Wait till next summer then to really get serious about your choice as the DSLR market will most likely have changed dramatically. Any specific recommendations given now with regard to equipment will probably not be available next summer! .

The best recommendation for you now is read and learn from all the forums and photo websites. Using a DSLR is very challenging for a beginner so you need to determine what your needs are and what kind of gear you will need.....for drag racing are you looking mainly for close in car shots or action photos of races? The types of gear you need will be different (wide angles versus telephotos) for each type of photography. So the best thing you can do now is learn all you can. You may find out that for what you want to do a DSLR is not the best choice for you..

JohnPentax *ist-D, K100D, Fuji F20/31fd, Oly Stylushttp://www.pbase.com/jglover..

I'm quite sure a DSLR is what I'm looking for, I'll probably only be able to afford two lenses, I"ll be taking action pictures of the car as well as some "stills" this camera will likely be used exclusively for taking pictures of cars and mostly for action pictures, I'm goin to want at least an 8 mega pixel camera. I know there will be a serious learning curve but I'd like to keep it as simple of a switch as possible...

Eight mp is a good idea as it's great for exhibition quality pictures at A4* and you can do even bigger for wall display. I guess most will be at A4 or thereabout so buying more pixels is a waste of your hard earned cash..

I wouldn't wait too long btw and would suggest you go for the thing now as they seem to be getting more and more gimmicky and jamming more and more pixels into them. Also a lot of 8 mp cameras are available cheaply as 10 seems to be the figure that baits the trap..

The transfer to an SLR isn't too difficult if you don't play around too much at first. They can be set up as expensive P&S's very easily and then you can dip your toe in the water with all the functions and go back to "safe" P&S style to learn..

Regards, David.

* The ISO paper size, about 8" by about 11" (for our American friends)...

Welcome,.

I was in your shoes a few years ago. I was going to Africa and wanted a nice D-SLR to take and learn on. I wouldnt worry about the learning curve on these things, you can learn as much or as little as you want. The nice thing about D-SLRs is you can take 1000s of pictures each day and play around with the settings. In a week or 2 your photographic knowledge will have increased greatly and you will feel confident using your camera..

Where to start?.

What camera do you want?.

Honestly, each brand is fantastic with 100s of professionals swearing by them. YOU WILL NOT GO WRONG WITH ANY CAMERA YOU SELECT, provided it is a proven brand. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, etc. (Apologies to whoever I didn't include). I would look around in your area and see what is available. They are nice to hold (fondle) and see in real life.



8MP is probably on the low end of average for the new cameras but absolutely adequate. I'm still shooting with a 6MP and have been more that satisfied, frequently enlarging images >16"x20". If you can find a good deal on a 10MP and you want it, go for it. If you want something cheap and would want to upgrade later, I would look at some of the older (and still fantastic cameras) from a few years ago (Canon 10D, Nikon D100)..

Your potential subject matter at the races will be moving very fast (which will be demanding on your camera and skill). As you will want to capture sharp images of moving objects, you will, most likely, have to increase your shutter speed, in doing so you will be sacrificing light available to the image. To compensate that you can.

#1 drop your apeture (and let more light in).

[indicated by the "f-stop" on each LENS;meaning not dependent on the camera bod but rather on the individual lens]or.

#2 you can increase the ISO (similar the the ISO on film cameras, and can be thought of increasing the pixel size so that less light is needed for proper exposure [the drawback is that the image will appear more "grainy"].

Some cameras have better performance at higher ISO (meaning they look less grainy and the black in each image looks better.

I would look at the reviews of different bodies and look for one that performs well at higher ISO (the Canon 10D is a great camera, but is outperformed by the newer 20D and 30D at high ISO).

So in review, which body?.

#1 - anything you can afford, dont "break the bank" trying to buy the newest, fastest, biggest, baddest out.#2 - one that has good performance at ISO of 800-1600.

What do you need next? A lens or two.

As difficult as this is to hear, this decision is more important than which camera to buy. Your lens will last longer than your camera and will have a greater effect on your image. My recommendation is to spend more money than what you may be expecting to on a lens. (perhaps even sacrificing on the body a little so get a better lens).

