Buying a Camera for Racing Photography

Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan

At the Start
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Messages
4,337
I'm in the process of looking for a new digital camera to buy mainly for going to the races with but also for holidays. I've got a budget of about £250 but closer to £200 would be better. I did loads of research for my last pocket digital camera and it was gash so was hoping all the forum's keen photographers might be able to help me out?

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/1434167/art/sony/cyber-shot-dsc-h50b-black.html

This one looks the front runner thus far having read a few reviews and I like the sound of the "burst" mode and shutter speed.
 
I loved my D40, it was fantastic for hols & carting around the point to points as it was the smallest DSLR at the time, the only reason I sold it was you had to stick with certain lenses which is fine as long as you don't want to buy several lens so I upgraded to the D80 (£600)

I bought a Canon last sept & have regretted it ever since (still have the D80) its my opinion that with canon some of your dosh goes on the name rather than what the camera has to offer, the canon was three times the cost of the D80 but I would use the D80 everytime over the canon

I was talking to a photographer at sandown last month who had the canon kit & he said if he had to pay for the kit out of his own money rather than claiming it on business expenses he would of bought Nikon

At the end of the day its what feels right, go down to Jessops/currys & have a
"touchy/feely"
 
By all means go to Curry's and have a good look, but before buying, check out their website and try to reserve and collect in store - the online prices are usually a bit cheaper.

We saved over £120 on the in store price for a Sony Digital Camcorder before Xmas - it was also £100 cheaper than Amazon.
 
Just wondering where abouts on a racecourse can you go before you're out of bounds?. I have always been a artistic person and have wonderd how these guys get permission to take photo's right where the horses jump - do they have a special badge?.

If I could find out more then I would definatly go and start taking pictures, you certainly would get more to show for a £15.00+ entrance fee
 
You are supposed to be a professional photographer in order to get an armband to go out on the track, IS. You have to prove you're professional and that you are working whilst taking photographs, unfortunately there are still some who manage to get away with spinning yarns about being pros.
 
There are certain courses where you can get reasonably close to the action without having to be a pro (provided you have a reasonable camera).
Towcester is highly recommended from that point of view.

Interesting comments Aldaniti regarding Canons.

My old Nikon D50 is showing its age (although I think part of it is the lenses as well).
At this time of year becomes very difficult to get any decent piccies if the weather and light isn't good.

I'd love to be able to spend a grand on a new camera and proper lenses but at the moment can't justify it.
 
you might want to look at the sony range too.
Get down to jessops though and have a feel of the camera's before you buy anything, and be careful with pixmania as they aren't uk based and customer service isn't up to much
 
Arkwright said:
I'd love to be able to spend a grand on a new camera and proper lenses but at the moment can't justify it.
Click to expand...

I said that when I bought my D40 ;)

From chatting to other Nikon users the D50 was a very well built camera & I see lots of people using them.

Also I think the best way to get close to the action is go to a point to point, you really are able to get as close to the action as the pro's, I don't bother trying to take fence shots on proper racecourses now as you are so far away it makes it incredibly hard so I tend to stick to paddock/horsewalk shots instead & do the jump shots at the P2P's
 
Thanks for all this guys, torn between:


  • Nikon D40 - Just worried it's only 6 million MP?
  • Sony H50 - I am lured by the sport mode enabling to take lots of shots in one burst. Not having a SD card slot is annoying though.
  • Panasonic FZ28 - Not heard a bad word against Lumix cameras at all.
Think I'll head down to Jacobs tomorrow and test them all out.
 
The D40 has a Sport mode, I used to use it all the time at first,

Don't get swallowed into the MP thing! really can't tell the difference between the my D40 & my D80 which is 10mp
 
GS,

You'll have to be blowing them up really, really big to notice the MP difference.

The Nikon would be my pick of the ones you listed.

Good luck.
 
One thing about the D40, will I need to fork out for extra lenses to get the same zoom of the Sony H50 or will the basic model on Amazon do?

Someone has now recommended the Sony A200 to me, decisions decisions!

Went into Jacobs and I'm none the wiser other than I don't like the Panasonic one!
 
I bought the D40 with two lenses as a kit from Currys so it might be worth seeing what they are offering, I do know you get a very good deal when bought this way rather than individually,

What lens comes with the Sony?
 
GS,
You'll inevitably need additional lens at some point with any SLR, but these can be bought relatively cheap second hand.
 
don't worry about megapixels...a good lens is most important...whats better?...6 million pixels of a clear image...or 10 million pixels of a blurred image

megapixels is just a con to suck gullibles in

lens quality rules
 
I've got a Cannon 40D which is cool. I use it for taking shots on the gallops frequently and they come out well.

There about £750.
 
Only those with a metal Press Badge OR permission from the racecourse to represent a press outlet are permitted to take photos for publication on a racecourse. Even if you do get permission and a Press Pass, some courses are quite sticky about where you can and can't go, whilst others (inc some of the biggest eg Ascot) are quite relaxed. Strictly speaking you should not be putting up photos anywhere inc webistes without having had that original permission; but people do of course all the time

I'm following this thread closely too as I badly need to upgrade my equipment (a Camedia), which is fine for the 'people shots' I'm mainly employed to do, inc Winners Enc, but not much good in poor light and pretty useless for track work even in bright sunlight (not that I really NEED to do that anyway, but it's good to have the option)

I've used one of the Canons that most racing photographers use, and I didn't like it at all; but I've never had enough use of it to really experiment and see what it could do. And it didn't really have a good enough lens on it so the pics tended to come out very grainy which I dislike. When I was using only an SLR camera I swore by my Nikon, and I'd always tend to favour Nikon for that reason. But as others have said, it's getting the right lens which is important

It's true that framing a shot is the most important thing though, once you have the equipment, and that's largely a matter of having a good 'eye'. My background of many years in picture research and picture editing helps there, having spent over 20 years selecting between good and p*ss-poor images...

And it's a job which you can only learn by doing, so in a sense you are a 'Pro' the moment someone pays you to go and take pics on a racecourse! - but it's a job where experience really does make all the difference, as we can see in the difference in quality between the work of forum photgraphers who do it for a living, and those who just go out and take a few pics when at the races
 
With the greatest respect, Headstrong, while some of your pictures are quite nice, but if you're classifying yourself as one of the forum professionals, I think you've a long way to go yet and it is perhaps a little galling for those on here who have earned their living from photography for considerably longer to find you putting yourself in their league. Maybe I've misread your post and that wasn't your intention - if so, I apologise profusely.

A metal Press badge is not the definitive criteria for being a good anything - my son has one for a start and wouldn't know one end of a horse from another but he is a member of the Press all the same....
 
GS, I'm in the same boat and am looking at buying the Sony A200. It has image stabilisation for one thing which should help an awful lot, and as and when you need to buy any lenses, I believe the Minolta range of lenses all fit and are a lot cheaper. As an entry level camera into dslr, it is supposed to be the business.
 
Funny you should say that Dave, a colleagye at work is bringing his A200 in to work tomorrow for me to have a play with. I'm swaying towards a Bridge camera like the H50 rather than a full SLR because I just don't fancy carrying an SLR around Vietnam when I go in March.
 
Back
Top