Buying a Camera for Racing Photography

I bought Mrs AC a Sony A200 for Christmas. Very good quality and value. She is not a professional and has not mastered many of the subtleties as yet, but I must say I look lovely in all the photographs so far.
 
What lens does your wife have An C? Is it just Sony lens which are compatible or is there others (eg - Tamron, Minolta etc)?
 
Perhaps you'd like to send me a copy via pm then Songsheet, since I'd like to know what's being said about me behind my back? I really don't understand why all this bitching, since I've never pretended to do or be anything I'm not.

And by the way, for those of you on here who have been contributing to the thread on Atacana in which making fun of my fledgling new 'career' plays a part LOL - copies have been e-mailed to me (not that I've asked for them!)
 
I hope I am ' professional ' enough to comment on this thread.
HS your quote '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.'
This is incorrect. There are three codes of photographers on UK racecourses at present. 1. The press. Photographers working on behalf of a paper/mag or the PA and other agencies which supply the papers. 2. Commercial. These are photographers like myself that supply images to the connections of racing including some papers/mags who source them. 3. Saturday and part time photographers who blag their way onto to racecourse or who find a back entrance through a hedge.
As a commercial photographer I do not hold a metal badge or need to provide info of a press outlet when working at a racecourse. Sheer bloody determination has got me there. Countless letters and copies of my work have got me to the courses I now work.

As for the Atacanta remark....:lol:
 
I didn't see owt wrong in your initial posting Head to be honest

if someone come on here saying they were the best tipster in the world when in fact I knew two or three folk that pissed on em... I wouldn't care ...I would feel a little precious if I did I feel

just trying to neutral here..
 
Without wanting to seem like I'm taking sides, SL, you have commented many times on the subject of tendons including being quite sure your opinion was the correct and valid one (that's fine). Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember reading you are a vet.

HS has done little wrong, and please let outside (ie - real life) or other forums issues where they come from.

Now, GS, how did testing go? I may get one myself.
 
Diminuendo said:
I hope I am ' professional ' enough to comment on this thread.
HS your quote '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.'

This is incorrect. There are three codes of photographers on UK racecourses at present. 1. The press. Photographers working on behalf of a paper/mag or the PA and other agencies which supply the papers. 2. Commercial. These are photographers like myself that supply images to the connections of racing including some papers/mags who source them. 3. Saturday and part time photographers who blag their way onto to racecourse or who find a back entrance through a hedge.
As a commercial photographer I do not hold a metal badge or need to provide info of a press outlet when working at a racecourse. Sheer bloody determination has got me there. Countless letters and copies of my work have got me to the courses I now work.

As for the Atacanta remark....:lol:
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I take your point but I did qualify my remark by saying FOR PUBLICATION, and as you know, it's expressly stated in almost every racecard, that images taken can't be published (which incs on websites) unless you have had permission from the course to take pics. I was trying to clarify this for the original poster (whoever it was!).

And my main point was, that one does need PERMISSION from the courses to take photos for any commercial purpose.

I well remember 2/3 years ago you trying to get your permissions from various courses, and what uphill work it was; and I wrote in to my contacts at Newbury on your behalf (and at your request as I remember) as I was working with the relevant people at the time on their Centenary publications

The matter of commercial photographers selling to owners is of course a contentious one as it gets the backs up of the official course snappers no end! - but that's another story

Yes the Atacanta thread is very musing isn't it? - though I'm by no means sure *all* the posts are quite as innocent in intention as some would claim :rolleyes:
 
EC1 said:
that must be some camera :lol:
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Cripes, youre brave!!! :D

I hope anyone who gets a copy of the atacanta story is having it kept up to date - my dog has become a snarling cross-dresser and my cow keeps changing into Hermione Granger...
Quite frankly,anyone reading it, who can manage to get offended at something so clearly silly ESPECIALLY when one of the busiest contributors to the story is a good friend of many,many people across the three forums (by 3, I mean th,ff and a) has a complex. Theres nothing untoward going on over there,and quite frankly,its very very boring when people who wont join it (for whatever reason they want to churn out - usually changing from week to week) slag it off.
In fact - last time i looked at it,I was on the way to being caught in a very compromising position with Ta-ra-ra Tomkins-Palmerston.... :ninja: so if anyone should be pissed off at the moment - I think its me !!!!

(though - I agree,there are a couple of the posts may be able to be interpreted by some people with huge egos as being sly bitching at them - but i think the only person who could take offence properly is the muse behind "Hayley Turnip" the murdering champion root vegetable....:) )
 
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trudij said:
Theres nothing untoward going on over there,and quite frankly,its very very boring when people who wont join it (for whatever reason they want to churn out - usually changing from week to week) slag it off.
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Easier said than done - especially when your e-mail address "isn't accepted"... :rolleyes:
 
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Ah but Hamm, the difference is that I've never claimed to be a vet, nor will you hear or read me claim to be.

Headstrong, the "official" course snappers are usually commercial ones themselves; I think you're getting your ideas in a bit of a pickle. I won't get into the politics of racing photography on here though since it's not especially interesting anyway and involves plenty of age old spats between various factions.

But yes, press photographers do often look down on commercials, they seem to think they are better than them. Press photographers don't tend to do the official stints to racetracks though.

Now I've replied to Hamm and pointed out the mistakes I'll let the rest of you get on with the thread, I don't have any more to say!