If you do decide on buy a Canon set up, go ahead and buy their 50mm f/1.8 lens. Now. For $50-$80 USD, you get an AMAZING lens for everyday use that is much sharper than most out right now..

I can't comment too much on what length of lens you will want for the race. Maybe around 100mm? Perhaps someone with more experience can comment on this..

You will want a lens with a large aperture (indicated by an inversely LOW f-stop number) but understand that the f-stop will change with the increasing lens length. I had a Sigma 100-300 f/4 that was very nice and was able to be used in lower light situations or with fast moving objects. If you look at the entry lenses you will find they have an f/4.5-5.8 or more. These are fine for everyday use, but trying to catch up with a speeding car may be a little difficult. You may not be able to increase your shutter speed enough to stop blur..

Wow, I just typed a lot. I hate that. I'm going to study. If you have more questions, just ask...

For an excellent explanation of DSLR's.......I have been 'on the fence' about getting one for some time now and I found your thread extremely helpful!.

LucyU ZI owner!Olympus C30-20Zhttp://www.pbase.com/lucyFCAS Member #98, Oly Division'Photography is the art of seeing what others do not.'.

Image control:Zoom outZoom 100%Zoom inExpand AllOpen in new window..

Alright, that's a lot to take in, as I was reading, a few concernsI currently have are what will I be looking at spending for a flash set up if you would know and also, I'd be looking at a lens that is good for 20-80 feet, or there abouts, and one that is good for about 200 feet. Also thank you for your help that was an excelent post. Also, the auto focus feature on these cameras some are 7 some are 9 how much of a difference would this make for me, as for the ISO, I can take pretty good pictures with my S3 down to about 1/125 without too much bluring and without a tripod, if I were taking nightshots with a flash would I be able to keep my exposure without too much ISO?..

Cougar1320 wrote:.

I am looking at buying a true SLR camera next summer. It will beused mostly for shooting drag racing pictures.. I Currently use aCannon S3, and enjoy what I'm getting from it. I want the smoothesttransition possible,.

Just about any entry level DSLR will be good. There is very little difference between any of the major brands. What you should look for is to decide which lens system fits your need the most. You may also want to consider how seriously you want to take this. If so, you may want see which brand has a good upgrade path for you..

And also want to know what I would need as faras filters.

Generally, you do not need filters with digital cameras, since you can change the white balance setting. The only useful filters for DSLRs are CP or ND filters. You need a CP filter if you want to darken a bright sky, and the ND filter is good if you have too much light to get a slow shutterspeed (e.g. when you want to make a waterfall smooth in bright daylight). As for UV filters, my opinion is that they are a waste. They do not make the photo better, and unless you spend lots of money on a good multi-coated UV filter, they will make your photos more likely to have flare and degrade the optics of your lens.

It is up to you to decide if it is worth it to buy UV filter..

And what kind've flash I'd need to look at for night timephotos. Thank you..

What type of night time photos are you trying to do? Are they indoors or are they outdoors. Are the subjects moving or static? If you are shooting static objects or outdoors at night, you might be better off with a good tripod. Also, your flash will depend on your camera that you buy...

I'm getting a bit worried about this: as I understand drag racing you are not allowed near the things when racing and so can't use flash; unless you've one that will work over an incredible distance and can position it very high above you (and what it will do to the ozone layer worries me). As a spectator you ought to be looking at a zoom tele (because you will be at a distance) with a nice wide aperture (mostly for DoF control and to make up for puny flashes not working)..

Racing is very much like air shows, in that specialised techniques are needed and for these most P&S's will work but a dSL will be better. The technique is called panning and works very well - though you need to position yourself carefully and practice a lot: you can always tell when the technique has been used because wheels will be blurred and the background will be blurred. This gives a nice impression of the wheels going round and the things moving fast. Use a fast lens, fast film/high ISO etc and the things will look static, or worse, like a plastic model on a table top. Most good shots of things moving fast are taken at slow shutter speeds like 1/100th of a second to get the aircraft's propellers blurred..

