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Which Nikon Camera and Lens to capture Youth Wrestling

xmarcelo

New member
We have a 10 year old who wrestles very often and my wife and I would like to buy a DSLR and a lens that would be able to capture some great shots. Would like to keep the cost of the body below $1,500 (if possible) and would be interested to know which lens ($1,00 range) would be able to produce wonderful images. Is this achievable? Any advice would mean a lot to us.

Ray
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
My pick would be the new D7100 (although Guy is right that the d7000 would be sufficient). My guess is that 1/500 will be enough to stop the action and minimize camera shake. You will need a lens of f2.8 or faster to avoid issues with high ISO and to maintain the shutter speed. This should put you at ISo 1600 which I think is the sweet spot for indoor sports .APS-c gives you some additional DOF you will need . I would use the 24-70/2.8 nikkor but if i knew my required FOV I would have the 50/1.4 and the 85/1.8 Af because the faster aperure would give me some assurance on the max ISO.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Agree nice to have a 24-70 and than add a prime or two like the 85 1.8 on a APS sensor would give you some good length as well. FYI the D7100 is brand new and I think coming in at 1200 Coming 3rd week in March
Nikon D7100 DSLR Camera (Body Only) 1513 B&H Photo Video

The D7000 is at the end of its run per say but used some very good prices. My kit is like total with body and lens 1650 and if you bought both I would knock that down a little. Its a great start into DSLR land. BTW ISO 800 and 1600 are very good too.
 

Dustbak

Member
I photograph a lot of youth Judo competitions. I reckon these are pretty much under the same circumstances.

I would rather invest in some good lenses. Since I can get very close to the competition, I get on the mat itself as press, I tend to use my 24-70 a lot. I have been doing this for years with the D700/24-70 (and the 70-200 for the larger tournaments on larger mats). Nowadays I often use the D800 (I sometimes make videos for the guys too). A used D700 with a good lens will do (I don't know the Dxxx series so I cannot comment on those).

For kids of that age (10) you will be around 1/250th to stop the action. Between 125th & 250th you will have some motion which can be nice. Below 1/125th you will certainly see motion blur quite often.

I have all the primes but I would not take them to Judo competitions.
 

xmarcelo

New member
I ended up purchasing the D600 and now have to select a lens. There is a NJ States wrestling championship on Sunday. I will probably have to take some of the photos from the bleachers, with respect to the 70-200 range, are there any lenses (Sigma or Tamron) that you would suggest that are high quality but not as expensive as the Nikon lens?
 
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