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General discussion

Indoor Sports Photography

May 6, 2012 9:39AM PDT

What would be a good Nikkon DSLR Camera for Indoor Sports photography.

Discussion is locked

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Need More Information
May 7, 2012 1:27AM PDT

Several good choices.

Depends upon several factors.

How much do you plan to spend?
The lens depends upon where you are standing/sitting.

Any particular sport?

The typical basketball settings will be about f/2.8, 1/640th second, ISO 3200.
If you are on the sidelines you only need about 50 to 85 mm focal length.
If you are way up in the stands, you need 200 mm or more.

Just remember, you must (must) turn-off your flash.

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Indoor Sports Photography
May 7, 2012 8:42AM PDT
Hi Snapshot, Thanks for you reply. Bear with me i am rather new to all this.
<div>Willing to spend up to $2,000 on a body. But not sure if that's an over kill.
It's for Indoor Basketball mainly.


Usually stand at one end. But would like the option to sit in the stands.
I don't use flash as it is banned for Indoor basketball.


Perhaps i need two lens' one for close up and one for the stands.
My current len's which i borrowed from a friend is a Tamrom Telemacro 70-300mm. It gives me some good close shots but the auto focus is slow and some times you can miss the shot when the ball is moving from one end to the other quickly. Also unable to get good close up shots when they are at the far end. I use this lens on my Nikkon D60. The kit lens is useless for this.


Hope that explains things.
</div>Once again thankyou.


There are so many DSLR Cameras out there. I do prefer Nikkon.
Getting the wrong camera and len's could prove a costly exercise.
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Another thread?
May 7, 2012 9:11AM PDT

What more do you want out of a DSLR that you are not getting with the D60 and Tamron lens?

As I said before, the D7000 is the next step if you want an upgrade. If you do not care about the professional feature of the D7000, the D5100 is closer to your old camera but with a better sensor.

If you're shooting behind the basket, a 50mm or 85mm lens wide aperture lens will work well. Those would be $220 and $500 respectively. For up in the stands, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 is $2400. Third party manufacturers also make 70-200mm f/2.8; Sigma's is not quite as good as the Nikon, but it is much less expensive at $1300.

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Nikkon D60
May 7, 2012 9:34AM PDT
Thankyou Piston Cup Champion.

Your advice is much appreciated.
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Renting
May 7, 2012 9:59AM PDT

FYI, if you don't want to risk thousands of dollars straight away, you can rent cameras and/or lenses to see if the performance is worth the upgrade.

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Nikkon D60
May 7, 2012 10:05AM PDT

Thanks. That was my next step. Looking forward to trying this lot out.
You have been great help.