Advice please

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comfort

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simon
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Hello all.

I would really like to get into sports photography and basically I have no idea where to start! I basically want to know what equipment you would recommend and how much it will cost.

I would primarily like to take pictures of cricket and football matches.

I am a complete novice and have not done any serious photography before so I would really appreciate any basic help (I realise its going to be expensive but it will be worth it im sure)

many thanks
 
Whilst i cannot give you much advice on gear to buy, I can tell you that you will need to just get into basic photography first.

shooting sports is quite specialised and is something that requires a little more than basic knowledge.

Composing the subject, is going to be your biggest problem as you will need to see shots that are not there and compose ready for the shot to appear, its almost like a speeding car, you know its going to be speeding and you know that at a certain point on its path it will look good, without this knowledge you are just taking pictures of a car with no thought behind it.

My advice would be to go to local matches and just get a feel for it, try and learn in the meantime basic photography.
 
Hi thanks for the reply.

i have played cricket professionally for the last 8 years so id like to think that will help as to knowing where the action will be and ive watched football for a long time as well so im hoping this will help
 
Have you got a spare £10K, assuming you want to do it properly?
There is another thread running on this very question.
 
i dont have a spare 10k no!

could you point me in the direction of the other thread, cheers
 
20k for taking some decent pics of my local cricket club! jeez i thought i may be able to do it for less than that!
 
seems op is on a limited budget which he forgot to mention so deleting my bit :)
 
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What do you mean by decent though?
 
comfort said:
20k for taking some decent pics of my local cricket club! jeez i thought i may be able to do it for less than that!
Click to expand...

you did mention serious photogrpahy.

you can do it cheaper if you can live with less quality :)
 
What is your budget?

Are you wanting to do it as a full-time professional or just for a hobby?

As a hobby you could get some decent sports shots with a D300 and a 70-200mm f2.8 or a 300mm f2.8 which you could pick up for under £2,000. If you are really on a budget then you could go for a D5000 and a 70-300mm for less than £1,000.
 
hi chaps

thanks for the response, the other thread seemed to be full of professionals talking shop, as I said ive never done this before so really after basic advice, yes i was thinking under £1k

id obviously like the best equipment possible in that price bracket andit would be for a hobby, at least to start with
 
Where are you based Simon, im sure one of the many helpful togs on here wouldn't mind if you tagged along for an afternoon (stadia, permissions permitting)
 
yeh i was thinking 2nd hand was my best bet

im not a snob and im not rich so 2nd hand would be best, wheres a good place to look? ebay?
 
comfort said:
hi chaps

thanks for the response, the other thread seemed to be full of professionals talking shop, as I said ive never done this before so really after basic advice, yes i was thinking under £1k

id obviously like the best equipment possible in that price bracket andit would be for a hobby, at least to start with
Click to expand...
used Nikon d300 and Sigma 70-200mm
 
comfort said:
yeh i was thinking 2nd hand was my best bet

im not a snob and im not rich so 2nd hand would be best, wheres a good place to look? ebay?
Click to expand...
There is a classified section on this forum that you can have a look at and at least you'll be able to look in to who you are buying off but yes eBay would be another good place to look.
 
200mm is a bit short for cricket, unless you're the umpire!
 
Thats Ok Simon, only to pleased to help. Never underestimate 2nd hand gear you can get some real bargains out there.
 
Beagletorque said:
200mm is a bit short for cricket, unless you're the umpire!
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Not always, bear in mind Simon is a beginner and wont be shooting at Lordes or Edgebaston, small compact Village pitches are more than likely where he will be honing his skills, also bear in mind the D300 is a 1.6x crop camera so he will effectivly be shooting at 320mm which in my experience is a more than decent focal length for the smaller crickey pitches out there, i shot about 10 local league games with a full frame D3 and 300mm prime from the side and with a 1.4x attached for shooting straight down the pitch, anyone who has shot at East Bierley will tell you 70-200mm is more than long enough.
 
