action shots

[mountainanddesertadventure]

I have a lot of problem again with my action shots. Rodeo, horse racing,

sports. I have tried many of the items shown in instruction manual but still

the quality is very low. I use the best quality high resolution set up on my

camera.

I have a WZ 8800 Nikon.

 

BC

[don_cooper]

Tough to say without seeing samples. As a starter the 8800 is like most other digicams with a significant shutter lag which makes action photography very difficult. What do you mean by 'the quality is very low'? motion blur, out of focus, what?

[mark u]

If you are going to try to shoot sport (especially indoors) you are going to need to upgrade to a DSLR. The DSLR need not be an all singing and dancing pro camera, but it should have a good performance at 1600 ISO for indoor work. Both Nikon and Canon have suitable models and a good range of lenses. The big ticket in shooting sport is the lenses you need. Fast aperture prime lenses are essential for indoor work (f/2 or faster), and outdoors you need fairly fast telephoto lenses, which can be expensive if you need the longer ones for the sports you shoot.

 

Have a read of this article:

 

http://www.photo.net/learn/sports/overview

[sam_thompson2]

Don't use the zoom or if you do do not zoom all the way out. Using the zoom will decrease your aperture which will result in slower shutter speeds. If you want a tighter shot, crop later.

 

If you are close enough, you can get an external flash like the SB800 or SB600.

 

If you can't use flash. The best way to get good results from a non dslr is to use panning techniques. It actually works better than most DSLRs because you have live LCD view.

 

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/mastering-panning-to-photograph-moving-subjects/

[dangoldman]

Unless you have a good zoom lens which does not decrease aperture (applying this only to SLR's mind you). If you want good action photos, especially on some degree of regularity (vague term), you will need an SLR. I suggest canon because i have heard of generally better autofocus, but whatever floats your boat and feels good in your hands, and also has a selection of lenses that you want that are within your price range.

[robbie_caswell]

What's your budget?

 

I think the best sports camera for an amateur would be the Nikon F5/F100.

 

They share with the digital cousins ( D2H and D1X )the same/similar autofocus capabilities which are to die for...But at about twice the price.

 

Lens...fastest you can afford.

 

Older manual focus AIS lens are suprisingly quick to focus. The 200mm f/2 AIS and 300mm F/2.8 AIS are affordable compared to their AF brothers. The 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 makes a great lens for basketball/volleyball. Same for the 85mm focal length. 135mm f/2 Nikon is fast but a bit short or long for just about everything.

 

For sports, speed is king, especially in the glass department.