So I'd put my money on a nice fast lens, not bother with flash and work hard with the right techniques. BTW, I have done a lot of airshows, taking pictures of the planes in the air and later on at night as they are put away into the hangers and I manage very well without flash and using ISO 80 or 100. Nothing annoys people more a night than flashes going off in their faces, especially if they are working. Also there's nothing quite like the atmosphere showing when it is clearly night time..

BTW, most people who were serious about photography have learnt how to hold the camera still for 1 second and second exposures. These are very usefull as the exposure can be judged nicely and so show that it is night outside the stadium. Again, there is a technique to this but mostly it involves watching what is happening and then timing things just right. (In every sport there will be moments of stillness - that's when you take the picture.).

Using flash will over-expose what's near you and the rest will be in darkness. Unless you have a studio set-up with two or three lights and reflectors..

Hope this helps,.

Regards, David..

RE>I'm goin to want at least an 8 mega pixel camera. < Do you know why? Anyway, by next summer, if you want to buy a new camera, most will be 8MP anyway..

FLASH this is more of a problem than you might think..

For flash to work with a single lens reflex camera, you are limited to what shutter speeds are possible, using topping out (fastest speed possible) at about 1/200 or 1/250..

At a brightly lit track, at night, this is a shutter speed that will probably permit the background to be fairly decently exposed, which is good and bad. 1/200 of a second will mean a blurry shot of a drag racer if you photograph it side-on. with the camera still, or a blurry background, smeared from left to right, if you pan the camera. Then the flash if it is powerful enough will freeze the car..

For twenty feet from a car, such as photographing a car in the pits, or photogrraphing a group of drivers and mechanics 20 feet from you, the top of the line flash units from the regular camera makers will be fine Canon 580EX, Nikon SB-800, or whatever is available in a year..

But for shooting cars at racing, night, outdoors, you'll need more power than these provide look at Quantum, Lumedyne, Norman, but these will be expensive..

Autofocus points. More are better than fewer, but these'e no real big-deal difference betwween 7 and nine. But three is too few, probably..

What would be important, perhaps, is the speed of the "motor drive" feature, where the camera takes repeated shots right after each other. These are measuresd is frames per second, or FPS for short..

Foir most sports, a reasonable FPS is pretty good, but depending on what you really want from dragracing (or horses, for that matter) the more FPS the better, if you want to see the Javelin nose past the Novva and then slip back again. The bottom of the linme cameras are in the 3 FPS range; not bad. Move up a notch in price and 5 FPS is possible,. Faster than this costs a lot of money..

NON-DSLR the problem will be the shutter lag, which is the delay between pressing the shutter release and the picture being taken. This can be waaaaaayyyyy toooo loooonnnnngggg when you're trying to catch a car at launch, or at the end of the quarter mile. D-SLRs made today are all fast enough to serve you well, but the non DSLRs are all too slow for the action shots..

BAK..

If you can afford a DSLR now I would say get it now and start to learn everything you can about it. Otherwise you will be disappointed by the learning curve. A Canon Rebel XT or XTi should be a good place to start. I saw on the B&H website you can get a Rebel XT with 18-55 kit lens for $550. Or the body only for $480. Then you can decide on a decent lens..

Bill.

Shoot liberally!..

I've been looking at a few Pentax's as well does anyone like these, and how good would my lens choices be, I won't be spending more than 400 on a lens FYI...

The quick answer is go and look at the Pentax forum and you'll see lots of comments and opinions and sample pictures..

Regards, David..

I own a Canon 10D and love it. My friend just inherited a Pentax *isd. It is a great camera in it's own right and I like the smaller size of the body. Pentax has been making great glass for years and there are also a number of third party options as well, and dont forget the multiple older MF glass you can use as well (much less restrictive than Canons ever changing mount)...

If you were using a camera for the purposes I've stated and you bought an XT, what Lens would you buy (moderatley priced) Thanks for all the help guys...

No matter what, but the canon 50/1.8. Its less than 80 USD and is an amazing lens..