Best camera setup for Motorsports

you didn't list what glass you had...

Depending on what you have it might be best to sell that to help fund better glass before worrying about a body upgrade. Add to that a HD videocam and you'll be set for awhile to learn without the huge outlay and a lot of gear to haul around.



and a big thumbs up to your sculpture...

 

Which lenses do you own?

Ideally, you'd want a camera with good autofocus (+tracking) and fast metering. On the Nikon side of the house, the D7000 is a great option. D800 is probably ponderous (huge files, relatively slow frame rate). Granted it can be set to crop mode (DX), but it seems kinda silly to pay for double the sensor you'd use.


On paper, the new canon 5D3 is viable. Should be extremely good AF, with wide coverage and intelligent tracking (though as mentioned regarding the d800 for motorsports you may not want the larger frame depending on the glass you have). The 7D might be up your ally. Or say screw the body and get a fancy fast prime like the 300mm f/2.8


BTW I don't shoot motorsports, so in just spitballing here.

 

When I shot a lot of track events I had a 40D and 70-200 f2.8, a tad short, but a great combo.

 

I would think the 70-300 IS is ideal for a track. Though it's not wide enough for cars at rest, you just have to position yourself a little further away since the 40D isn't full frame.

It also depends on the track itself. I found some great spots at our track here, just search for different locations that you like and that would work for photos.

 

Can you be more specific about your budget?

 

Aside from budget, how often do you think you'll be at the track or using a telephoto lens. Would renting (local/online) be an option? Though if you rent a lot, it'll be cheaper to buy.

 

giddyup!

5D3
Sigma 120-300 f/2.8

Professional level AF, ISO flexibility, decent framerate, fast long glass, ability to bump focal length by 40% (at f/4) or 100% (at f/5.6) with a relatively inexpensive converter.

Keep your 40D and 28-135 for static cars.

But really, don't listen to me. I'm mulling the above two items and would love for you to be a test case

 

Let's start at about 4k so you're not sweating about 7.5.

Used Canon 1D mk III - $1750.
Canon's new 70-300 big white L - $1500

Drop a 17-40L on your 40D for $800

I'm over by $50, but this gives you a bunch of capability. The 1D has a good autofocus system and lots of frames per second. 10Mpix is adequate unless you are blowing up big big big.

The 70-300 gives you about 90-400 equivalent coverage on the 1D, plus has fast autofocus to match the camera and your shooting needs.

The 17-40 on your 40D gives you 28 - 64 equivalent, so you are carrying wide to super-tele in two cameras without much gap at all. If you are doing portraiture as well, I'd go 17-55 f/2.8 and you'd get gapless focal length coverage, but the 17-40 is much more flare resistant for shooting in the sun and worth the tradeoff to me (I have both and prefer the 17-40 for car event coverage for this reason.)

Other considerations:

Since you have some pocket change left, it would help to know the urgency of your situation. The 1D mk X is coming out soon, which might put a bunch of 1D mk IV cameras on the used market soon. It will be more, but depending on the market dynamics it might be worth it.

The 40d could probably be upgraded to a 50d for not much coin in order to get some more pixels, or bumped to a 7D. The 7D could be swapped onto the big white for even more reach due to the higher density of the sensor.


Perhaps someone familiar with Nikon's system could put together a list for him as he's not much invested in Canon yet.

 

I'm not sure 35mm equivalent is particularly useful to someone who isn't used to framing on that format.

Since he's coming from an APS-c body, the 17-40 will still frame like 17-40, and on an APS-H body the 70-300 will frame like 55-240.

 

I'd say buy a 7D, 17-40L, and I'll go with the others on the 70-300L. You should really consider buying used, that way you really won't lose much if anything if you want to sell again, I actually made money on the 17-40L I bought about 2 years ago.

 

I just went through this myself but also I took in account the travel/scenery photog I do.

I have:

D7000
Nikon 70-300
Tamron 17-55
Tokina 11-17

 

Non-track action: 17-40 L lens should meet the bill everywhere.

Telephoto: Get a Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS. This lens is super sharp and has quick autofocus capabilities. A 70-300mm is too slow at max zoom and isn't that sharp from 200-300mm anyway. Get the older model if you want to save some $$$.

Telephoto converter - Get a 1.4X converter to give yourself some extra reach for your telephoto zoom.

If you need more zoom, you can rent a supertelephoto like a 500mm F4

 

I currently have a 40D and I use my 70-200 F2.8 about 99% of the time.

I use it for track action and at car shows. I just like the results and it is my " style "

When I need a wide shot I use the kit lens.

For video I carry a Sony DV2000 but really need to upgrade to a HD cam. I also carry a GoPro mounted on a grip that often comes in handy.

I'm not ready to buy yet so I haven't thoroughly investigated but it seems that shooting video on a DSLR requires a lot more work as opposed to a Video camera. One big hurdle is capturing sound. Vid Cam no problem. DLSR requires additional equipment and when shooting cars, for me at least, the sound is very important. Nothing worse for me than to watch a car video shot on a DSLR and set to Rap music because no sound was captured

The other thing that concerns me is the ability to focus with the DSLR. Easy for shooting a parked car but a pain to follow something like a car through turns 3, 4 and 5 at Sebring.

The equipment that would fill all my needs would be.....

7D or latest equivalent ( fast enough for sports and can take HD video for certain circumstances )

An HD video camera with a 20x zoom that would handle the bulk of video shooting.
( I travel as light as I can and hate to carry two cameras but I just don't see a DSLR being as versatile as a dedicated HD cam )

70 - 200 F2.8 as my go to lens

Something really wide for things like car interior shots.

600mm for spots that are way out of reach for the 70-200. ( walked all around the track at Sebring looking for spots with my 200 and found plenty of places I wish I had a 600 for a different perspective )

GoPro HD2 with a ton of different mounts ( really good at getting different perspectives and its fun to find new ways to use it. The combination of Dedicated HD video Cam, the amazing quality and depth of field achievable with a DSLR and the possible positioning of the GoPro HD2 would cover all the bases and yield some great video. )

All of the above would give me everything I need to capture the images I desire.

It seems like you already have the equipment to take some nice shots so I'm curious at to what you mean by " getting serious " and taking it to the " next level ".

Here's a few from Sebring with my 40D and the 70-200
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It's pretty dumb, mostly people trying to convince themselves they're collection is still the best.

Nikon has a significant edge over canon in the sensor department. The siny exmor units in the D7000, D800 etc are simply phenomenal when it comes to image quality. Even Nikon designed sensors (eg D4) are performing with a stop or more of dynamic range over Canon's bees offering). This wasn't always the case though. Canon owned image quality when they were essentially the only one using CMOS sensors. They also owned consumer full frame with the 5D. Then they owned video with te 5D2. They have a glass advantage over Nikon.

Really, it doesn't matter much. Switching can be a pain if you are invested, and doing so likely won't improve your images significantly.

 

I agree that Nikon has the better sensors, but I think Canon has the better lenses on cheap end. To get Canon quality glass you have to pay almost double for many. That is really my only disappointment with Nikon.

 

For now, though it appears that we'll be seeing huge price increases as canon refreshes glass (if the 24-70 is any indication).