approach life. Seems to work out ok for me. Others may have differing opinions.
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No, I very much don't know best - but I am drawing on experiences of trying to shoot sports since 2005, starting with Canon 350D to the current kit which sports photography has paid for.

I've taken advice from plenty of sports photographers. Most I've heeded, Occassionally I've ignored some advice and they were usually right.
 
Just to let you known- CF cards aren’t cheap as I’ve recently found. Been using an old 7D as a remote camera so needed a big CF card of 64 or 128gb. Still talking over 40 quid or more for the decent write speed and known brands.

I’ve ended up buying an adaptor off Amazon and I’ll put an SD card of equivelent size in it - because that future proofs my purchase and works out cheeper than buying the equivelent cf card

If you want my 2 penny’s worth - I’d be buying something prosumer and learning. I shot lots of accreded sport on a 20D with a 70-200 f4 and a 300 f4L for 5/6 years. Produced good results 15 years ago and would still now I am sure.

What it did teach me is the value of shooting in manual - watching your histogram, learning to spot and pre focus and all the tools still needed to get those more difficult shots.

Im not advocating buying a 20D but whatever the modern equivalent is - a 90D maybe? I’ve lost track or a 7D 2 would be perfect - plus like you say - it’s not a built in grip so you can travel with it and use it easily as a walk around camera.

A 1DX maybe a better tool and if you were intending to take it further and shoot not only your daughters rugby, but other rugby or other sports then absolutely, however if your daughter stops playing rugby is the 1DX then a big white elephant? Probably.
 
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A_S said:
Just to let you known- CF cards aren’t cheap as I’ve recently found. Been using an old 7D as a remote camera so needed a big CF card of 64 or 128gb. Still talking over 40 quid or more for the decent write speed and known brands.
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There's a set of 9 x 16Gb and 4 x 8Gb Sandisk Extremes that's just been advertised (now gone) in the classifieds for £90. That's about £8 per 16Gb.

You're not going to need much more than that for a day's shooting! For several cameras.
 
DemiLion said:
There's a set of 9 x 16Gb and 4 x 8Gb Sandisk Extremes that's just been advertised (now gone) in the classifieds for £90. That's about £8 per 16Gb.

You're not going to need much more than that for a day's shooting! For several cameras.
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I’ve had some problems with my remote not seeming to send the stop signal when shooting a burst - perhaps as my camera is often 50m+ away and often not in line of site with crests or trees in the way. I have no idea why as the range is 100m however with the burst speed of the 7D it eats my 16gb card and when I can finally check the camera often able hour or 2 later it’s filled the card and I don’t have much of what I want from it
 
andrewc said:
No, I very much don't know best - but I am drawing on experiences of trying to shoot sports since 2005, starting with Canon 350D to the current kit which sports photography has paid for.
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So; I and and others here have been doing photography for a lot longer, shooting all manner of different subjects including sports. So we also have experience. Telling people to ignore others is to try to deny the opportunity to learn from the experiences of different people. This isn't about 'trying to win an argument', this is about trying to offer advice that may be helpful. Please try to bear that in mind before you are so dismissive of others simply because they don't share your opinions.


A_S said:
If you want my 2 penny’s worth - I’d be buying something prosumer and learning. I shot lots of accreded sport on a 20D with a 70-200 f4 and a 300 f4L for 5/6 years. Produced good results 15 years ago and would still now I am sure.

What it did teach me is the value of shooting in manual - watching your histogram, learning to spot and pre focus and all the tools still needed to get those more difficult shots.
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There you go. That is experience which can be very valuable to others. Learning how to shoot difficult subjects on 'inferior' equipment is a great challenge, from which one can hopefully become a better photographer. This is an approach which enabled me to be better than if I'd simply had the latest bells and whistles gear to do it all for me. I was once able to get some good shots of an indoor cycling World Champs track event, With just a 28-70 and 135mm MF lenses. Not ideal, I'd have preferred some proper AF kit, more reach etc, but that's what I had with me, so I had to try to get the best from what I had. I enjoyed it.


A_S said:
A 1DX maybe a better tool and if you were intending to take it further and shoot not only your daughters rugby, but other rugby or other sports then absolutely, however if your daughter stops playing rugby is the 1DX then a big white elephant? Probably.
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This would be my concern. I've seen just this sort of thing happen. Another concern with an old pro camera would be battery life; they'll have been hammered hard too, so might need replacing. They aren't cheap. Google suggests £150+. Whereas lower tier camera batteries can be £60 or less. Big difference.
 
andrewc said:
I much prefer working with CF's than SD's. They're more robust. Waiting to see which is the new equivalent as Canon switched from CF to cFast to CFExpress in each new generation of camera.
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Btw - I'd ignore the troll if I were you!
 
andrewc said:
I much prefer working with CF's than SD's. They're more robust. Waiting to see which is the new equivalent as Canon switched from CF to cFast to CFExpress in each new generation of camera.
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Sure, but once again, that’s YOUR choice. Giving effective advice isn’t about YOU. It’s about considering the needs and requirements of others. SD cards are far more widely available and a lot cheaper. And perform better than the original of CF cards. I have a CFe/XQD slot in my Z6; but I’d much prefer an SD option like in the Z6ii, as I don’t need the performance of the CFe/XQD cards, and a spare SD card is just a few quid. Plus you can easily find SD cards for sale in all sorts of places worldwide, if needed in emergency.


DemiLion said:
Btw - I'd ignore the troll if I were you!
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Have a word with yourself. Such comments are neither helpful nor respectful.
 
Abdichoudxyz said:
Have a word with yourself. Such comments are neither helpful nor respectful.
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My comment isn't meant to be respectful. Your comments and suggestions are so idiotic that they don't merit respect.

You are basically arguing with every experience view (sports experience that is) to suggest that someone (who has already made their decision) should buy a cheaper, inferior camera to force them to learn with more basic kit. Despite the brief in the request. That's just a little silly.
 
Temeura said:
Hi all,

I am looking to start taking photos of my daughter's Rugby team and the more I read, the more confused I get.

Looking to spend around £1k and was thinking about £500ish on a camera body and similar on a 70-200/300 lens.

My main confusion as whether I should buy a new beginner camera with up-to-date tech or buy a EOS 1DX which is 10 years old but was pro at the time?
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I don't know how fussy you are about the highest picture quality but I have loved the sports photo results with my Panasonic Lumix G9.
If you shopped around you could do the body used and also the 100-300mm Power OIS lens for 1k
OK, it's not a full frame sensor, but I have been very pleased with my images and with the de-noise software available these days you could tidy up any low light images easily if you wanted to (again it depends how fussy you are, I'm happy with my results but you should consider this if you're going to shoot under floodlight perhaps)
The thing I love is the pre-burst mode. Hold the focus (half press) and wait for the moment coming then shoot, you get 0.4 seconds of images before you fire and 20FPS of shots of the action. (You can also choose 60FPS but that's too many and not necessary for me)
I'm certainly not trying to suggest it's one of the best sports cameras, but it makes me very happy. (my images never come out well on here, they look cleaner on my desktop, but you get the idea)
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