david vt Loc: Vermont

Hello

If you can please help out a newbie, much appreciated. Have read everything i found in your archives related to the topic of shooting sports for the non-professional, but wanted to ask members directly for advice

Looking for a good camera for shooting team sports, in particular indoor basketball, track events, and soccer at highschool and college level. Looking for really good amateur level, not professional. As with many team sports, the action is a bit unpredictable. From reading what I have found, it appears I should be looking for a camera with the following specs. Please feel free to provide feedback and, if you have them, specific camera suggestions.

Specs - camera
ISO level up to 1600
Switchable between shutter, aperture, or ISO priority
Mirrorless design-? (to allow faster response time from button push to image capture)
Continuous focus and light metering.
Burst mode of at least 10 frames/second
Good fast large capacity SD card
Ability to upload to either apple or windows
Nice to have - water resistant body/lens
Other recommendations?

Specs -lens
Lens 1 50mm with f < 2.0. (Good general lens)
Lens 2 70-200 zoom with at least f/2.8 or lower

Use. Must have is to be able to shoot indoor basketball. Assume from sidelines/endline location and shooting distance is half court or less. Assume if we hit this, the other outdoor sports would also be covered. Would also like a good camera for general family that is not too large to be unwieldy being a tourist. On the wishlist (from my daughter) is to have a camera with which she can shoot her own videos, but not sure this should even be a consideration.

Not looking a professional level, or price!, but don't mind investing a reasonable amount for that will give me good images of the atheletes at critical moments (and yes, I know the biggest factor is me learning how to use it well in shooting these types of shots and understanding how to time my shots - will be working on that)


Your feedback on specs, additional considerations I have not mentioned, and/or specific cameras


Thanks in advance

mineart

I know a lot of folks are going to recommend Sony to you, But i would urge you to take a strong look at Fuji, especially the x-t20 if you are wanting something small and powerful. It is a mini X-t2 in most respects. Fuji makes truly EXCEPTIONAL glass and has stuff that will meet your needs. i had about the same needs as yours and spent 6 months researching and testing everything from DSLRs to micro 4/3 formats and Fuji was the winner for me in terms of size, weight, value for money and above all Image Quality. The X-Trans sensor has a very 'filmic' quality to it, much more so than the rest of the market. Hope this is useful.

SS319

While good advice can and will be had here, you cannot touch, feel and handle that advice. Your local camera shop (not Best Buy) can let you see, and feel the differences between Canon and Nikon and Sony (and others). They can put a 5D, 7D, 80D, and a 780D (or the equivalent in other brands) in your hands with a variety of lenses and allow you to judge for yourself which is the right camera. While you are there, look at the powershot cameras for your daughter. Commit at least an hour to this task. CAUTION Do not buy at this time. If you are lucky enough to have more than one camera shop near you (I have 4 in a radius of 100 miles), go to two shops, otherwise, go back to the same store at a different time and talk to a different sales person.

Develop a short list of make and model of body and lenses. Now, go to DxOMark and DP Review and other professional review sites and read what the professionals say about the cameras on your short list. When you are ready to buy, go back to the camera shop and politely inform then that you want to buy from them, but will not pay more than B&H, Adorama, etc have the equipment listed for- take printout of the pages with you. They will make you happy!

If you are doing this to document your son or daughter's high school athletics, you will find a group of other parents at the games - SHARE PHOTOS - this is about your son or daughter - not about your photography. Four parents, four cameras will give you four views of each action - some may have the other parents in the picture capturing their child and that may be the one that eventually means the most to the Child 20-40 years from now.

Ask about classes - for you with your new camera, and your daughter with her new camera

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

The only olmpus camera that's up to this task is the em1ii. However the XT-2 is just as great (but you'll need the grip to unleash its full potential).

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

First off, ISO 1600, will most likely not be enough for most indoor sports ( you probably looking more at 3200 or 6400 a many times), frame rate should be maybe at least be 5fps , not 10, although that would be ideal, but not many cameras are capable of doing that, and most of the other stuff you listed, every camera is able to do that! Yes with lenses, fast ones are preferred, but you'll have to pay for speed (and it usually does not come cheap)!

