Best Lens for Motorsports??

ElizaMadaline

Hi Everyone,

I am a hobbiest trying to turn pro photographer and about to get my first FX camera, Nikon D600. I work for a racetrack and shoot a lot of motorsports events and would like tips are what are the best choices for lens. Since I work here, I can get closer to the action that most people so I don't necessarily need a huge amount of Zoom, although I don't want to get run over Also as I mentioned I am just starting out charging for my photos so my budget is tight!

Thanks!

mercphoto

You do want a large lens and you do want to stay far away from the action. The go-to lenses for motorsports are a 70-200/2.8 and a 400/2.8, with the true gem being the 500/4. But if I were starting out, strongly consider a 200/2.8 or a 300/4 prime. Primes are cheaper than zooms and you'll be at max focal length nearly all the time anyway. WHen I was shooting karts heavy I ended up using a 300/2.8 nearly 90% of the time and never missed not being able to zoom. Sold that lens several years back and sorely miss it.

ziggy53

Your best bet is to rent a few lenses until you know what distances you will be shooting from. Common focal lengths for an FX body range from 300mm to 600mm, but sometimes longer too.

I can suggest:

Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4D IF-ED
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II
Nikkor AF-S 400mm f/2.8G ED VR
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4G ED VR
Nikkor AF-S 600mm f/4G ED VR
Nikkor AF-S 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II

All of the above have the desirable qualities of a very fast focus motor and a large enough aperture to work in many light conditions. The large aperture also helps to isolate the subject, as needed.

In very good light, or when you can use flash and when flash is appropriate, the following are also useful:

Nikkor AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Nikkor AF-D 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR (This lens may be a little slow to focus for One-Shot AF on the D600.)
Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD

While none of these lenses are inexpensive, they are what I believe you will require for desirable and "professional" results. Also, I'm not suggesting that you need more than a couple of these lenses to start.

For starting out you might do well with a 300mm prime, a 1.4x or 1.7x teleconverter and a decent zoom from the list. You won't know for sure what you need until you go to the track(s) and test from your shooting positions.

If you rent first, you'll be able to test more combinations until you find a good fit for the conditions, situations and shooting style.

ElizaMadaline

Thanks for the great advice guys! Based on what you guys are saying I think I will start out with the 300mm prime and go from there until I can afford to add to my collection. I will be shooting karting, as well as cars and bikes. Once I have some pictures to add to my portfolio I will share! Thanks again!!

ian408

I'm going with Bill's suggestions. For MX, I shoot 70-200. I might also shoot the 300. For road racing, 300 gets replaced with the 500.