New camera advice for mainly motorsport - mirrorless?

benjo09

benjo09

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I tried posting this in the motorsport discussion forum as thats what I mainly do but haven't had any replies so thought I would try here.

I have been using a D3100 since I started photography 7 years ago and am finally in a position to buy something new. Just looking at the specs of my D3100 compared to the current range of cameras and I can see a massive difference.

Mirrorless seems to be the latest thing but when I last looked at upgrading a few years ago mirrorless cameras weren't quite there for sports photography yet. Are they now?

The other option is the D500 which seems to be the go to Nikon sports camera these days and would allow me to keep my current lenses but is there a newer version around the corner? Also I'm not against getting new lenses as I don't own anything particularly special at the moment.

Whatever I buy I will want to last a good few years so a degree of future proofing would be good.

Overall it would be great to hear people's thoughts of where to go next.
 
I used a d5100 for motorcross and football, thought it was fine, then changed to a D500 and what a pain in the behind it was, focus almost hits every time, 10fps is just a pain.

I’ve never had so many spot on focus pictures to troll through in my life :LOL::LOL:

In all honesty my keeper rate for both probably double or at 10fps quadrupled.

But the one thing no one mentions is the sheer amount of settings and new menu options you have, it’s daunting the amount of setting you can change.

I personally can’t fault the D500, if only the numpty using it (the same numpty typing this) could do it justice.
 
For moving things a DLSR is still the way to go, and the D500 has telepathic AF so if consistently nailed AF is what you need then that is the best option.
 
Unless you can afford a Sony A9.

A reasonably priced DSLR has better continuous AF than all but the most expensive mirrorless. One day that won't be true - but that day isn't yet.
 
You won't go wrong with a D500. Mirrorless can do Motorsports though. I've been using Fuji since the X-T1 for Motorsports, at that time I was still also using the 1Dmk4 but once the X-T2 was released l don't think I have got the 1Dmk4 out of the bag...

I also have the Sony A9 and where that really excels is the no evf blackout/stutter. This makes taking accelerating/decelerating vehicles much easier to track.
 
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One of the reasons I've kept my Nikon FF system is motorsport - it's better at it than my Fuji system. My only forays into MS these days are hill climbs at Wiscombe Park (early next month is the VSCC's meeting) where the 24-120 f/4 is pretty much the perfect tool.

Were I to be shooting at circuits, I'd be looking for a Dx body to go behind the 70-300 VR - Castle Coombe is the closest circuit and you can get close enough to the track for 300mm to be enough.
 
I went from a Nikon D3300 entry level DSLR to the Olympus EM1 Mk2 mirrorless m4/3 camera. and the difference is night and day, FPS, AF, keeper rate is insane by comparison, but some will claim m4/3 (small sensor) is no good for low light etc., and whilst there's an element of that (as in you have to play with some sliders in Lightroom sometimes to bring out the best) it does me for my motorsports hobby, which is almost always in daylight hours.

I did consider the D500 (or the D7500 which is pretty nice and seems somewhat overlooked), but there's lenses to also consider, I only had a "consumer" zoom and wanted a fast "sports" zoom as well, but something like the 70-200mm f/2.8 (which is one of the most popular sports zoom lenses) is made for FF and is big, heavy and expensive. For me weight was also a consideration and my advice, whatever you go for, is to consider the system as a whole.
 
If you want to mirrorless the Sony A9 will be the best option.
 
benjo09 said:
The other option is the D500 which seems to be the go to Nikon sports camera these days and would allow me to keep my current lenses but is there a newer version around the corner?
Click to expand...

No, there is not. But a replacement to the D7500 is likely sooner than any D500 replacement and could be very good if they upgrade the AF more drastically than little tweaks. But not soon either and I`m not sure anyone knows what will happen to DSLR camera lines from here on.
The D7500 is probably good but a lot of people hate a couple of negative changes Nikon made, they seemed to sabotage it on purpose so not to hurt D500 sales im guessing.
 
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