Hi Simon,
my husband and i cover on an amateur basis rugby, football and field hockey for our local clubs. Set up we use is Canon 50D with 70-200mm 2.8L IS plus 2 x teleconverter. Another 50D body with a 70-300mm IS USM and a 350d body 17-55mm for team shots.

The 70-300 will struggle on dark winter days but ok on bright sunny days

Not sure if your Nikon or Canon? This set up covers everything we need, however if we had more money then we would like to have 400mm prime lens and a 100-400mm lens.

Start on centre line and move around the pitch to get various images. take shots of players from a side on position and from a front on position maybe from goal line. remember the umpires, sometimes they can create a good shot.

We use mainly tv mode on about 500-640 speed (not sure if this is correct) which for us freezes the action and we use centre spot focus point. Try and anticipate the action so you are already aiming the camera in the correct direction for the shot. It will take a while and you will end up with some lousy shots and some good shots but the more you can read the game the better the shots will become!
Hope this helps
 
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Gary Coyle said:
Not always, bear in mind Simon is a beginner and wont be shooting at Lordes or Edgebaston, small compact Village pitches are more than likely where he will be honing his skills, also bear in mind the D300 is a 1.6x crop camera so he will effectivly be shooting at 320mm which in my experience is a more than decent focal length for the smaller crickey pitches out there, i shot about 10 local league games with a full frame D3 and 300mm prime from the side and with a 1.4x attached for shooting straight down the pitch, anyone who has shot at East Bierley will tell you 70-200mm is more than long enough.
Click to expand...


All Nikon DX bodies are 1.5x crop, I think the Canons may be 1.6x.
I also shot some cricket with the 300mm on FX and I did need the 1.4x converter too even on the short boundary. I think 300mm on DX (450FX equiv) would be a minimum if you want the batsman or bowler bowling.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=92899
 
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Shooting sport is arguably the most demanding discipline, both in terms of equipment and sheer technique. Even with a big budget you cannot just walk into this and get professional, saleable images, every time, day and night, rain or shine. Not sure anyone has mentioned wiring stuff back to base live from the pitch yet either.

However, you could get a pretty good feel for what's involved with a modest DSLR and say a 70-300mm lens. There's a lot you could do with that (and a lot you couldn't do) but as a bit of low cost research it's maybe worth a punt.
 
I have deleted my comments.. Goalposts have been moved halfway through the thread...
 
Beagletorque said:
All Nikon DX bodies are 1.5x crop, I think the Canons may be 1.6x.
I also shot some cricket with the 300mm on FX and I did need the 1.4x converter too even on the short boundary. I think 300mm on DX (450FX equiv) would be a minimum if you want the batsman or bowler bowling.

Click to expand...
So we agree, 200mm on a crop body isn't too short depending on the ground.
 
comfort said:
yes i was thinking under £1k

id obviously like the best equipment possible in that price bracket and it would be for a hobby, at least to start with
Click to expand...

I thought 1K would have been enough to shart shooting Ice hockey with ......erm not really lol ,
Second hand is defo the way to go , don't make the mistake I made and bought the cheapest bits available, you will only upgrade ( within 3 weeks for me :'( )

Tony ( Kipax ) has helped so much to start getting workable results :clap:
 
IMHO - learn photography. Get a decent starting kit, then look into moving into sports photography later.
 
All this "Learn Photography first" stuff seems a bit harsh - why shouldn't he learn photography by shooting the sport he's currently interested in?
He already has an advantage by dint of the fact that he knows his subject matter intimately and may have access to situations others do not.

Best place to buy cheap? Here. But you'll need to stick around for a bit first.
I bought several 'big' purchases (pro camera body, three pro lenses and two flashguns) through ebay recently with no problems - if in doubt ask us about the item.
 
Arkady said:
All this "Learn Photography first" stuff seems a bit harsh - why shouldn't he learn photography by shooting the sport he's currently interested in?
Click to expand...

Because it is bloody difficult, which is rarely the best starting place.
 
No-one missed that. Did you miss the bit where sports photography is bloody difficult?
 
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