Question by REZNEK: What would be a good lens for my Canon Digital Rebel EOS to take sports pictures that are far away?
My son is in football and I’d like to take some pictures of him on the field, but can’t quite catch him when he is so far away. Is there a specific lens in mind that I can use for my canon digital rebel eos?
Best answer:
Answer by fhotoace
What the pros use is a 400 mm f/2.8 … and this is from the sidelines with optimal lighting. The most affordable Canon lens is the 70-300 mm, but it is slow … f/5.6 at 300 mm. This means if the pro is shooting at 200 ISO, you will have to shoot at 800 ISO to match the shutter speed to catch the action.
Now don’t expect to get great shots if you cannot shoot from the sidelines or end zones. Even with a long lens, the bleachers are too far away to get much.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
There are to my mind as a canon user, 2 stand out options without going a bit silly with the cash, there is a third cheaper but comprised option too, let me explain:
Option 1: The Canon 70-300 IS f4-5.6
This lens will give you an equivalent reach of nearly 500mm, gets in very close..
It is a little bit slow at f5.6, but as this is only at the extreme of the zoom you may be okay, for fast moving subjects you may want to give your subject a little more space.
The IS will also help you out as you won;t need a tripod or monopod.
You may need to either up the ISO speed or reduce the shutter speed depending on the light, but most digital EOS cameras perform very well up to ISO 400.
If you shoot in RAW mode you can also dial in a stop under in exposure compensation. You call pull the underexposure back in the raw software without any discernable loss of quality and it keeps the shutter speed high.
However having a slower shutter speed (you can hand hold this lens at 1/30th at 300mm with the right technique) might actually help the sense of pace and movement so long as you are parallell to the direction of movement and pan with camera so your son is always centre frame.
Do not buy any other version of this lens, the 75-300 mk3, mk4, IS or otherwise doesn’t perform well on digital SLRs. You may think you’ll be saving some money but you’ll hate your images.
Option 2. The Canon 70-200 F4L.
A touch more expensive but a very robust lens. The size of the length doesn’t increase as you zoom, and the front element does not rotate, ideal if you are shooting outdoors on a sunny day and want to use a polariser filter.
The reach isn’t quite as nice, but the lens is a stop faster at full reach than the 70-300. If it matters you will look more like a pro.
You will get an equivalent zoom of around 320mm, which is still loads for this application. No Image Stabiliser unless you spend a bit more money, so a monopod would be a good idea with this lens.
3rd Option: The EFs 55-250 IS.
Gets a good rep for the money, same considerations as the 70-300 in term so of build, extension and front element rotating, but a good bit cheaper.
This will only fit models like the 30D, 40D, 50D, 400D 300D 450D Rebel XT XTi XSi etc. It will not fit the EOS 5D or EOS 1 series. The others will.
70-200mm 2.8 L lens.
Sports photography does require fast lenses. Fast lenses however, are notably expensive (called ‘prime’ lenses). Since you are thinking only of shooting images of your Son playing and not planning on making a career change to meet your goal, you should consider a zoom lens with a minimum of f/3.5 to f/4.5 as it’s range between 200-300mm. There really isn’t much need to go beyond 300mm if you are able to move up and down the field along the sidelines.
Still, a decent Digital Zoom will run nearly $ 1500 but I do know that you can get a pretty decent Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM Telephoto Zoom Lens from B&H Photo for under $ 300.