Question by jennsinlubbock: What lenses should I buy with a Canon EOS 30D for Indoor Arena Sporting Events with Florescent Lighting?
I’m wanting to capture sporting events such as Equestrian events. The arena is a huge indoor area with florescent lights. This seems to goof up my photos. Any suggestions? If you know the correct settings and lens type that would be great! I already have a 70-300 it just doesn’t do the trick.
Thank you!
The photos were blurry. I can take the same type of photos for fast sporting event photos outside and they are perfect.

Best answer:

Answer by Eclipse
How exactly are your photos “goofed” up? If it’s a matter of the colors being off, this is a very common issue and is usually fixed by adjusting the camera’s white balance to compensate for the light source. You can try the flourescent white balance preset to see if this gives you better colors but you might have to just shoot a grey card under the lights in the stadium you are shooting to get a custom white balance.

Assuming this isn’t an issue of color, the only other thing that might be is an issue of speed. Since you didn’t indicate a problem with blurry photos, this is a shot in the dark. But if blurry photos are the problem, your lens is part of your limitation. Depending on how much light is available, you may have to boost your ISO all the way up to 1600 or 3200 (H). You’ll loose a lot of detail at such high settings but it may be the only way to get the shot. Beyond that, the only thing I can suggest is a “faster” lens. If you’ve got the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens, that’s a great lens for what it is but it’s a slow aperture. You may need something like the 70-200mm f2.8L USM but, big f/2.8 zooms like that cost over $ 1200. A cheaper, sharper and faster alternative will be a fixed-focal length or “prime” lens like the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. There are also longer lenses but the downside of primes is they lack the versatility of a zoom and 85mm may be too short for your application. Rather than suggesting you go out and buy a bunch of expensive glass, considering contacting your local pro photography shop and renting the lenses I’ve mentioned above for your next event. If you can’t find a place locally, there are several around the web that also rent lenses and will ship them to you.

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