I am interested to hear from those who have used the 50L on a 1d3 or other aps-h body for indoor sports action. My home gym for basketball is pretty dark and has me shooting at 3,200 f/2 (trying to stay about 1/400). Sitting on the baseline and shooting in portrait I can get a nice full body shot and part of the net/rim, which will be the primary purpose of this lens. I'm currently using the 50 1.4 and, while it is OK, I think the images could be sharper and perhaps have more contrast to them. I'm wondering if the 50L will offer any improvement(s)?
The lens will secondarily function as a general purpose lens, probably shot below f/2.8 95% of the time.
I can't remember if I ever shot basketball with my 1D3 and the 50 1.2, but I do it a lot with the 1D4 and 50 1.2. It is fantastic. I find that f1.4 or f1.6 works, as a balance between wanting as much light as possible and not wanting way too shallow a depth of field. I'm typically shooting in very poor lighting, right at the edge of the court, shooting young kids.
I owned the 50 1.4, and perhaps it was just my copy, but the autofocus was unreliable for moving action. My keeper rate with the 50 1.2 is MUCH higher.
I haven't used it, but I've heard that it functions well from an autofocus speed perspective. I'd worry about trying to shoot action sports faster than f/2 though. Even at f/2, you are going to struggle to get the whole subject in focus. It should be capable, and better than the 50 1.4, but wasn't clear if you were trying to just get a sharper/quicker outcome at the same f/stop, or if you were trying to do more. My 1D3 did a great job at 3200 f/2.
lite25e wrote:
I can't remember if I ever shot basketball with my 1D3 and the 50 1.2, but I do it a lot with the 1D4 and 50 1.2. It is fantastic. I find that f1.4 or f1.6 works, as a balance between wanting as much light as possible and not wanting way too shallow a depth of field. I'm typically shooting in very poor lighting, right at the edge of the court, shooting young kids.
I owned the 50 1.4, and perhaps it was just my copy, but the autofocus was unreliable for moving action. My keeper rate with the 50 1.2 is MUCH higher....Show more →
Took your advice and bought a 50L. Shot a game tonight and I am very impressed with the results. I'm getting way more keepers, but the color and contrast at f/2 are even more impressive. It seems considerably better than I was getting with my old 50 f/1.4.
