Nikon Lenses for Outdoor sport or day-day photographs?
What Nikon camera lenses are used to shoot the photographs of runners in Tough Mudder. I really like the bokeh and the sharpness of the people in the photos. Plus i don't see any blur which means it must be a reall y really fast lens. Any idea /recommendation please. I have a D90 if that would help.
If you are shooting in full sun, the 18-200 mm VR lens will do the job
I use mine when shooting motocross and from one point inside the track, I can shoot three turns, two straight aways and one jump.
Blur is caused by using too slow a shutter speed. Keep the shutter speed above 1/500th second an you will not have blurry images. If the subject is moving across the front of your vantage point, then you will have to use the technique of panning with the subject, something we who used film with the highest ISO of 160 learned to do decades ago.
An out of focus background (which you are calling Bokeh) is not all that necessary when shooting action or sports. Any zoom lens you will by does not create the kind of pleasing out of focus background that say a 85 mm f/1.4 lens will do when shooting portrait or glamour shots.
The 18-200 mm VR is also an excellent single lens solution when traveling light
Being outside in the day means that almost any lens will do. All you have to do is to set the shutter speed appropriately, such as 1/500. To get the blurry background, you need to zoom as much as you can and be as close as you can to the subject. Separate the background if you can, but I can see where that would be a problem, but picking your angles could help.
I have a D90 and would probably try to use my walk around lens, a Tamron 18-270mm PZD.
For the record, you want a fast shutter, not a fast lens. A fast lens is one that has a big aperture, such as f/1.4.
Nikon's 70-200 f/4 is a nice lens.
To get the bokeh that you mentioned you could do a few things:
1. Use a lens that has an aperture of at least f/2.8. Those that have an f-stop of f/1.8, 1.4 or smaller will produce much smaller depth of field (area that's in focus) which results in backgrounds getting very blurry.
2. Use long focal length lenses such as 135-300mm (equivalent to 35mm or Full Frame). The longer the lens, the shallower your depth of field, the more bokeh you get.
3. Long lens that has an aperture of f/2.8 - this is the best possible combination, but it'll set you back around $1,000.
I took a look at some images and there are all sorts of pictures from wide angle to telephoto, so don't limit yourself to one specific focal length or f/stop either.
You will want to look at protecting your gear with a rain cover too - Think Tank makes one of the best http://www.thinktankphoto.com/categories/camera-rain-covers.aspx
First, bokeh is a Japanese word that translated means "pleasing blur" and is used to describe the quality of any out of focus highlights whether in the background or foreground.
For outdoor action sports look at the Nikon AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED at about $590.00 or the Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/4G ED at about $1,400.00. The 70-300 would give you more versatility.
Often, a little blur in your pictures can be used to indicate speed and motion. Here are some tutorials to study:
http://digital-photography-school.com/a-beginners-to-capturing-motion-in-your-photography/
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-capture-motion-blur-in-photography/
http://digital-photography-school.com/mastering-panning-to-photograph-moving-subjects/ This technique is more difficult to learn and takes practice but the results are worth the effort.
Shots you see in newspapers etc of events such as Tough Mudder would have been taken by a variety of cameras, mostly DSLRs, probably Nikons, Canons, Sonys and possibly others. Probably by more modern DSLRs (the press change cameras eveery couple of years), and thus with higher or much higher ISO figures than the D90, giving sharp pics under many conditions.