Which Digital Nikon Best for Motorsport

[simon_cook]

Digital dilema....There is the chance of moving into the field of

motorsport photography.To do this I have been told I will need a

digital camera and there needs to be a fast turn around to satisfy the

clients needs.Now which Nikon body do I go for(have nikon lenses in my

kit)as I want to get it right from the start as we all know digital is

expensive, especially Nikon.Is it DI D1X D1H D100.....?

[hique]

Why have you been told to use digital? A film body would give you more quality images with good film like provia.

 

Anyway, If you don't mind about the less quality in the final images, then a diference from 4 to 6 megapixels shouldn't hurt either. If this is correct, you should use the D1H, since it is faster and was designed for your sort of situation

 

Good luck

[muellerworld]

I agree with Marcio, the D1h is probablly the best choice.

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A friend of mine just switched from an F100 to a D100 for photographing V8 Supercar events. His main comment was that the D100 was a bit too slow focusing and not enough frames-per-second for events that happen quickly on the track (even with a full compliment of AFS lenses).

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His other main comment was that he is never going back to film again. Digital allowed him to shoot away like crazy, he downloads CF cards as needed, and batch processes take care of getting smaller jpg versions ready for proofing (and sales) while on-site.

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EVERYONE is going have a different opinion, especially on the film versus digital issue. What works for one shooter may not work for another. If you have taken the decision to switch to digital and to shoot Nikon, *I* think the D1h is your best bet for motorsports from what is currently offered. (I shoot a D100, and wish I had a D1h <i>sometimes</i> when I have to shoot faster sports).

[klix]

Actually you do NOT need a digital camera to get into motorsport photography. What you would need is a camera body with a fast AF system and fast AF lenses.

 

If you go with Film, the fastest is the F5.

 

If you go with Digital, then you'd have to decide whether 2.74 Megapixels is sufficient for your needs. If YES, then the D1H is the current champ; if NO, then go with the D1X. Or you can wait for Nikon to announce a new flasghip digital camera -- who knows when??

[craig_bridge]

Forget the D1 (ISO 800 suffers, fps suffers, buffer size suffers). D1H if it has enough pixels for you, otherwise D1X with large frame buffer upgrade (but realize that D1X ISO 800 is the limit of usability for high quality where D1H ISO 1600 is very usable). D100 AF is similar to F80 which isn't that great, ISO 1600 is good, and frames per second and burst buffer size suffers.

[mark_scheuern]

Presumably Simon wants a digital camera because, as he said, the client needs fast turnaround. Given that, I'd take a look at the D100. I shoot motorsports and use the D100 (as well as film cameras) and I'm very pleased with it. AF is indeed slower than an F5, F100, the D1 cameras, etc., but I don't find it to be a problem since I usually manually focus my racing stuff anyway.

 

Mark

[ShunCheung]

Did Simon make is very clear that his clients need a fast turn around? DSLRs are ideal for this type of applications when you shoot and throw away a lot of frames as you'll save a lot in film and processing cost.

 

As a D100 owner myself, I am afraid that you'll be frustrated by its slower AF, slow 3 frames/sec frame rate and ralatively slow write spped into CF cards in action photography. Once you fill up the buffer (4 RAW or 6 JPEG), you have to wait a while before you can shoot again, and you can easily miss shots. I would look into a DSLR with a much larger memory buffer such as the D1h, but you need to compromise with 2.74MP. Unfortunately, currently the best DSLR for this type of appliations is not made by Nikon.

[armando_roldan]

Contrary to many people here, DO NOT USE FILM for motorsports or for that fact, any sports requiring fast turn around and hundreds, if not thousands of shots per event. I was working with a freind doing motorsports part time and found our profit margin being killed by film processing and paying duble and even triple for 1 hour service while our competitors used Digital cameras. Nikon D1h mainly. Our images are if higher print quality but we couldn't match the number of shots taken the digital guys,not to mention they could go to their campers and load up the laptops and produce proofing sheets for the racers to see once they came out on photo-quality printers. Digital is very expensive to do properly but very quick and the results, perhaps not the greatest quality for blown up prints, quite nice at 5x7 or smaller prints.