New camera body for motorsports

Adam1987

Adam1987

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Adam
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Looking for a new camera body (Nikon) for motorsports I currently shoot with a 100-300F4 on a Nikon D200 was looking after upgrading to a FX body though and adding a 24-80 vr aswell. Thoughts please.

Adam
 
I don't really see the advantage of going FX in this case, it just seems like unnecessary expense.
 
If length is your goal, you'll get a lot more pixels with DX. To get the same framing with FX is just going to add weight and expense. I assume you're mostly talking about decent daylight shooting here.
 
What type of Motorsport do you shoot?

I went Nikon for a while and had a D700 and D300 to start with, both good cameras but I really loved the D700. I do a lot of club level stuff where you can get nice and close with a lot of it and I didn't feel the FX to be lacking in length most of the time, and when it did I added a TC. However if it's mostly circuit based and all out length is required, then a DX body might very well suit you better.
 
I would upgrade to a newer generation DX body. A used D7000 would be a very good choice. I don't really think there's much benefit to going for the newer D7200 (unless you are easily impressed by MP count).
 
Mostly club racing, I have been looking at the D800 which has a dx crop mode should I need extra length, it only has 4fps which is putting me off at the moment.
 
Adam1987 said:
Mostly club racing, I have been looking at the D800 which has a dx crop mode should I need extra length, it only has 4fps which is putting me off at the moment.
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With the right batteries in a grip you get 7fps in DX mode. But if you are going to go to a D8xx I would suggest the D810.
However, if you do use it in DX mode it is essentially the same as the 16MP D7000... in every aspect.
 
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The problem with shooting in DX mode is that you have to be spot on with your framing. It's very easy to lose track of the guide lines and chop a wheel off.

I've shot motorsport with a D7k for a while and never really founf it lacking in anything tbh.
 
At what lengths are the majority of your shots taken on your current body? As I'm sure you know, 200mm on a Dx body gives the same field of view as a 300mm on Fx, so if you currently shoot mainly at the long end, you might well find that you need a longer lens to catch the action should you make the step up (in size of sensor, if nothing else!) to Fx. Since FPS is a concern, how about the D750? More MP than the D700, higher frame rate than the D8?0s, lighter than either as well. Allows some cropping and still gives decent sized prints (A3+). TBH, almost anything will be an upgrade from a D200 - a decent enough body in its day but rather long in the tooth and showing its age compared to newer bodies!
 
I had a D800 after my D700 came to an untimely end. Good camera, liked it a lot but did find it a bit slow for the motorsport stuff, and as David said above, when using the DX mode I was chopping car parts off a lot.
 
AF system on the D750 is superb and great for sports. If you want a DX body then the D7200 uses a modified version of the same AF module so would be an excellent choice too.
 
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