(PS - for clarification, I'm not even a member of Atacanta so no blame can be pinned on me for that one!!!! :lol: )
 
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HS Shadow is correct, most official racecourse photographers are commercials and they don't have a problem with other commercials. We all know that there is usually enough work for us all or we wouldn't survive.
As for Newbury, well thay have a different attitude to most course and I have come to realise that asking people [ if I did do that ] like your self to get involved only gets there backs up even more.
Also HS I have checked the so called thread on Atatanta and the comments which you believe are involving your fledgling career were started and carried out by a close friend of yours. Why don't you ask her to stop it instead of sniping at others.
 
Well I thought Atacanta was a cold place in the south, and that an SLR was a self-loading rifle.

As regards "professional" which so much of this revolved around (well at least initially) I've been sent scurrying off to the OED, and there's 3 definitions, of which 2 would back up both sides interpretation

"engaged in an activity as a paid occupation rather than as an amateur"

"person having impressive competance in a particular activity"

Hopefully everyone can draw some sense of vindication from this, but I don't want it turning into a personal assessment of X's ability versus Y's please
 
Look, if someone wants to discuss another forum, I suggest they go there and do it, and stop boring everyone else with these trivialities.

Seriously, Gamla Stan started a thread looking for advice on cameras and you have ALL (those involved in the to and fro-ing) let your egos and grudges drag it down. This is an internet forum; something to be enjoyed, not used as a vehicle for your petty disputes. If you don't like someone or have some kind of issue with them, fine, please don't communicate with each other .. no-one will lose any sleep over it. Same applies to subtle, suugestive or barbed remarks. If you persist in letting either your petty disputes from 'real life' or other forums interfere with topics on here, you will be removed. And, no, you don't have to answer back any comments directed at you. Now, grow up and lets get back to talking cameras.
 
I would suggest that anyone puchasing a camera should buy one that they can understand and really use the manual to find out exactly how it works. The canon manuals can be a bit over powering at times. I have never used Sony but have read good reports. Fuji cameras have come a long way and the colour is fantastic, better than anyone, even my Canon. The main problem about buying a new camera is there are so many on the market. So always set out a price and go no higher, get to touch the camera and find out if you like the way it works and feels, most good camera shops will do this and if possible use an independant retailer as you usually get a much better after sales service. Good Luck.
 
Hamm said:
And, no, you don't have to answer back any comments directed at you. Now, grow up and lets get back to talking cameras.
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In all fairness Hamm, as a moderator preaching the rules, is it really appropriate that you throw in comments directed at people which are designed only to provoke and to draw out the very disagreement that you yourself are asking to desist?

ie

Without wanting to seem like I'm taking sides, SL, you have commented many times on the subject of tendons including being quite sure your opinion was the correct and valid one (that's fine). Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember reading you are a vet.
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Not really playing the game, is it?
 
Too Right Dims, I "found" a retailer in Chelmsford a couple of months ago & I live in the shop at the weekend! Never realised it was there until I read that they had won several magazine awards etc in the mag I happened to be reading

Not a bunch of school kids like Jessops (locally anyway) all are photographers, anything you are interested in buying they are happy to show you how it all works, I went in there just before xmas to look at lighting as I want to take some pics of items for the website, he told me to bring my camera & he set up the light box with lights etc & showed me the best way to use them,
The thing is the exceptional customer service will have me going back & buying anything I will need in the future

Helen
 
As I said it's amusing and I've no beef with what Krizon has posted over there, she sent me those bits herself as it happens LOL - I'm quite miffed not to be able to read the whole lot! It's a bit odd though to know you're being lampooned on a forum to which you don't have access!! I've been sent other bits by other people, but only those which concern me of course! Some would hardly blame me, given the kind of thing which is going on in this thread, if I questioned some people's motives.

I'm not doing the sniping on here, Jeez, I'm just trying to explain where I'm coming from to forumites who have no idea what my professional life involves - if I'm permitted to call it that! - since my creditials in the area came under attack here. Not that it's ANYONE'S business except mine. I made my original post in reply to some of the queries above, regarding procedure at racecourses, and was instantly attacked by all the usual supsects, for reasons (except in one case) which mystify me.

For those who don't know much about these things, the 'official' photgraphers to each course send out proofs etc to owners and trainers, and in return for their attendance at every meeting (which is a big commitment esp at the a/w tracks) they expect to get the courtesy of a fair run at those connections. They do tend to get very shirty with anyone who they think is poaching on their territory (in my experience - not that I would); but the degree of their 'protectiveness' probably varies with the extent to which they are paid by the course (which does vary a lot from what little I can gather). I *am* speaking from personal experience, which I have never claimed to be extensive. Obviously I'm coming at it from a very different angle since my passes are all Press, and at GLs I've had a kind of semi-official role - and things work a bit differently there. and since my camera is small, I don't *look* like Press

I sometimes take photos at racecourses. It's not a full-time or exclusive job, at the moment, though the whole package might become one (I'm doing more writing than photgrpahy right now). Whether that makes me a 'racecourse photographer' is of no consequence at all, in my view. If the question distresses others, I suggest they get a life!

Hamm, Warbler, I take your points: BUT!

I try to treat everyone I meet in the forums and in person with courtesy, and listen to their point of view on any matters of common interest. I wish everyone else would do the same. As Hamm says, if people have some beef with or animosity towards another fourmite it's surely better to thrash it out in private and not keep dragging it into the forum. I'm quite mystified by some of the posts in this (and other) threads.

That's the trouble with trolling: if you ignore it, people think the derogatory remarks are entirely justified and they score their points. If you try to correct misconceptions or stand up for yourself, you're inevitably dragged into a stupid and petty quarrel. The trolls win almost every time.
 
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