All of the above!


By choice the only zooms I own are fixed aperture and the only one I use for sports is the 70-200 2.8L IS which is what the second shot was taken with along with a 1.4TC. The first shot was a 300 2.8 prime. Most venues I take two bodies with two lenses, one is always the 70-200 and the other depending on the venue is either the 300 2.8 or the 400 2.8 tripod mounted with a gimbal head. Some use two bodies and have the larger rig on a monopod but I cringe when I see them toss a $10K rig to the ground to use the 70-200. Those are the same people you see with the paint missing off the lens and call it battle scars. I also have found that these same people shoot for a company that provides the gear so the damage comes out of someone elses pocket. I have literally seen a PJ form the NY times pick up a 300 2.8 from Canon Jamesburg after repairs, walk out and pop the trunk on the way and toss the lens in the trunk unprotected from 2-3 ft away then slam the trunk. I buy a lot of used glass but never the battle scarred. While the big whites are built like tanks they are still precision instruments. In talking with a lot of repair techs the only ones they have that come in and actually need parts are the ones that have been abused.


There is no need to change on a fixed aperture zoom.


Using a variable aperture lens like a 100-400 gives you a few choices. You can either shoot full Manual and set the aperture to the highest setting at 5.6 or use the auto mode of choice. Me I would use the 5.6 for continuity although my personal tastes is for a bit more narrow DOF. IMO it doesnt yeild consistant results across a shoot when the aperture is constantly changing. Some will say 5.6 is too choked down and limits the light you can shoot in. Well if the light isnt good enough to use the entire range of the zoom in a variable aperture lens its time to get off the wallet for faster fixed aperture. Most of the time I am shooting sports the aperture is a f4, never above. Sometimes indoors or under the lights I am forced to open it up a bit to keep the shutter speed up but only open as much as necessary. F2.8 narrows the DOF considerably and I find too much of the compostion is OOF especially in close tightly framed shots when shooting sports involving more than one athlete in the frame. There are some instances like a "sportrait" where 2.8 yeilds nice results but f4 will as well as long as you have good separation from the background.