Hi all. Photography advice

long time no post
im crazed about the new leaopard(sp?) and new intel chips.
but thats beside the point, i am going thorugh a midlife crisis at age 15. I will soon remodel my room, adding a futon, computer desk, and 20" imac to sit regally on my desk. I am an avid football player and love photography. I have not yet owned a decent camera of my own but would like to soon. this month i hope to get the sony cybershot DSC-T9 or 10. depending on how i like it upon testing. I have used my computer tech teachers, dont quote me, cannon rebel xt? and i loved it. Any advice on a good camera around that price range. It will be used to shoot mainly random photos but also sports, football to be percise. Does the "rebel xt" take good sports shots. It took excellent basketball shots but is there a better one around that range?
thanks for the help
ill come back later with my real midlife crisis.

i am a fan of the rebel xt personally. However, more important really is what lense you would use. I would personally like to see if sarahsboy18 posts on this thread, he has very good and helpful knowledge. Sorry I can't help mroe!

Seeeee. thats where i get hung up. I know nothing about lenses. It wasnt my camera, i havent owned a good camera with a good lense. I just took pictures and loved it. I made my school in the middle of a "ghetto" seem habitable. (only the advanced class wings were :])
and thanks for the help.

The Rebel/Rebel XT are fantastic cameras. With both of them you purchase the body and then purchase lenses for different situations. Lenses can cost more than the cameras themselves or less for lower quality lenses. I do a lot of sports photography http://www.rmullinsphotos.com/ and use a EOS 20D (Step up from the XT).

What is your budget you are looking for

budget? around 1000-1200 i guess. what kinds of lenses would be good for sports.
i hate sounding retarded but i guess everyone starts somewhere.

Im looking at the Nikon d70 and d70s. They seem to take good pictures, any experience? Ive held one at compusa or somewhere like that and liked the feel over the rebel, and they look more professional.

I've heard nikons aren't good outside, inside, as in studio photography they are excellent, people seem to think that canons are better action cameras.

If you are going to be shooting primarily sports I'd probably recommend going with Canon so you can get access to that L glass... That being said Nikon is a perfectly good option... I've not heard anything about it having outdoor trouble... and if it feels better in your hands go for it. Just don't be fooled by the rebelxt's small size as far as looking more professional... They packed some great features in that little body. The key for starting out (especially for sports) is to spend just enough on the body to get the features you absolutely need... Leaving plenty of cash put it into a good solid telephoto lens.

I have always preferred the saturation/tints you get with Canon's over Nikon. With your budget I would recommend a Rebel XT (You can pick up the kit with the basic 18-55 lens for around 750) and for a decent starters lens a Canon 70-300 with IS should be pretty good for you (its around 450 bucks or so)

sarahsboy18 said:

If you are going to be shooting primarily sports I'd probably recommend going with Canon so you can get access to that L glass... That being said Nikon is a perfectly good option... I've not heard anything about it having outdoor trouble... and if it feels better in your hands go for it. Just don't be fooled by the rebelxt's small size as far as looking more professional... They packed some great features in that little body. The key for starting out (especially for sports) is to spend just enough on the body to get the features you absolutely need... Leaving plenty of cash put it into a good solid telephoto lens.

Click to expand...

I've added a 100-400 L and a 70-200 f2.8 L (This is my baby) to my kit over the past 2 years

great advice.
:] i should have a rough estimate in the next few days
now. you say just enough features. what features are important? ive been told the nikon d70s has a faster shutter speed. I also ride bikes(bmx and freeride), some of the friends i talk and trade parts with use the nikon d70s and say it preforms great for their shots.
thanks so much

trpnmonkey41 said:

I've added a 100-400 L and a 70-200 f2.8 L (This is my baby) to my kit over the past 2 years

Click to expand...

....you lost me

trpnmonkey41 said:

I've added a 100-400 L and a 70-200 f2.8 L (This is my baby) to my kit over the past 2 years

Click to expand...

Nice man... I had to sell off my 70-200mm 2.8L IS... Still crying over that one... How do you like the 100-400L? I've heard complaints about the push/pull zoom mechism on that...

steve zissou said:

great advice.
:] i should have a rough estimate in the next few days
now. you say just enough features. what features are important? ive been told the nikon d70s has a faster shutter speed. I also ride bikes(bmx and freeride), some of the friends i talk and trade parts with use the nikon d70s and say it preforms great for their shots.
thanks so much

Click to expand...

Shutter speeds aren't really an issue... any decent SLR is going to have a plenty fast enough shutter. The primary things to watch for in sports is your fps and buffer.

fps = frames (shots) per second... this helps you to make sure you catch that perfect moment

buffer = how many sequential shots you can take before the camera has to pause to finish writing the images to the memory chip

The buffer is heavily effected by the speed of memory card you get as well.

sarahsboy18 said:

Nice man... I had to sell off my 70-200mm 2.8L IS... Still crying over that one... How do you like the 100-400L? I've heard complaints about the push/pull zoom mechism on that...

Click to expand...

It took some getting used to with the push/pull zoom but in good conditions the photos are absolutely fantastic. I would rather give up a body organ on the blackmarket then sell off my 70-200 2.8L at this point I've been so pleased with it

steve zissou said:

....you lost me

Click to expand...

two lenses from canon

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...444&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...616&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

To save money, check out the used market on either the Rebel xt or the Nikon D70. Both have been on the market awhile, people who purchase them (well a good percent) upgrade to higher level cameras and sell off the old one. May be able to get a used one with kit lens and enough left over to pick up an old 300mm prime to boot.

Nikon has no issues shooting outdoors or indoors or under cover. You can search my user ID here and see some of the shots I have posted in the Monthly "photo of the month"...It has a lot more to do with the photographers understanding of their equipment and lighting than the equipment being used.

Kodak also makes an SLR that can be purchased for either Nikon or Canon mount lenses. Minolta has a Dslr and there are a few others. The great thing about Nikon and Canon are the availability of most items, larger companies selling more items makes them more accessible.

One thing to consider that is very important. All the features in the world don't help if the basic image isn't captured well. The Canon Rebel XT uses the same CCD sensor that some of the more expensive Canons use. This is key, because the sensor actually captures the image.

Canon's upper end line (this includes the Rebel) is famous for it's "buttery smooth" images - almost no digital noise up to quite high ISO equivalents. I have had a Canon EOS-10D (same sensor as the Digital Rebel) and have been consistently amazed at the image quality. Shot for shot, compared against another family member's Nikon D70, the EOS-10D has produced a higher quality image.

I recently purchased a new camera body, and stayed with Canon - an EOS-30D.

I can't recommend Canon enough.

Canon for sure, the XT can not really be beat for it's price range, even with the stock lense it is an excellent camera, i had an original rebel then jumped to the 20D.

the XT will be perfect, but a camera does not make a photographer , the key as said above is in the lenses!!!

check out

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

great forum for Canon's and oweners.

I personally use a Canon for my sports photography. All my photography in fact.

The best bit of advice that I can give you is that you need to spend the most amount of money on a lens. The camera is just a black box that records the image. It is the lens that determines how sharp the image is.