Body for Extreme Sports

Hi there,

 

I currently have a Nikon F-501 and a Canon 40D and have been an amateur

photographer for a couple of years now, however I would like to step it up a

notch and shoot some extreme sports like snowboarding and skateboarding. This

is where my problem lies, as I have enjoyed both my cameras, I have never been

specialised enough to warrant learning about frame per second speed, focus

speed, etc. I would really appreciate some advice on what body would be best to

capture action and extreme sports images.

 

All the best

 

Andy T

In the Canon line, the 1DmkIIn and 1DmkIII are probably the undisputed "action" bodies. The 40D isn't a slouch, but is a notch down in FPS, AF speed, and buffer-size from the 1D models.

The 40D is quite capable of taking action sports shots. A 1D MkIII would be better, but there

are a lot of other ways to spend the same amount of cash. If you don't have a good

collection of fast glass, that should probably be your first priority. A lighting setup for off-

camera flash would also be a really good thing to have for both of the sports you cited; use

of some sort of off-camera lighting in skate and snowboard shots is fairly common.

The 40D you have now will work well for sports photography. What lenses do you currently have?

Yeah - 6.5 fps of the 40D is excellent speed for sports.

Nice one guys, I really appreciate your advice...looks like I need to invest in some lenses! I am looking at the Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM for getting in there for the closer shots (with a 1.4 tele-extender), but not quite sure what else to go for...maybe something like a fish-eye? I just feel like that has been done to death now though....

Do you have a 70-200?

Skatboard from up close (staged) or from a distance (comps etc.)? If you want wide then get the Canon 10-22, awesome lens.

I have a 28-200. Was looking for a lens that could cope with doing comps...loving the look

of the 10-22 lens though...gonna have to save the pennies and all I want to do is get out

there and get shooting!!

 

A

Ok well using that lens should tell you if you need wide or long, or wider or longer. <br>

So if you want the long end of what you have but better glass then you are looking at a 70-200. You could probably get away with the f4 version for outdoors if you want to save some $$ but generally the f2.8 is the sports version (low light etc.). Maybe the Sigma 50-150 could work too.<br>

If you need longer then you would be looking at a teleconverter for those lenses or a 300mm f4, or maybe something around 400mm if you need much longer.<br>

If you want a bit wider then you may need something in the 17-?? range, i.e. 17-40 f4, 17-55 f2.8, tamron 17-50.<br>

If you want extreme wide then then 10-22, or maybe sigma 10-20.

So I'd suggest looking at your photos and finding out where you do most of your shooting and work from there.