Hi as a big motorsports fan and a keen photographer I need a bit of advice I currently have a D50 and a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro witch I use for motorsports photography I feel I am getting some good pictures out of the kit I use (some can be found below) but not all of the pics come out 100% and I am one on these people where everything has to be 100% or I just might be a little hard on myself I don’t know. My problem is I have a few pound saved up and I am looking for some new equipment but when I look at my pics that do come out good and look at some pro pics I cant see a few hundred pounds worth of difference and don’t think I could justify spending £500+on a lens.
I would be interested in what other people think…………..

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/focus1234/coi33.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/focus1234/coi19.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/focus1234/coi21.jpg

I upgraded from the same lens you have to a secondhand Sigma 100-300 f4 EX. I was very pleased I did so. Image quality for motorsport was significantly increased, focussing speed was faster and more accurate. The number of so-so pictures decreased, and the number of keepers went up.

Downsides is that its a lot heavier.

Not even the pros get it right 100% of the time.

What areas specifcally are you unhappy with?

The sharpness of the pics

At one point I had three lenses - 28-300 Tamron, 70-300 Sigma (like yours) and 100-300 f4 Sigma. I mounted all three lenses on tripods and took a photo of a brick wall at different focal lengths and f-stops.

I was astounded by the difference - I can send some by email if you wish. resizing for forum friendly posts tends to equalise things somewhat.

The fact that you get some good shots tends to suggest it's your technique that's letting you down more than the lens.

Post a few of your less good images, plus Exif data and we'll have a better idea ;)

Richard.

Are you using any form of support for the camera?

You should note that all pro sports photographers are using monopods for their 300mm lenses, and these are f2.8, so will be shooting at higher shutter speeds than you (generally).

Admittedly that is also because they have to carry the things around (and they are not light!)

Monopods are fairly cheap (certainly cheaper than a new lens!) and are not too much of a pain to carry.

For added flexibility you can fit a monoball type head - but be aware that these can cost the same as the camera!

One other area to focus (;)) on is why some shots are good, and others bad. There are three focus modes on the D50 (I have one myself) - and they are appropriate for different environments, which can be as simple as capturing cars 'approaching' you, or trying to capture cars moving 'across' you.

While spending money is always fun, spending that mone on more practice is generally the most effective method!

For excellent Nikon reviews and information check KenRockwell.com (http://www.kenrockwell.com)

Based on his advice I went with the Nikon 70-300 f4-f5.6 which has proven excellent - when I get it right!

Neil

The sigma's a good lens - I have the APO version, and it does pretty damn well.. in mine, and many of the reviewers the APO version is the match / better than the nikon equivlent, though the non-APO isn't optically as good, but same in other respects.

Biggest thing I've found is to simplify the focussing - dump the fancy focus modes, closest blah, blah, stick it on the centre point only. The centre point is by far the most sensitive, and accurate. It also avoids focus jumping off onto nearby trees etc. You can crop slightly for composition later if needed. AF-S/AF-C is your choice, but there's no way of making the camera wait for focus to fire if it's in AF-C

Personally, I'd forget support. A tripod is unwieldy, and a monopod under the camera a waste of space (note that the 'pro' lenses have a mount on the lens, so the combination balances, rather than being nose heavy). Up the iso if necessary, and keep the shutter speed around / better than 1/500th at the long end. The reason the pro's "always" use support is that those massive 3/400 2.8's are too heavy to handhold - the 70-300 isn't. (and actually, when I was at the aus open tennis there was a quite diminutive chap handholding a 1d/400/2.8 combo. Certifiably nuts, but he had a press pass!)

Granted, the 'pro' lenses focus faster, partly due to better mechanisms, and partly due to wider appetures letting in more light for the focus mechanism to play with. I'd see what can be done with what you have first.

For reference (good or bad!), the following gallery was shot a year or two ago with a D70, and 70-300/4-5.6 sigma apo macro.

Image Gallery (http://www.sw-projects.co.uk/images/?album=Rally_GB_2005)

Oh, and P.S. If you ever get to a 100% success rate, you've done something that I'm pretty sure no pro ever achieves :)