Trying to capture drag boats, horse races, etc. to blow up into wall posters. I have to say the Canon Digital Rebel. It will set you back about $1000 bucks but it is the best qausi-preofessional camera I have seen on the market. 8 megapixels and up to 3 shots a second to boot. I have a friend who has one of the older versions and she loves it. I have only heard even better things for the new version! And it is compatible with over 50 different lenses to boot!
Hope this helps! You really have at least four different requirements:
a) It must have a good telephoto lens as you won't likely be super close to drag boats and horse races. This means fast with good reach.
b) It must be a pretty high resolution body -- remember doubling the resolution requires quadrupling the megapixels. At least 12mp for poster size I would think?;
c) It must have a fast autofocus system, fast lens and offer good shutter speeds (i.e., low noise at higher isos).
You are talking about something that really pushes cameras (huge enlargements, fast shutter speeds, needing lots of reach) -- and that comes at a price. As with most things, the incremental gains come at an ever increasing incremental cost. Ever see the guys taking surfer photos? They are shooting a $5000 lens on a $1000 tripod with a nice body (at least $800).
Can you give us an idea of your budget here? It may end up being that film is your friend given the size of the enlargements -- cameras with 12mp resolution are very pricey!
To do this right, I would start by looking at Nikon and Canon lenses. (Note: a pro quality photo shop will probably rent the big glass that you would want). You want fast -- something ideally f 2.8 and certainly no slower than f4. Minimum lens reach would be a 70-200 with better yet being a 300mm with a 1.4x teleconverter.
A Nikon 70-200 VR f2.8 will set you back (new) about $1,500. A used 300mm f4 is probably the best deal at around $500 from KEH.Com or similar.
Now, on to the body. The lower cost bodies (Nikon D50, D70 and Digital Rebel XT) are very nice. But, again, if you need the fastest autofocus the prices go way up. Think about the D200 at least (and perhaps a D2X or Canon equivalent).
So, here is my end suggestion: decide on your budget and adjust your expectations accordingly. If the budget is large, find a pro store and rent the gear. In my area, you can pick something up Friday night and return it first thing Monday for one day worth of rental. The lenses are pretty affordable -- $100/day for a 400mm f2.8 and a tripod (that is probably $6000 worth of gear). The bodies are less so -- a D70 is around $75/day. Any modern digital SLR should do.
I have a Pentax istDS that is pretty quick. The only think that slows it down somewhat is the focus speed (true of all cameras), but if you set it to manual focus, it has an auto repeat feature that is quick as lightening! (3 frames per second) |
