Some shots of Ulf and a ? - Page 1

I have a fast camera but need a good action lens to keep up with it, recomendations for good lens for action shots for Nikon? I know many here use this camera or simular so thought to ask here :)


 

Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Zoom Nikkor Lens, This is the lens I am now considering?

Great shots GSDNewbie:  don't know a damn thing about cameras but wanted to know if you could add anything about training your service assistance dog on the current service dog post from Kitkat.  Thx  Nan

i don't shoot nikon, not familiar with their lens lineup, but i'm sure it is very similar to canon, which I do shoot :)  and the rules of photography are the same.  From your pictures, your shutterspeed isn't fast enough to capture the image.  It looks like you're moving the camera to follow the subject, that's ok, but you have to use a shutter speed fast enough to stop the motion.  For me, nothing below 1/500th and that's for relatively slow action, usually unless the lighting is horrible, I shoot at 1/800th and up as high as I can and still get good exposures.  

Next would be, what mode are you shooting in?  you have to use something similar to AI/Servo so it tracks the moving object and not just find a spot focus and keeps it, which is what "one shot" will do.  

When people refer to a fast lens, they're talking about aperature, which is how much light it lets in.  any lens can be great, assuming you have enough light to make it work.  I assume what you're wanting is a fast focus, which will vary by lens.  SOme lenses will be very fast in terms of aperature, but have a very slow focus motor.  For instance, in canon, their 85mm f1.8 is a fast lens.  It also has a very fast focus motor.  The 85mm L lens is "faster" in that its aperature can open up even further (f1.2) allowing you to shoot in lower light and shoot with a really shallow depth of field.  It's focus motor however is pretty slow compared to the 1.8.

I'm sure nikon has similar differences in their lenses.  They're made for very different things.  

So you have to consider what type of lighting you'll usually be shooting under, for me it's f4 minimum, but want f2.8 or lower as an option.  

and focus motor, lenses built for indoor low light portrait stuff aren't going to be very good for shooting action, regardless of how "fast" they are because they don't lock focus fast enough or track it well enough to stay on fast moving targets.

What lens did you shoot these with? and what were your settings?  I have a feeling you could take much better shots by adjusting your shooting mode, and then upping your shutter speed and getting a workable ISO to get much better shots with what you have already.  Even the "low" level consumer kits that canon and nikon put out are capable of really great pictures.  The 2 biggest limiting factors are user capability and available light.  Once you learn your camer and how to adjust for changing conditions, then look at dropping more cash on lenses.  By then you'll know more of what you mostly want to shoot too.  I use my 85 mm example from above.  

years ago I was going to pull the trigger on the 85mm f1.2 L because it was "fast" and I had the cash.  it's a lens that goes for around 2K.  I decided to work with what I had and do more research.  Found out, though it's an amazing lens, it's not at all what I needed or wanted.  The 85f1.8 is a bit "slower" but the focus motor is one of the fastest around and it's optical quality is amazing.  Luckily it happens to be one of those lenses that isn't as expensive to make and a new one can be had for around 300 bucks.  It's a great portrait lens all on it's own, but for indoor low light action or outside action where I can be relatively close, meaning, not across a football field, it's amazing.  saved about 1700 dollars :)

I use a Nikon D90, mostly with a cheap Nikon 55-200mm VR lens and typically just set the body on Sport mode, retouch on the computer later.  Neither are all that fast/good, but I get decent action shots. People have paid me to photograph their dogs. I have a better/faster lens (1.8) but it's a 50mm and I can't stand not being able to zoom in/out even just a little bit so I don't use it for action shots unless I'm at an agility trial or flyball tournment and can focus on something like a jump or the box and stay there.

A few quick examples of the D90 with the 55-200mm lens...

Sampling of images I've taken with the D90 body and my lenses (none of my lenses cost more than $200 a piece):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/liesjers/sets/72157640272270014/

Some older Schutzhund, agility, dock diving, and protection action photos.  My newer photos are better but I don't have a good sample set.  These would have all been taken with the 55-200mm VR lens:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/liesjers/sets/72157629338701333/

Hope that helps!

WOW VK those are some fabulous shots;  unbelieveable.  So your recommendation for a beginner that needs a camera would be the Nikon D90??  Thx

I've had a D90 for....I'm not even sure, I think almost 6 years now. I don't know what is on the market currently, but I don't think one needs a pro body or pro lenses to get half decent shots.  I considered the D90 a fairly entry-level body when I bought it. I borrowed a D40x kit from an acquaintance for several months and ended up buying a D90.  That is how I originally got Nikon equipment.  Nikon or Canon, can go either way and a lot of it is personal preference but I played with the D40x for a while and became comfortable with Nikon.  When I bought the D90 body I still used one of the borrowed lenses until I knew what I wanted.  Right now I use the Nikon 55-200mm VR, Nikon 50mm f/1.8, and Nikon 18-55mm.  My original kit lens (18-105mm VR) broke.  I also have a Speedlight flash and a Raynox 150 macro adapter (snaps onto the end of any of my lenses).

You need equipment that will give you some of the versatility and capabilities you want but also need to practice and understand composition, lighting, etc. It's not just about what camera you have.  I entered a series of photos in an art show (not dog photos) a few years back and all of them were taken with a $99 point-and-shoot camera. I do quite a bit of post-processing on the computer and in many ways, I'm better on a computer than with a camera (I very, very rarely shoot manual). The picture is taken through my camera's lens but the computer is where I can adjust the photo to illustrated what I saw through the lenses of my own eyes.  This is just a hobby of mine and I still consider myself a novice but my biggest recommendations when shooting dogs in action are 1) get on the level of the DOG (I'm usually sitting on the ground, on my knees, or even lying on my stomach shooting dogs), 2) try to avoid shooting directly into the sun / be mindful of the angle of the sun and use that lighting to your advantage, 3) and lastly if you are shooting a sport or something where a dog's actions are predictable, find a fixed object to focus on ahead of time so you aren't wasting time panning around and trying to keep up with the dog.  For example, if I'm shooting an agility trial I pick the exit of a tunnel or a few jumps that I focus on and wait for the dog to enter the frame.  For flyball I focus on the box and might even use a tripod and a remote so I'm not even looking through the viewfinder while shooting pics.

Thanks VK I have a Nikon D80, Older than yours but is the model I have been wanting and found one in near new condition after a very long search. I determined after research it was the camera I wanted to learn with. I have figured out some things I should have done better already. Thank you zdog, I have already been looking into lens like you mentioned as in the link I supplied earlier. 
 

A D80 is great!  I think it has the same type of autofocus motor as the D90 so should work with any Nikon lens (some of the cheaper Nikon bodies will not autofocus cheaper lenses that don't have their own autofocus motors).

My go to lens for shooting action with my Nikons has always been a 50mm f/1.4.