DSLR For Rallying ( Fast Motorsport )

inlineadam

inlineadam

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Adam
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Hey there,for a while i have been using a simple Fuji FInepix s9500 for my rally photography ( i visit many rallys ) and have achieved some great pictures with this, however, im looking to upgrade to a much better DLSR.

Im looking for one where I Can Change Lenses, ( put big lenses etc on )

Also one that is well... good for rally photography...

I think therfore i need a good , fast shutter speed, and continuios shooting hopefully over 5 fps if thats reasonable... Im not much of an expert when it comes to FPS,... but one thing is that i'd just love to be able to click the shoot button a good few times in succesion without having to wait !

As i said, im no expert, more of an advanced begginer.. if that makes sense.

My Budget; £300-£350

Thank you ever so much for reading and i appreciate all responses
 
My advice is to keep saving.

Lenses suitable for rallying, both in terms of focal length, fast aperture for those gloomy, tree lined stages and of good image quality will consume all your budget and more.

5FPS means (in Canon terms) 30D, 40D, 50D, 7D, 1D

Sorry.

You could set your sights lower, and you'd still be impressed. Secondhand 55-250IS - £ 120 ish, leaves about £ 200 for a body and you may find a 350D or 400d for that.
 
Ye, would like to get the body sorted out first, then i can work out which lenses i will need

But... if you have some suggestions for body + lens that would be really helpful
 
I started with a D60 and a sigma 70-200 2.8, I now have a D300 :D and can say the D300 is a fantastic body but comparing the shots against the D60 the D60 did the job for my first year very well. You could push your budget a little and keep an eye on the classifieds for a used D90(£450ish) and an older Sigma 70-200 2.8 around £300 ish.......it's not a cheap hobby :lol:
 
what are you actually prepared to pay as right now it's a bit vague. A lot more could be doubling what you've stated or adding zeros.

Welcome aboard by the way :)
 
Hi Adam I think a 70-200 2.8 is your best option but not cheap. The Sigmas go for around £300 up and the Nikon £850 up, there is an Nikon 80-200 AF-s that goes for around £650 up. The D60 is ok but it's only 3 fps and anything above 400 ISO suffers a little, it's also quite a small body.
 
I use a Sony A700 which does 5fps, copes with higher ISOs and has an extra AF sensor that works on f/2.8 and faster lenses. I combine this with the Sony 70-200/2.8, although my interests are circuit based motorsport (fast) and classic reliability trials (often in woodland so can be dark).

That's massively outside of your budget though (body £500, lens £1000, s/h prices). Doubtless Canon and Nikon have similar offerings in this price range.
 
hmmm

I can pick up a d60 Body for £240....

BUt is the D60 Worth It...

Im not too sure on the fps

From my understanding 3FPS means you can basically press the button three times in a row without any pause....

Now, after those 3 shots... how long do you have to wait for the next?
 
I'm not exactly saying get the D60 but it will shoot 3fps constantly till the buffer is full. Even after I have upgraded to the D300 which will shoot 8fps with grip I shoot a quite a bit of track stuff cars and bikes and i very rarely shoot bursts. I caught this with the D60 and Sigma 70-200 in poor late evening light.

A used D60 should not cost more than £180, I sold mine on here for £165(picked up)



....and you just hold the button down not keep pressing it.
 
if this is oin to be something you want to stick at doing and are willing to spend some money, my advice is to buy a decent 2nd hand body, maybe look for a canon 40d or something like a pentax k20 or samsung gx20 all very well built, the last 2 very well weather sealed with the right lens. high fps is no good if the af is not good enough to focus fast enough,
 
From my understanding 3FPS means you can basically press the button three times in a row without any pause....

Now, after those 3 shots... how long do you have to wait for the next?
Click to expand...

Not quite - 3FPS means that the camera will shot 3 frames every second and continue to do so until the buffer is full (this varies from camera to camera and if you shoot in JPG or RAW). So typically if your camera is capable of 5 frames per second and can shoot 18 RAW files to the buffer you'll be able to shoot continously for somewhere between 3 and 4 seconds. Once the buffer is full the camera will continue to shoot at a much reduced rate.

So if you compare a camera shooting at 3FPS with a camera shooting 5FPS it means your getting 2 extra exposures per second. In motorsport terms it means you have more chance of getting the shot you want.

To obtain the fastest shooting rates often requires faster memory cards and using features like Servo mode for autofocus can also reduce the maximum shooting rate (although it will still be quick, it won't maybe hit the manufacturers spec).
 
ANy idea how big the buffer is with the d60, as in how many you can continuously shoot ?


And.... WHen the "buffer" is full,,..... does it empty after a few seconds? ( as in become available again )

Thanks for help by the way
 
I have no idea how big the buffer is on the D60 as I use Canon.

The buffer clears as soon as all of the images are written to disk - a process that is dependent on the speed of the camera, the card and the size of image you are shooting.
 
Lens wise the best option would be a 70-200 f/2.8 IS (or VR for Nikon). That will set you back £1200+

You could go for a non IS version and that will be around £800+ but the IS would be a godsend a lot of the time.

Other, much cheaper options would be something like the 70-300 IS (or VR) which will set you back around £400 but that may not be very good with regards to amount of light let in and focus speed.

Card wise you can get an 8GB CF or SD card (depending on camera) for around £20.
 
inlineadam said:
And.... WHen the "buffer" is full,,..... does it empty after a few seconds? ( as in become available again )
Click to expand...

The buffer is fast memory built into the camera to store images before they are transfered to the memory card. As soon as you take a picture the camera starts writing it from the buffer to the card. When complete it removes it from the buffer.

The faster the memory card you use, the quicker the buffer empties and the shorter the time before the shutter will fire next when the buffer is full.

RAW files take up much more memory than JPG, so if the camera will hold (say) 18 RAW files in the buffer it might hold 200 JPGs. Also given the size difference it might well be able to write out the entire JPG file to the card in 0.2 seconds if the memory card is fast enough, so you could fire the shutter continuously at 5fps and never fill the buffer.

The number of images that can be stored in the buffer is something to consider when looking at a high fps camera, especially if you intend to use RAW when shooting continuously.
 
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