Hi Guys,
I'm am keen to find out from any good windsurfing photographers out there which D-SLR they would recomend for me to take windsurf shots. It will be my first D-SLR so I don't want top of the line but am willing to spend on a d200 or 30d. Any advice on what you are currently using or what I should be using would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Thomas

Hi, I have been learing about and practising my photography on my canon point and shoot and my dads old Pentax SLR but it is a film camera and only Manual focus. That is why I want to upgrade to a DSLR.
Cheers

hi lanky,

i'd be keen to hear what your findings are. i too have outgrown my point and shoot. mainly because the zoom isn't long enough.

so have started to look towards a new camera also.

Lanky, Canon 30D,1.6x lens conversion, 5fps, perfect for first DSLR and a few good deals happening at moment on that camera. Save up for good lens, that's the secret.

As it currently stands I am going to go for either the canon 30d (or older model 20d, the canon 5d which is out of my price range at the moment, the nikon d80 or the nikon d200 and a nice fast f2-4aprx. 200mm to 400mm lens

Hi Lanky,

Thought I'd jime in on the conversation...

... in my opinion the current camera ranking for doing the sort of thing you are after goes as follows:

Canon 30D
Nikon D200
1dMark IIN / 1d Mark IIIN

Personally, I am only using Canons. I believe their lenses especially in the long range (70-200, 500, 600mm) walk all over Nikons offerings.

As far the 30D is concerned please bear in mind that there should be a 40D announced by Canon in the next few weeks. I assume that's why there are so many good offers at the moment. Either would probably make a good beginners camera if you can afford them.

As far as lenses goes it's a simple rule: The closer you can get to the subject the better. Ideally I would say get an underwater housing and a wide angle lens and go in the water. On the long end I would say a good start for NSW beaches is a 70-200 2.8 with a 1.4x doubler. There are a few consumer style lenses in the 300 mm range but most of the have a very small aperature on the long end (5.6 or lower) which makes it hard to get the background out of focus.

The problem with compact cameras by the way is that the combination of small sensor and low aperature makes for instant boring pictures.

I'll provide you with some pointers on shooting in a separate post.

PS: I have a 70-200 2.8 non IS for sale. It's in perfect condition and only 2 1/2 years old. I am selling it for $1000 if you are interested (RRP around $2000). A log of photographers switched from Nikon to Canon because of quality of this lens. Take a look at this page to see what quality shoots you will get with this baby:
http://www.nswwavesailing.org/pictures.asp?GalleryID=25
BTW, I am selling it because I have just upgrade to the IS version of the same lens. You can drop me a private mail at: seabreeze at mindfactory dot com.

my 5 cents on buying cameras on ebay is that your warranty coverage is very iffy.

Canon as of late have cracked down on warranty for overseas purchased cameras. In general the warranty on Canon DSLRs is only covered if purchased through an Australian licensed reseller with an Australian warranty.

Re. sealed lenses... this only particaly true. The rear element of the Canon lenses is not environmentally sealed. There is a rubber seal which will provide sealing once the lens if attached to a 1D level camera. 30D and 20D will not provide a seal against very fine dust including sand.

Re full frame vs. multiplier... technically speaking the focal length of your lens doesn't increase. EG. if you shoot with a 16 Mpixel full frame camera and crop the 1.6 equivalent out of the photo you will end up with a better quality shot.

quote:

---

I'll upload a full size image somewhere else to give you an idea of the quality.

---

That would be great if you wouldn't mind!

This is a full sized shot from a $600 Sony H9 superzoom



I think Owain was about 30m - 50m from me in this shot. Seaworld in the background it about 1km away

Although the camera suffers from all the typical recent superzoom traits like too much noise and NR smearing due to too many pixels jammed into the small sensor, purple fringing, some CA, some poor corner sharpness and some barrel distortion, you might find that for daylight sports photography the quality you get from one of these will do the job for you instead of spending $3000 or more on a decent DSLR body/lens equivalent, and it almost fits in your pocket with full manual control and 15x zoom, unlimited 2.5 shot-per-second burst mode, +- 3,5,7 exposure bracketing, 1/2 - 1 second auto focus time even at full 15x zoom and the accuracy is very good, and has optical image stabilisation. Even this shot will still look reasonable (far from perfect) at 1m x .7m print as a poster, and at half metre pretty good.

possibly either, but go try them both in the shop with at least a 400mm tele lens attached so you can at least check for auto focus speed at the tele end of the zoom and point it at stuff outside the shop in the daylight, and also test the burst mode speed



Here's another full sized pic of Andrew but only 10 to 20 metres away, with the houses at the back being about 1km or more away



and the Chairman who is about 300 to 400 metres away and Manly Yacht club in the distance which would be at least 2.5 km away



and lots and lots of XXXX / VB water

www.yourfilehost.com/

once uploaded, view your image (it will have adds n stuff around it) then click on it to view the full size, then copy the link location for the full size image and paste into you seabreeze post

p.s i love your tail riding, no footstrap board maneuver

stehsegler - i do agree with you, but for at least 4 times the price, does one get 4 time the quality?

would love to see you post some full sized windsurfing pics for me to drool over

Stehsegler's right, Canon 30D is a good start. Check out Canon website, all stat's there then look at Nikon's and compare. All white lenses at sporting events are Canon, black is Nikon. There's a reason for that domination.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Haircut

and lots and lots of VB water

---

Now now Haircut, I won't have you dissing VB like that. Nothing beats a good Vitamin B

like your taste Gestalt

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gestalt

here is a compressed jpeg of a photo i took on a $200 70mm kodak.
so i still am not convinced unless the aim is poster sized prints that a $2000 setup is required.

---

Kinda agree Mr Gestalt.
have a look at some photos from Sat at Botany...

www.seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=5009

First time with that camera doing action shots.
Taken with a Kodak Z710 ($280) from over 200m away. You don't get the same lens definition as with $$$ lenses, but good enough for posting on Seabreeze or printing up, even to A4

sorry, I think that website i used changes the links to prevent hotlinking. Here they are again. Just click on the pic to view the full sized image









EDIT --> sorry i've just realised this host may not be safe for viewing at work as it randomly places some pron in the banners, so make sure u only look straight ahead