Sports Photography Camera Gear: A Shopping List For Action Shots
Shooting sports is pretty unique in its requirements, meaning that you’re gonna need some specific gear. The type of gear you need will vary from sport to sport, but this post is made to provide you with some rough guidelines and useful information.
Here’s what you’ll need:
The Right Camera Body
It’s not about having the best camera, it’s about having the right one. Certain camera bodies are much better adapted for sports usage than others. To use two famous Canon examples (other brands are available, of course), there is the Canon 7D Mark ii, which I happen to own myself, and the 1DX Mark iii. These are action bodies, both equipped with insanely burst fire speeds (10 shots/second for the 7D ii, 16/second for the 1DX iii) and advanced autofocus for taking tack-sharp photos of fast-moving subjects.
These camera bodies are also kitted out with a very handy feature for sport and action photography, CF card Slots. We’ll talk a little more about these memory cards later.
These camera bodies are both very expensive, but the same principles apply if you’re shopping for a cheaper body: look for a fast burst mode and ability to write quickly onto memory cards (or a good buffer so you can take more shots in a burst)
(Canon 1DX Mark 2)
(Canon 7D Mark 2)
The Right Lens(es)
The ideal lens is very dependent on the sport that you’re photographing. Consider the following:
Does the distance between yourself and the subject change a lot? If so, use a zoom lens, not a prime.
How far away do you photograph subjects from? This will determine which focal length you should use. Sports like mountain biking, skateboarding or BMX can be shot with wide angles for a unique look. Most other sports require long focal lengths, such as field sports like football or rugby.
Typically, you’re going to want a zoom lens with the ability to go above 200mm, but your lens choice will depend on the sport. Photographing mountain bikes, for example, I mainly use a 70-200mm lens.
Primes offer better sharpness and low light performance, especially for their price. However, they have the aforementioned downside of lacking flexibility.
Also, make sure to pick up a lens hood. This helps to keep stray light causing lens flares on your images. It also helps to keep the rain off the front element of the lens and works well paired with a cheap rain cover.
(If you need help lens shopping, don’t be afraid to comment or email me your questions).
(Canon EF 70-200mm zoom lens)
Batteries
Depending on the sport you’re covering, the model of camera which you use and, ultimately, the number of photos that you take, you may need extra batteries and a batter grip. A battery grip is also super useful for portrait photography as it lets you rotate the camera 90 degrees and has an extra shutter button.
Some camera bodies, such as the 1D line, already have a grip built in. But there are ways to connect them to external battery packs if necessary. You can then clip this external battery to your belt and plug your camera to it. Only resort to external packs in dry weather of course.
Canon battery grip (prices vary depending on the model)
Monopod
The combined weight of your camera, telephoto lens, and perhaps a battery pack results in a pretty big pain to carry around handheld or on a neck strap. This is where some kind of camera support comes in.
Now, tripods may be a solid option for some sports, such as track sports, where you know a subject is going to be in a given spot eventually, and you don’t need to pan the camera to follow them very much. However, that is a minority of cases.
Monopods, however, have a plethora of benefits, specifically awesome for sports and action shooting:
Size and weight: Some telescopic monopods pack up so small that they fit inside your camera bag, rather than having to dangle them on the side of your bag by the tripod strap. They’re also much lighter than tripods. I use a Manfrotto aluminium monopod and it’s so light that I don’t see any need to upgrade to carbon fibre.
Manoeuvrability: Monopods provide a single leg directly below your camera, rather than three which spread outwards. This means you need less space to use one. Combined with the weight reduction over a tripod, this makes them nifty for picking up with the camera and moving them around as you need. They are also faster to fold in and out, as they consist of just one telescopic leg, not three.
Cost: Monopods tend to cost far less than tripods because they are simpler to engineer. My monopod from Manfrotto, a very reputable brand, cost less than £30. As with anything, however, there are more expensive models (such as those from Manfrotto) which go into the £150+ price range.
Low-cost Manfrotto monopod. (~£20)
A Higher-end Manfrotto Monopod (~£180)
Memory Cards
You’ll shoot a lot of photos when you’re shooting sports. Especially if you’re working with a sports camera body, with their faster burst rates. A single football or rugby match would often result in me taking upwards of 1,000 photos, and on a regular day in my work I can take over 2,000. I would regularly fill up my 32gb card, having to switch to a second. So my recommendation would be to use at least a 64GB Carb. My new loadout features a 64gb CF card and a 32gb SD card, which my camera automatically rolls over to once the CF is full.
You’re not just going to need large cards, however. They’re also going to need some speed. When shooting rapid bursts of photos, memory cards with higher write speeds allow you to throw those photos onto the card at a greater speed, meaning you can pop off more shots before you clog up your camera’s buffer. This is where CF cards come into their own, having 50 pins, compared to 9 on an SD, they give considerably more points of contact between the camera and the card, meaning that data can be transferred at much faster speeds.
Lexar Pro 64GB CF Card (~£60)
SanDisk Extreme PRO 64GB SD Card (~£18)
Rain Cover
In the case that your camera and lens aren’t both weather sealed, you may need to buy a rain cover. These are immensely useful to keep gear dry and safe. I would also recommend one of these if you’re using a battery grip, as they can let water in. Especially if the battery grip is made by a third party.
I’d recommend a rain cover like this, which allows you to put your hands in to operate the camera. They’re pretty inexpensive and come in a range of sizes to accommodate longer or shorter lenses.
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If you have any questions, get in touch by commenting, direct messaging or emailing me.
Keep Shooting!
