Getting older with a bad back, I’m thinking of selling a few boards and getting some photo equipment to supplement my surfing experience and have some fun taking surf photos of friends. So, looking for any advice on equipment that anyone with experience can offer. Thanks, Rick
Tips Spend as much as you can afford on epuipment Stability of the camera Do not take your picture straight on, get off to the side My preferences Full frame sensor, although the smaller sensor does give a bit of boost for the magnification, it does not get the same color saturation I use Nikon camera and lenses. I think the Nikon lenses are superior I prefer prime lenses, i.e.400 mm and the lowest f-stop you can afford. The low f-stop large lenses can be crazy expensive, but take much better pictures. I use a carbon tripod, lighter to carry and then hang a sand bag for stability I like the gimbal mount, easier to focus and follow the subject
I just sold a Nikon D810 that I would have happily traded you for your Lovelace glider But seriously, my dad just purchased a brand new Nikon setup last December and never used it, and now selling due to space limitations. He recently moved onto his boat full-time and was planning to retire to Mexico in the spring and take up wildlife photography with all his new free time. He has a new Nikon D500 with some longer lenses (200-500mm and 70-200mm) that would work great for a high-quality budget setup. Let me know if you'd be interested in checking it out. I could bring it down to San O. I personally shoot Panasonic full-frame professionally and can't recommend it enough but it has it's quirks and harder to find bargains on the used market. The S Pro lenses are beautiful and you will pay for that beauty. It's also not as proven for sports/wildlife as Nikon but I've been wanting to do some surf shooting as well to see what I could come up with.
The Nikon D500 has everything you need, the flagship of the DX sensor (not full frame) line. I used mine for over five years waiting for a full frame version to come out. The DX sensor with the lenses listed previously will give you a slight boost in magnification virtually. The size of the photos will be smaller than with the newer full frame, which is great for storage and will let you take more pictures on the same memory card. The 70-200mm lens is one of the most versatile Nikon lenses. The 200-500mm lens is a good lens, but only goes down to 5.6 f-stop. In addition to a good tripod you may want to add a Nikon TC-2X, 2x teleconverter, which will double the magnification by only adding a couple inches to the lens. However, they do reduce your f-stop ability. All in all, if you get a good price on that set up, jump on it.
I am no professional photographer but have owned Canon, Nikon, and Sony all in the past with varying levels of investment in glass. Some things I would offer to consider: Decide when and where you want to use it. I got real sick of carrying around a backpack full of equipment and a lot of times wouldn't bring a camera with me. Then I ended up looking at Mirrorless cameras and due to them being so compact, found myself using them way more often. I have always relied on reviews by dpreview.com and customer ratings on bhphoto.com. I also like that dpreview will tell you when a certain model was released, which provides insight into how old the technology is, or if a newer model is on it's way. dpreview also has sections of the site that provide camera ratings by interest (portrait, nature, kids, etc.). This can help you narrow down on models / budgets. I worked for canon for a few years and found that a lot of times you can save money on gear by buying refurbished and getting the same warranty. In some instances, refurbished only meant the box got damaged in transit and it needed to be reboxed. I don't know your photography knowledge, but lower f stop means faster glass, which means sharper images, BUT the same lens at a lower f stop usually costs more and will have less depth of field (i.e., the amount of the photo that is in focus will be less than at a higher f stop, given all other settings the same.) Used lenses can be had from places like bhphoto and adorama to save you some money. I find that prices are similar to craigslist but you get a level of warranty. Good luck and post photos when you get yourself set up.