CO

One of the specifications you mentioned is that the camera can shoot at 10 frames/second. I have a Nikon D500. It will shoot at 10 FPS and up to 200 consecutive RAW files. Its XQD memory card format is much faster than the SD format. The autofocus is rated to work down to -4EV. It has flicker reduction to reduce the effects of fluorescent and mercury-vapor lighting. The Canon 7D Mk.II will also shoot at 10 FPS.

petego4it Loc: NY

Personal experience with shooting kids, grandkids and sports: get a used Nikon D3, D4 or D4S depending on how much $ you can afford. They're built and half the price of the D5. While most people say these are the best pro sports cameras, that's for a reason. They get the shot where no one else does. Your ISO is way too limited. If actually getting the shot is important to you as it sounds, once in a lifetime type things, you'll never be sorry you splurged for it. Fills all your criteria and more, the camera just thinks for you. Not hard to learn. Best glass available.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Nikon D500. Specs can be gained off any site. If you are serious about your description of what you want to do, this IS the camera. Specs available from B&H.

petego4it Loc: NY

oh yeah, as far as camera for your daughter goes, get her a late Apple cell phone. Kids need instant results and posts. Light, small and she'll always have it along. Cool too. The latest does fine video and pics. Big bulky "real" cameras just don't cut it with their generation while however your heavy D series Nikon with monopod will allow a preferred picture taking place on the field; you almost can and will get any shot with only a little practice but the camera does most work for you, so no need for pro level experience to get great results.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Some of your requirements would apply to any camera, but that 10 fps makes me think of the Nikon D500. It has gotten great reviews, and the price isn't ridiculous. Of course, a fast lens will be a major requirement for indoor shooting, and they can be pricey. Look at brands other than Nikon - also used from KEH. A Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 costs over $2,000, while a similar Tamron costs under $800.

Read comparisons and specs, and decide what features are important to you.
(Reviews) https://www.youtube.com/user/TheCameraStoreTV/videos
http://cameras.reviewed.com/
http://camerasize.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
http://snapsort.com/compare
http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/cameras?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Either the Nikon D500 or the Canon 7D MII will meet your needs and both have a professional level of lenses lacking in other systems.
Finally I believe both have the indoor Anti-Flicker feature which is required for truly professional level photos in today's environment and is incorporated in professional level cameras.

rmw0001 Loc: Lake Mills, WI

My camera evolution has been: D80 - D700 - D800 - D7100 - D4s - D500. Outdoors, I shoot soccer, baseball, and some softball, track and cross country. Indoors, I shoot volleyball and some basketball. Indoor shooting is the problem (resulting noise in my images) in under-illuminated gyms and I've yet to be in one that was illuminated well enough for photography. That is specifically why I bought the D500 and it has performed well for me. For indoor volleyball, I'll use the 70-200 f2.8 lens and find the resultant ISO range to be 4000-6400. Resultant noise is low and easily correctable (using Macphun's "Noiseless"). For outdoor soccer I'll use the 80-400 f5.6 and for the current U14 matches, I can 'see' the other end of the field reasonably well. I bought the bundle with the 16-80 f2.8-4 lens and it is very good for general use. It's the only DX lens I own; all the others are FX. Based upon my experience, I believe you can't go wrong with the D500 for what you want to do.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

None of the dslr cameras above meet your size requirement.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

You pretty well summed up the Nikon D500 and Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 FL and Nikon 24-70 f/2.8. Have fun!

capt2575 Loc: New York City

Hello fellow Hog. All the advice you have received has been good and informative but you need to take it one step further. After you have narrowed down your list rent each of your choices for at least three (3) days and check them out. What you should do is with a fifty (50mm, f/1.4) lense go to any church in your area and shoot using different f-stops. The reason I say church is that the lighting will be almost equal to a high school gym. Then check the image quality. From this you can chose what is the best one for you. Also the ten (10fps) can also be checked at the same time. Good shooting.