What to Buy?

Kagan

I am getting ready to upgrade cameras. I am currently shooting with a Fuji S7000. My goal is to get a Digital camera/lens combination able to great shots for sports. Indoors and outdoors preferrably. My main goal is for baseball but not exclusive. My goal is to earn enough from sports to at the very least pay for my hobby. I would love to be able to use the same camera to do portraits/senior pictures or even weddings if needed. I will also be using this camera for personal use, birthday parties, graduations etc. I want something I can use that is reliable, all the options I will need, and one I will not need to upgrade for a few centuries!:rofl
And still be somewhat idiot proof to use. I want a good lens that is easy to use. I want a lens that is fast(of course hehe) But also very very easy to use as this will be my first.
One other consideration to keep in mind. I am going on a cruise this summer to the Bahamas, so I will want to take great pics of sunsets/sunrises too. I got lucky and have a balcony suite and was thinking of trying some shots from there. I really really need help on this folks!
Ok one last thing-you have $2000.00 to spend and not a dime more says the wife!:rofl
Which means-if I need any filters please try to list them. If I need some souped up batteries...list them. Thanks so much for any help. Spend my money Very Wisely.

bkriete

From my readings the 20D is probably the best "semi-budget" sports camera($1200)...add an 85/1.8($300) for portraits, and you'll have around 400-500 left for a zoom...maybe a 70-200F/4 L ($500). The only area this will be lacking is wideangle...add an 18-55 EF-S kit lens you would be in pretty decent shape.

Kagan

bkriete wrote:

From my readings the 20D is probably the best "semi-budget" sports camera($1200)...add an 85/1.8($300) for portraits, and you'll have around 400-500 left for a zoom...maybe a 70-200F/4 L ($500). The only area this will be lacking is wideangle...add an 18-55 EF-S kit lens you would be in pretty decent shape.

So far I was looking at the 20D-It fits my budget. I am debating buying it with the lens kit. I guess that from what I am reading I need to get a Good, rugged, versatile camera with a GREAT lens. Er...Make that lenses...

Chase

Kagan wrote:

So far I was looking at the 20D-It fits my budget. I am debating buying it with the lens kit. I guess that from what I am reading I need to get a Good, rugged, versatile camera with a GREAT lens. Er...Make that lenses...

Ideally you would have like a 1D mark II, 70-200f2.8, 300 f2.8, but thats already like 10 grand there.

Maybe cut back on the body you are getting maybe a digital rebel xt, so you can afford another normal zoom lense (like a 24 or 28 to 70ish)

wxwax

Your budget and your wishes aren't a very good match, kagan. :cry

The Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT) prolly makes the most sense for a body.

As for a lens, you're not gonna be able to afford the primo L glass. So you should look at some of Canon's zooms.

One suggestion is to squeeze a few more dollars out of your budget and get the 70-200 f2.8 IS and a 1.4TC. If you can swing the extra $$, you'll have a world class lens, and even with the extender it should be fast enough and long enough to shoot sports. Even at f2.8 you'll be pushing it for indoor sports, tho.

You said you wanted something idiot proof. But it sounds like you have ambitious plans. I gotta say to you that if you spend 2-grand on a camera system, you owe it to yourself to put in the effort to learn how to use it properly. You'll be far more satisfied with your results.

DavidTO

Given your budget, check out the 70-200 f4L. Assuming you're not shooting night games, you'll be fine with the f4, it's a great lens, and you'll save a bundle over the 2.8 IS.

Kagan

I considered that camera quite a bit. My biggest fear was that I would find I was in the same position I am now...With a camera that wouldnt do what I wanted it to do....AND having to explain to my wife I need yet another camera. That would NOT be a good thing. I guess I just want to make sure I have the right camera this time, at least for a few years. I most assuredly do not want to get into the 'buy a new model every year' routine. At these prices I would be out of the hobby very soon! I guess what I mean by 'Idiot-proof' is I want a lens that I can use comfortably and grow with. Something that at the very least can auto focus. I am already pretty darn comfortable with the camera I have so I think I am at least teachable. I dont want to have to learn a new camera AND the lens at the same time and get in over my head. As much as possible I would like to be just go and still point and shoot so to speak. I need a camera to learn on, and still be able to grow on later if that makes sense. Either way whatever I buy this time, I wont replace until it is paid for by this camera. I appreciate all the input you are giving.
BTW Is the D70 a viable option?

wxwax wrote:

Your budget and your wishes aren't a very good match, kagan. :cry

The Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT) prolly makes the most sense for a body.

As for a lens, you're not gonna be able to afford the primo L glass. So you should look at some of Canon's zooms.

One suggestion is to squeeze a few more dollars out of your budget and get the 70-200 f2.8 IS and a 1.4TC. If you can swing the extra $$, you'll have a world class lens, and even with the extender it should be fast enough and long enough to shoot sports. Even at f2.8 you'll be pushing it for indoor sports, tho.

