# Questions from a rookie



## vitamin sea (May 23, 2004)

We have two daughters in drill team this year. We currently have a little Canon point and shoot that does fine for everyday pictures. However, we are quickly discovering that this little camera doesn't have anywhere near the zoom capability that we need and it doesn't do well with action shots either.

We DO have an older, high end Canon EOS. To give you an idea of the age of the EOS, it does not use the standard SD memory card. It uses one that is similar but about twice the size.

We want to be able to take a clear shot from...say...the shoulders up of the girls dancing while we are in the stands. I'm guessing about 100 yards away or slightly further. The lens we currently have for the EOS doesn't have the reach either.

Questions:

1) Will the current Canon lens' available fit this camera? Maybe we could just upgrade lens'.
2) If so, what lens would we need to capture said shots?
3) If not, what camera/lens setup would you recommend?

Again, we are complete rookies and do not want to spend a ton on a camera that will do a million things that we'll never use. We just need something that will do what I described.

Thanks in advance,

Rex


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

What kind of EOS do you have? Look on the front it should have a badge. With the exception of the newer EOS lenses that are specifically for crop sensors any EOS lens should work for you. What lens you want depends on how far away the subjects are. A 70-300 should work pretty well for you. I use a 70-300 a 70-200 and 400 for motorsports and r/c. Does your point and shoot have Tv mode? If so try setting it up in that mode for an exposure of 1/1000 and see if the shots are crisp. Then you might be able to crop them to get the part you want at a decent size. Telephoto lenses don't magnify that much. For a 70-300 its only about 4x. They just compress the distance between you and the subject. So you might be disappointed when you first shoot with one. If you are far away sometimes you are stuck with trying to get a really crisp image that can stand some cropping to get the frame filled with your subject. I shoot a lot of r/c cars racing. They are only a foot long and the distance can be up to a couple hundred feet. So the only way to get them to fill the frame is to get them nice and sharp and crop them close. Its best to get close and fill the frame that way but a lot of time its just not possible. If you end up with an image that is too small to say print out at 8x10 there are resizing programs out there that will blow them up without making them fuzzy. I use Perfect Resize. Having a camera that has a burst mode for firing off shots quickly is a good thing for action photography too. If you decide to use the EOS check in the manual to see how to set it up for hi speed continuous exposure. And see if it has ai servo autofocus. Its designed to track moving subjects. Then you just hold down the button and follow the subject and the camera will fire off multiple exposures as fast as it can. I never just click off one shot its always 3 or 4. The AF usually gets a better lock on the 2nd and subsequent shots. It seems like a huge can of worms but actually its not and its a lot of fun. If you can find out what model of camera you have I can tell you a lot more about its capabilities.

Griz


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

For long distance, with subjects that are reasonably well lit, and aren't moving too much...a "Bridge Camera" should do the trick. Every major camera manufacturer makes them. Not great for low light, but they take marvelous pictures.

Certainly, check to see if you can just buy a longer lens to fit your present camera first. 

Add a simple, inexpensive mono-pod to any camera to give you more stability. Heck, just adding that mono-pod will improve the present camera's pictures.

richg99


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Mono pod
http://www.target.com/p/targus-69-c...BYIBTW2Kzg3GZAQbifMoOzqCf_j4RzALiYaAo3Z8P8HAQ


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Bridge camera discussion (one of many)...

http://www.dpreview.com/search?query=bridge+camera

richg99

p.s. just changed the link for a broader discussion


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

If you happen to go to a "bridge camera", be a advised that many of them also have available extenders for a reasonable price .

I equipped my older Canon SX3 with such an extender as nd had an equivalent 700 mm plus lens. Lost some light, but it worked well.

Here is a shot with the add on lens..


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Hmmmm, not sure that the LINK worked. This one should.


__
https://flic.kr/p/yharq


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