[der Fahrer]

Originally Posted by Ben Z.

Really what you need is a 41 MP Nokia camera phone

Right, but let's be honest...most pros use iPhones these days.

[Fastdog911]

Originally Posted by John_T

All kinds or stuff, however much can be a frustration, a waste of time and money unless you define specifically what you want to do.

John T.. mostly just basic photos, nothing too special, dont want huge size but would like to be able to change out lenses. Hockey ( low light, speed) is one thing I can see me using it for. I am just tired of using a pocket camera right now. Flash is bad and trying to upgrade. So I guess a few bumps up from that...small would be very nice

[der Fahrer]

Originally Posted by Fastdog911

John T.. mostly just basic photos, nothing too special, dont want huge size but would like to be able to change out lenses. Hockey ( low light, speed) is one thing I can see me using it for. I am just tired of using a pocket camera right now. Flash is bad and trying to upgrade. So I guess a few bumps up from that...small would be very nice

I'd recommend a used T2i or T3i for your purposes due to the low cost. Regardless of what body you get, what you really need is wide aperture lenses for those indoor situations. Check out the 50mm 1.8 (for speed and very low price) or the 40mm 2.8 pancake (for size) to meet your needs. Depending on how close you are to the action you might also need a longer lens.

[Frank Ricard]

Originally Posted by Fastdog911

John T.. mostly just basic photos, nothing too special, dont want huge size but would like to be able to change out lenses. Hockey ( low light, speed) is one thing I can see me using it for. I am just tired of using a pocket camera right now. Flash is bad and trying to upgrade. So I guess a few bumps up from that...small would be very nice

40D + primes.


Used 40D's can be had for 300 bucks and they are a great started camera. Rent some primes and figure out what focal length you want and then purchase later.

[OneFastM3]

Originally Posted by Frank Ricard

40D + primes.


Used 40D's can be had for 300 bucks and they are a great started camera. Rent some primes and figure out what focal length you want and then purchase later.

Not sure I agree as the low light focusing from the 40D isn't spectacular, the high ISO performance is sub par, and primes long enough and fast enough to compensate and be useful for hockey are typically pretty pricey.

[spiderz17]

Jumping into this thread a little late, but I'll throw in my two cents. The wifey is what you would probably call an amateur photographer. She has the Canon T1i. It does everything we've ever needed it to and we still probably only exploit about 10% of the features. One bit of advice for OP: the T2i was just coming out when we were camera shopping, so we started looking at it. But we were able to get a T1i for quite a bit cheaper (new model drove its price down) and the handful of features on the new model just weren't worth the extra money. So look at what exactly the differences are between the brand new model (T4i) and the older model (T3i). You might be able to find a really good deal on a T3 if there's nothing on the T4 that you want too badly.

Second thing, we've found that the lens is more important than the body. I'm sure the experts can speak to this in more detail (or completely disagree), but the T1i with the default lens was pretty good. Then my wife wanted to do a few more things and so we bought a better lens. Lately, she's been borrowing her bosses crazy huge lens and it works fine with the body and takes phenomenal pics. So even buying an "entry" level DLSR like a Canon T3 or 4 will give you plenty of capability as your photography skills grow, you'll just have to drop dough on new and better lenses.

[John_T]

Originally Posted by Fastdog911

John T.. mostly just basic photos, nothing too special, dont want huge size but would like to be able to change out lenses. Hockey ( low light, speed) is one thing I can see me using it for. I am just tired of using a pocket camera right now. Flash is bad and trying to upgrade. So I guess a few bumps up from that...small would be very nice

A few contradictions there, cheap, small, low light (artificial) and fast moving subjects.

- capturing fast moving subjects means higher shutter speeds and sufficient light
- low light means wider apertures and/or a higher ISO
- wider apertures means shallower depth of field (DOF)
- wider apertures shooting subjects at medium distances will mean it is likely only part of your subjects will be within the DOF and in focus
- to have more of your subjects in focus, you will need to shoot with smaller apertures to increase your DOF, meaning you will have to increase the ISO and/or decrease your shutter speed for the light to suffice
- cheaper and older cameras typically have low ISO ceilings, meaning as you raise the ISO to increase the sensitivity of the sensor to light, you start increasingly generating noise and losing detail
- to shoot fast moving subjects that are moving to and away from you, you will need to use AI Servo auto focus(AF) for the focus to follow and track your intended subject(s). The cheaper and older the camera, the less it will be able to do this successfully
- etc., etc.

The better the light and the more static your subjects are, other than image quality, the less performance you need from your gear, and in principle the less you need to spend.

The less available light you have and the more active your subjects, other than image quality, the more performance you will need from your gear. You can add an external flash, but it doubtfully will have the range needed for hockey, even if flash is allowed at the event.

Even in good light, you will need a camera with a good AF system and some skill on your part to acceptably capture action.

So, your choices for modest gear runs from used gear as suggested, probably running you around $500-700, or what Rat is looking at for around $1,200 plus.

You could also consider a G12 or G1X for $400 to $700.

If you want reasonable results and a reasonable keeper rate, you need to get your head into it and do some homework if you want some rewards and satisfaction, as opposed to frustration and disappointment. Never mind the consumer hype, there is no magic bullet.

[Frank Ricard]

Originally Posted by OneFastM3

Not sure I agree as the low light focusing from the 40D isn't spectacular, the high ISO performance is sub par, and primes long enough and fast enough to compensate and be useful for hockey are typically pretty pricey.

I havent shot a t3i but DXo rates the T3i sensor lower than a 40D, and had their 1600 iso pretty equivalent... I have had good luck with the 40D's AI Servo when I used it in the past, and I much prefer to to the XXXD models. Hence my recommendation vs the newer consumer model Canons.

I think Hockey is very hard to shoot which cheap equipment, I will certainly agree with that (I think that is sorta what you were getting at).


Really I think a D7000 is where he should be at, but it didnt seem like that was in his budget. However I have shot Hockey a couple times with my trusty 1D2, which can be had for fairly cheap these days.