You said you wanted something idiot proof. But it sounds like you have ambitious plans. I gotta say to you that if you spend 2-grand on a camera system, you owe it to yourself to put in the effort to learn how to use it properly. You'll be far more satisfied with your results.

bkriete

I guess what's tough about your request is you want a lens that's fast and long (for sports), which is going to be expensive, and you also want something that's fast and reasonably wide for travel photography and weddings (which is also not cheap).

You could look at a 24-70 2.8L and a 70-200 2.8L (non-IS); the pair would probably run you about $2000. Spend another $500 on a used Digital Rebel and sell it in a year for $400 and put that towards a 20D or a 1D Mk II or whatever the 20D replacement is. Explain to your wife up front that that is your plan; I'm sure she'll be understanding.

If you're planning on doing weddings and sports on a for-profit basis, don't forget about all the other things you'll need...a flash setup for weddings could run you a couple hundred, camera bags will be another $1-200 depending on what gear you're carrying and how well you want it protected. You want to do sports, you'll probably want a monopod for ~$100, portraits you might want a tripod for ~$100-$600. Lens filters, compact flash cards, you should probably be considering insurance for yourself and equipment, you will want to have a high-quality monitor and monitor calibration equipment for soft-proofing, are you planning on doing your own prints or outsourcing through something like Smugmug? If you don't already have a monitor calibration device, figure another $100-200, high quality monitor figure another couple hundred. Are you using Photoshop CS or CS2? If not, you'll probably want to consider it for another $150 (upgrade from older version) to $650 (new, retail price).

I'm not saying this to be discouraging, I guess my point is that if you're planning on making your hobby pay for itself by doing any sort of event photography, you need to put a lot of thinking into it and money into it. As others have noted, the camera body is the least expensive part of your system.

Getting into photography as a hobby is easy to do for under $1000. If you're trying to make it pay, you will be competing against pros who do it for a living, and other hobbyists who have $10,000 to play with. Maybe you should think about getting a Digital Rebel or Rebel XT with the kit lens. Use that for a while and figure out what else you want to do with it and where it falls short of your needs. Then you will have a more-informed idea of what you need a lens and camera to do.

Kagan

Then it sounds as if I need to prioritize. My main goal is to do sports-school team affairs for the kids, soccer, Little League, T-Ball etc for now. I know the director for the Little League. If I can get this setup properly I can probably be doing all of the team and individual shots next year, thus generating some income. Weddings would be nice but not at the top of my list(even though it sounds like you generate more income hehe) I would still like to offer senior pictures sets and things of that nature IF possible. So in order of my priorities...

Sports
Senior Pictures
Weddings if possible but not necessary

Not sure if that helps you any but it actually helped me a ton thinking that through! I guess I wasnt sure if the Rebel camera would allow me do this.

bkriete wrote:

I guess what's tough about your request is you want a lens that's fast and long (for sports), which is going to be expensive, and you also want something that's fast and reasonably wide for travel photography and weddings (which is also not cheap).

You could look at a 24-70 2.8L and a 70-200 2.8L (non-IS); the pair would probably run you about $2000. Spend another $500 on a used Digital Rebel and sell it in a year for $400 and put that towards a 20D or a 1D Mk II or whatever the 20D replacement is. Explain to your wife up front that that is your plan; I'm sure she'll be understanding.

If you're planning on doing weddings and sports on a for-profit basis, don't forget about all the other things you'll need...a flash setup for weddings could run you a couple hundred, camera bags will be another $1-200 depending on what gear you're carrying and how well you want it protected. You want to do sports, you'll probably want a monopod for ~$100, portraits you might want a tripod for ~$100-$600. Lens filters, compact flash cards, you should probably be considering insurance for yourself and equipment, you will want to have a high-quality monitor and monitor calibration equipment for soft-proofing, are you planning on doing your own prints or outsourcing through something like Smugmug? If you don't already have a monitor calibration device, figure another $100-200, high quality monitor figure another couple hundred. Are you using Photoshop CS or CS2? If not, you'll probably want to consider it for another $150 (upgrade from older version) to $650 (new, retail price).

I'm not saying this to be discouraging, I guess my point is that if you're planning on making your hobby pay for itself by doing any sort of event photography, you need to put a lot of thinking into it and money into it. As others have noted, the camera body is the least expensive part of your system.

Getting into photography as a hobby is easy to do for under $1000. If you're trying to make it pay, you will be competing against pros who do it for a living, and other hobbyists who have $10,000 to play with. Maybe you should think about getting a Digital Rebel or Rebel XT with the kit lens. Use that for a while and figure out what else you want to do with it and where it falls short of your needs. Then you will have a more-informed idea of what you need a lens and camera to do.

wxwax

Kagan wrote:

BTW Is the D70 a viable option?

Sure, of course, it's an excellent camera. You do get more resolution with the XT, 8mp versus a 6mp for the Canon. That's helpful for cropping images for sports.

Neither has the greatest burst rate, but again, you're on a tight budget.