10-25-2005, 03:52 PM
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#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 429
| A camera so simple, even Stevie Wonder can use it! (to photograph fencing)
I am in the market for a digital camera. So many of them have a big delay between pushing the button and actually taking the picture, though, that they are useless for photographing fencers in action.
Does anyone have any recommendations? (The cheaper the better. I don't need bells-and-whistles.)
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10-25-2005, 04:40 PM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Wilmington NC
Posts: 431
| go to http://dpreview.com and look at the comparisons. shutter lag is a big issue with cheap point and shoot digital. also you will need one that allows you to set a high ISO and not use the flash. Fencers tend to get cranky when a flash goes off during a bout... | |
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10-25-2005, 04:42 PM
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#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Charlotte, NC area
Posts: 2,501
| I have a Kodak Easyshare 4.0 megapixel digital zoom blah blah blah camera. It's super easy, has a "sports/action" setting, and you can set the delay time on it.  (I also have the swanky printer dock) | |
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10-25-2005, 04:45 PM
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#4 | | Bitter young coach
Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bay Area
Posts: 4,500
| Remember to take lots of pictures, since it's hard to know when something cool is about to happen. Better to take a few bad ones than miss a good one.
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10-25-2005, 05:38 PM
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#5 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Calgary,Alberta Canada
Posts: 298
| Does this mean Eddie Murphy is going to do all the adds for it? | |
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10-25-2005, 06:32 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 662
| El Chucko - I know exactly how you feel. My camera does the same thing. I've been trying to get some more professional-looking shots, but because of the delay on my camera and my own lack of photography skills, I can't get a half-way decent looking picture.
Of course that and having to deal with fencers who don't want their picture taken...*cough* DFP *cough*! | |
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10-25-2005, 06:33 PM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 662
| El Chucko - I know exactly how you feel. My camera does the same thing. I've been trying to get some more professional-looking shots, but because of the delay on my camera and my own lack of photography skills, I can't get a half-way decent looking picture.
Of course that and having to deal with fencers who don't want their picture taken...*cough* D+F+P*cough*! | |
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10-25-2005, 06:34 PM
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#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 488
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by el chucko Does anyone have any recommendations? (The cheaper the better. I don't need bells-and-whistles.) | Simple camera would not do it if you are looking to shoot actual fencing action.
If you use "search" or "Find more posts by Timacheff"
you may find Serge's comments about his fencing photo equipment and technique
You do not necessary need Mark II class camera,
but at least semi-professional DSLR,
I think even DRebel would not do it - not enough focusing speed.
.
Last edited by misha; 10-25-2005 at 06:43 PM.
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10-25-2005, 06:34 PM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,467
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Rapier_wit Of course that and having to deal with fencers who don't want their picture taken...*cough* DFP *cough*! | I've just got a problem with girls getting my picture and spending alot of time salivating over it.... its creepy.
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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. And from this side only! The flight of a half-man, half-bird. Dinosaurs nuzzling their young in pastures where strip malls should be. Cookies on dowels. All those moment, lost in time. Gone, like eggs off a hooker's stomach. Time to die" -Phil Ken Sebben
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10-25-2005, 07:00 PM
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#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 662
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Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken! I've just got a problem with girls getting my picture and spending alot of time salivating over it.... its creepy. | Well you got the wrong girl, buster. I don't salivate over anybody! You give yourself way too much credit, tiny man. | |
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10-25-2005, 07:29 PM
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#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Charlotte, NC area
Posts: 2,501
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Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken! I've just got a problem with girls getting my picture and spending alot of time salivating over it.... its creepy. |
Do you actually think girls salivate over your picture?
Ooooh....sorry....that was a little hostile, wasn't it?  | |
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10-25-2005, 07:34 PM
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#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,467
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Originally Posted by fencergal33 Do you actually think girls salivate over your picture?
