40D 50D 60D for Sport?

[Fredo]

Hi Folks,
I am making the jump to DSLR-land and would like some Canon specific info from real world users if that's okay?
My plan was/is to look for a second hand body so I can spend more on lenses.
I like the Nikon D300 but I haven't really looked at the Canon offerings until now.

Mostly, shooting sports so FPS is important. I shoot 5fps now with my Panasonic FZ100 and don't want to shoot any slower.
Any suggestions as to what to look at in the Canon range? 40D; 50D; 60D?

Thanks in advance.
Fred

[FallingHorse]

7D

[kiwi]

D300s is still the best crop camera for sport regardless of brand.

[Bennymiata]

The 60D is fine for 5fps, especially if you have a good SD card in it, but the 7D is better.
The 7D is faster and also has faster AF.

However, I have used my 60D for rapid fire shots of bees and birds, and it seems to cope really well.

[Fredo]

D300s is still the best crop camera for sport regardless of brand.

Thanks Daz,
Now I feel guilty for asking about Canon (lol)
Had a D300s in hand last week with the battery grip. Pulled the trigger on 8fps . . . holy crap! Like a machine gun!

[KeeFy]

The 60D is fine for 5fps, especially if you have a good SD card in it, but the 7D is better.
The 7D is faster and also has faster AF.

However, I have used my 60D for rapid fire shots of bees and birds, and it seems to cope really well.

Birds and the bees? :P

[Fredo]

Birds and the bees? :P

yeah . . . I wasn't going to say anything

[andylo]

If you don't do video....

50D is my pick and 40D if you are on a rather tight budget.

Yes, 7D would ideal... in fact a 1D is THE most ideal but can you justify the extra $

[etherial]

Re your question of those, I would choose the 50D. It is 6fps and a very nicely put together body. You should be able to pick one up for a good price, and they are a great camera.

If you can afford it go for the 7D as it is 8fps, and a great focusing system to go with it that shoots sports very nicely. (I have the 7D and bought a 50D as a backup )

[Old Skool]

I've used a 7D for footy pics, machine gun shutter. Great camera but at a cost. Bang for buck I would look for a 50D. I own a 50D & a 60D and use them for footy pics. Both are close in fps, but in the real world the 50D actually is faster and feels faster. I also get more keepers with the 50D over the 60D with the same lens (EF200 F2.8L) on both. More blurred out of focus shots on the 60D so guessing the 50D maybe has a slightly different / better focusing system. That said 60D is better at low noise / higher ISO eg for indoor basketball shots. The 50D has micro adjust which isn't on the 60D, so another reason to get the 50D, plus it has magnesium body vs 60D polycarb and supposed better weather sealing than 60D. Note that the 50D is bigger and heavier in the hand esp with a grip over 60D.

[Fredo]

Thanks to all for info.
Much appreciated.

Fred

[Namus]

Agreed - if for sports, 7D if you can stretch, and 40D (2nd-hand) if you're on a budget.

[Dwarak]

I would def recommend the 7d for the shutter speed and the auto focus great you can move the AF points by looking through the view finder it's good for macro work as well.

[Tannin]

Why would anyone recommend a D300s over a 7D for sport? Seems like a very odd thing to say.

(Don't shoot me, just asking.)

[fillum]

Re FPS: when I shoot 'slow ball' sports (junior Aussie rules, basketball, touch-footy) I don't use 'burst' mode but prefer to try and get the timing right myself. I miss a few (well maybe more than a few ) but hopefully over the longer term it will make me a better shooter. (And sorting through 200 shots at the end of the day is a fair bit easier than 1000 ). For 'fast ball' sports (baseball in my case) shooting in bursts at a decent fps helps when shooting batters but I still shoot the pitchers and fielders in single-shot mode.



Cheers.

[kiwi]

I doubt it, pro shooters all use burst, the art is when to start

[KeeFy]

Re FPS: when I shoot 'slow ball' sports (junior Aussie rules, basketball, touch-footy) I don't use 'burst' mode but prefer to try and get the timing right myself. I miss a few (well maybe more than a few ) but hopefully over the longer term it will make me a better shooter. (And sorting through 200 shots at the end of the day is a fair bit easier than 1000 ). For 'fast ball' sports (baseball in my case) shooting in bursts at a decent fps helps when shooting batters but I still shoot the pitchers and fielders in single-shot mode.

The thing about fps is, use it or lose it. What i mean by that is the difference between a money shot and a average shot could be that split milisecond and in highspeed action sport, you need all the fps you can get. Go down to a footy match or something along those lines and see if you can get close to the pro photogs. High chance is everyone is using burst mode and something along the lines of a 1d/d3. They rely on that one shot for $$ and why shouldn't you? There is no time for regrets.

As kiwi statesm the "art is when to start" and learning to preempt the shot is necessary, but i doubt you'll learn it by taking single shots.

[reaction]

Note that 60D is a lower spec than 50D.

The thing is not just fps, it's buffer size. D300s has 17 RAW buffer. That's just over 2s at 8fps.
7D also has over 1s buffer, while 50D series has less.

Also the 9 AF points of the 50D series won't track 3D very well, if at all.

So it's really the D300s 51pts or 7D 19pts you should be looking at.

[kiwi]

Re the RAW buffer, most sport shooters use JPEG still under average daylight conditions. I think there's minimal benefit in using RAW in this genre.....so....yes the buffer size is still important, but you can get a lot more than 2s of shooting on a D300 if you shoot JPEG.

[William]

Re FPS: when I shoot 'slow ball' sports (junior Aussie rules, basketball, touch-footy) I don't use 'burst' mode but prefer to try and get the timing right myself. I miss a few (well maybe more than a few ) but hopefully over the longer term it will make me a better shooter. (And sorting through 200 shots at the end of the day is a fair bit easier than 1000 ). For 'fast ball' sports (baseball in my case) shooting in bursts at a decent fps helps when shooting batters but I still shoot the pitchers and fielders in single-shot mode.



Cheers.

I'm with you Phil, I dont ever use Burst mode , , Mind you the only sports I shoot is Surfing and BMX, But I'm a single shot guy !! I'd rather use my Judgement and timing to get the shot , Cuts down on going through a heap of crap shots at the end of the day IMO


A couple of examples , All done with single shot

First one Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks






Second one Last weekend at the Bike Park


Son William



You just have to have timing and know whats going to happen , Before hand - Bill PS : I shoot in RAW