Which 70-200mm?

[Kayaker72]

Baker,


Just a few quick questions regarding your sports photography. Are your sports indoor or outdoor? Low light or plenty of light? Subjects near or far?


Also I was wondering what other lenses do you already have? I remember you posted before but I am having trouble with this website and my phone right now.


Thanks


Brant

[Kayaker72]

Oops. Sorry. It looks like you answered most of my questions while I was writing.

[scalesusa]

I assume you are shooting college sports indoor and outdoor. Any of the lenses will be excellent in the hands of someone who knows how to use them, pay more, get more. F/2.8 would be needed for indoor sports, you need a fast shutter speed, and f/2.8 may be marginal.


No need to get IS for sports, due to the fast shutter speed used to freeze action. If you want handheld photography with a T2I, IS is very helpful to avoid blur at low shutter speeds.


I found the lenses at maximum aperture in order of sharpness to be:


1. 70-200mm f/2.8 IS mk II


2. 70-200mm f/4 IS


3. 70-200mm f/2.8 NON Is


4. 70-200mm f/4 NON IS


5. 70-200mm f/2.8 IS (had 5 of these)


All lenses are at least very good, and the top two are extremely good.


As noted, a 85mm/1.8 will be excellent for less $$, add a 70-300mm IS (non L) for outdoor sports and tou will have a excellent combo.

[Baker]

I just got back from a volleyball tournament and thought I would post some pics I took with the 24-105mm f/4 that I am currently renting. Hopefully they will give you a better idea of what lens would work for me. Also I noticed that my T2i was only having bursts of 2 pictures in continuous mode =/


1) f/4 - 1/320 - ISO 3200 - 80mm


[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/8/0675.IMG_5F00_0321-_2D00_-Copy.JPG[/img]


2) f/4 - 1/320 - ISO 3200 - 70mm


[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/8/6557.IMG_5F00_0424-_2D00_-Copy.JPG[/img]


3) f/4 - 1/400 - ISO 3200 - 70mm


[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/8/8182.IMG_5F00_0453-_2D00_-Copy.JPG[/img]


4) f/4 - 1/400 - ISO 3200 - 60mm


[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/8/2768.IMG_5F00_0520-_2D00_-Copy.JPG[/img]

[neuroanatomist]

Nice shots! Definitely suggests that at least in this venue, the 85mm focal length will work for you. Having a lens that's >2 stops faster will mean ISO 800 for those shutter speeds, instead of ISO 3200. Assuming the noise on the T2i is similar to my 7D, I find ISO 800 acceptable, ISO 1600 tolerable, and ISO 3200 marginal.

Also I noticed that my T2i was only having bursts of 2 pictures in continuous mode

Hmmmm...the T2i is rated for 3.7 fps. Of course, that's the maximum, but you should be close. RAW file sizes at ISO 3200 are a little larger than at lower ISOs (2-5 MB larger than lower ISOs), but that shouldn't cut your frame rate to nearly half the maximum. What type/speed of SDHC card(s) do you use?

[DavidEccleston]

One thing that can kill bursts is RAW+JPG. Choose just RAW and you will hopefully see a jump. If you go to Canon

[JJphoto]

it looks like you can get really close, so shorter focal length should not be a problem


1/400 seems a little bit slower as you can see some motion blur in the pictures.


noise is acceptable even with ISO 3200


bad isolation due to smaller aperture and shorter focal length.


so I think with 50D and 85mm 1.8, you can get a lot of improvement, on the other hand, if you only can have one lens, a f2.8 70-200mm will cover indoor and outdoor( not sure if it

[Baker]

I was actually shooting these in JPEG because I just upgraded to windows 7 and have not yet reinstalled my photo programs and what not. I started out using a sandisk extreme class 10 and when that was full I used a sandisk ultra II class 4 but both gave me the same burst rates.


I wanted to use a faster shutter speed but then I would have had to increase the ISO to 6400 and that was just too much for me.

[Richard Lane]

Nice Shots Baker!


The 85mm f/1.8 would work well for this. If you shoot at f/2 you would be able to double your shutter speed and cut your ISO in half. That sounds pretty good to me. The other benefit would also be a more blurred background at the wider apertures as well as a more compressed background with a longer focal length, this way you would be able to cut down on background distractions. Certainly f/2.8 would work well in this setting too. I think that a shutter speed of 1/500sec is a good minimum, however, 1/640sec to 1/800sec would be a nice goal for your new lens, and 1/1000sec would be ideal for serving and spiking, but that

[mukul_chou]

you may also consider this


EF80-200mm f/2.8L


www.fredmiranda.com/.../945702