Photographing and Filming Strongmen and Bodybuilders

[Harry Hayfield]

At the end of April, I will be attending the BSNF Wales Strongman and Strongwoman contest being held at Yoyo's Strongman Gym in Crymych, Pembrokeshire as this forum's reporter and will make making a full report on the event in this section, however, I would like member's thoughts on the following question: "What's the best type of camera to get?"

Because the strongman event will be held outdoors the camera has to be able to deal with all variants of light (from clouded over to brilliant sunshine), plus, as about a month later I will be visiting a friend of mine from Suffolk who was a champion bodybuilder and still keeps muscular at the age of 72, I would also like a camera that can take high quality video (HD ideally) in indoor conditions as well. My maximum budget for such a camera is £300 (around $400) and must be available to be purchased in the United Kingdom and delivered to a United Kingdom postal address. With regard to type, I am very familiar with digital cameras and completely unfamiliar with DLSR cameras therefore am pondering something in-between the two.

If members have any cameras that match this description, please feel free to post examples of the photos that you have taken of strongmen / bodybuilders using that camera so that I am able to assess which one to purchase by April 20th (so there is time to actually purchase it online if need be)

[peter yates]

Hi Harry, sorry i have no real knowledge of cameras but i am glad to hear that the event is now taking place.Also that you will be visiting your friend in Suffolk.Looking forward to reading your reports and seeing the photos.
Regards,Peter.

[Harry Hayfield]

As with most questions on this sort of nature, I posted it on a large number of forums and after reviewing the answers have ordered a Panasonic Lumix Bridge Camera which according to the information on their website has a 60 times optical zoom function (122 times digital zoom), auto focus, shutter speeds from 4 seconds to 0.0005 seconds (0.0000625 seconds when using the video function), JPG and MP4 file formats, 22 filters (24 in post production), up to 15 minutes of 4K footage (provided you have the correct size memory cards) to a maximum of 100 minutes, high speed video, wi fi connection and a stereo microphone which should arrive on Friday of this week and therefore give me plenty of time to get used to it before the contest on April 28th.

[peter yates]

Hi Harry, glad you have found the one you want.To be honest,way to complicated for me,i do not even understand the terms you used to describe the functions. Still i know that you know what you are doing and look forward to seeing the results.
Regards,Peter.