Ooooh....sorry....that was a little hostile, wasn't it? | Well you were drooling 
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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. And from this side only! The flight of a half-man, half-bird. Dinosaurs nuzzling their young in pastures where strip malls should be. Cookies on dowels. All those moment, lost in time. Gone, like eggs off a hooker's stomach. Time to die" -Phil Ken Sebben
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10-25-2005, 07:34 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Charlotte, NC area
Posts: 2,501
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Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken! Well you were drooling |
One word: Ew. | |
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10-25-2005, 07:35 PM
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#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,467
| One word: lol
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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. And from this side only! The flight of a half-man, half-bird. Dinosaurs nuzzling their young in pastures where strip malls should be. Cookies on dowels. All those moment, lost in time. Gone, like eggs off a hooker's stomach. Time to die" -Phil Ken Sebben
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10-25-2005, 08:12 PM
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#15 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,426
| I dunno... Digital photography is alright and all, but for some things I think old fashioned film cameras can be better. Perhaps this is one of them? Anybody with photography experiance care to comment?
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Woman was created for our destruction, and it is from her we inherit all our miseries. - Aramis, from The Three Musketeers
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10-25-2005, 09:13 PM
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#16 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 429
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by fencergal33 I have a Kodak Easyshare 4.0 megapixel digital zoom blah blah blah camera. It's super easy, has a "sports/action" setting, and you can set the delay time on it. (I also have the swanky printer dock) | I was looking at an easyshare c310 today. which model do you have?
By the way, do you plug these things in to charge them, or replace the batteries outright? I am a digital camera virgin...
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"All things must pass. All things must fade away." - George Harrison
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10-25-2005, 11:53 PM
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#17 | | Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 75
| The majority of shutter lag is the auto focus. You can pre-focus most cameras by pressing the shutter release halfway. You can then take the picture with very little lag. Even better, just switch to manual focus.
Unfortunately, fencing is so fast that even the slightest shutter lag is likely to be a problem. Set the camera on motor drive, take hundreds of pictures and delete the bad ones (i.e., most of them). One of the biggest advantages to digital cameras is the ability to take tons of pictures. The downside is they aren't very good in low light situations, which is often the case with fencing. | |
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10-26-2005, 12:13 AM
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#18 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004 Location: Issaquah, Washington
Posts: 363
| Digital is just fine for sports and fencing. The vast majority of all sports photography today is shot digitally. At the Olympic Games I saw maybe two or three photographers shooting film out of several hundred of us there.
That said, if you're not intent upon spending upwards of 10 grand or more on a fast digital camera and equally fast lenses (meaning straight-out f/2.8), then performance begins to get in the way and shutter lag, buffer rates, image sensor quality, ISO range, auto focus speed, and other factors all become real problems.
If you do want to shoot film, or if you're on a budget but want high-end results, you can get an Canon EOS-3 film camera at a pretty good price and you can spend your money on fast glass -- meaning good lenses -- which will also work on Canon digital cameras as you transition and work your way over to the digital side. When I was shooting the Worlds in Cuba, I used this camera as well as a digital, and I got great results (my last event shooting any film, incidentally). Many pro photographers are doing this now.
However, there's simply no camera -- digital or film -- that's better suited for sports and photojournalism than the Canon 1D Mark II. I'd say more than 80 percent of sports photographers around the world use it, myself included. It shoots nearly nine frames a second, up to 40 frames without stopping, at 8+ megapixels; it's got lots of other features that make it superior. But it's four grand for the body alone.
Also -- this camera is very good in low-light situations, with a diverse number of ISO settings ranging up to ISO 3200. I frequently shoot fencing at ISO 800 or higher, up to about ISO 1250, and experience very limited, if any, noticeable digital "noise" (equivalent to "grain" in film).
Last edited by Timacheff; 10-26-2005 at 12:18 AM.
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10-26-2005, 12:16 AM
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#19 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004 Location: Issaquah, Washington
Posts: 363
| One more thing, regarding focus and shutter lag -- most sports photographers, again myself included, don't focus using the shutter release ... something that is surprising to many photographers who don't typically shoot sports.
Instead, we use the camera's custom settings to change the camera's operation to a "back focus," meaning that we focus with our thumbs and shoot with the regular shutter release button.
This allows a semi-auto focus that lets me focus and "lock in" on a specific range, but change it very quickly without having to risk using manual focus -- or having the shutter release change the focus as I depress it.
This setting can be achieved on both Nikon and Canon SLR cameras. | |
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10-26-2005, 12:38 AM
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#20 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: DFW, Texas
Posts: 3,134
| Serge,
What do you think about the new EOS 5D as an alternative to the 1D Mark II?
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