I'm new to this forum and came hear by way of Steves Forum. The quesion I have is lens related. I plan on shooting my daughters cheer competitions this year and need advice on the best lens for the job. I have a budget of about $950 for a new lens. The ones I have are F 3.5 and up so the lighting is a big issue.
If any of you have experience in this setting could you please help me out with a recommendation?
To what extent are you shooting the event? Are you just looking for a few good shots of your daughter? Or are you covering the event, shooting all day and trying to make a profit? Are you going to have mat-side access, or shooting from the stands? All important questions before any sort of decision can be made.
That being said, $950 is going to let you rent whatever lens you want for at least a couple days, so if you're really looking for great results, I would think about renting a really fast lens (70-200/2.8 for example) and even renting a body with great high ISO performance to go with it.
edit: just reread your post and saw it said competitionSSSS not competition, so renting is probably not a great long-term solution. It's still a great way to try out a couple different lenses before you buy, though, so you can get an idea of what's going to work for you in your specific situation. Even if you rent a canon/nikon 70-200, but can't afford that to buy, you'll still know it's a good reach/speed and could look at third-party brands.
Although Dann is correct this is a gear post, I highly doubt the Canon forum would be as helpful to BigTexx as the Sports Forum with this question. Again I think there should be some gray area here.. Anyhow back to the question.
Many different factors here. What are you looking to capture, your daughter or the entire team? What style competitive cheer does your daughter participate in, All Star, Pop Warner or Highschool? How old is your daughter?
The easy answer is the 70-200/2.8 non IS. However that will not always yield the best results. For example High School and Pop Warner cheer often are in dark gyms. On the plus side these dark gyms often are small giving you much better access then large civic centers. So if I knew my daughter was participating in mostly HS gyms I might opt for a 135/2 which will double my light and help with distracting backgrounds. However if my daughter was performing in All-Star competitions with stage lighting I would opt for the 70-200/2.8 as I would need the longer reach and light would be less of an issue.
Guys: sorry for the confusion and posting in the wrong place. I am new to this forum and will learn as i go along.
To answer a couple of the questions: I have a Canon 40D, will be shooting my daughter in her All-Star Competitions, the venues range from high school gyms to large convention centers, the ones I am allowed to take pics in I always have acess to somewhere in the 20-35 foot range of the center of the performance area.
How much of a drop off is there from the Canon 70-200 2.8 and the Sigma version?
Using the, "I want sports photographers opinions so I am posting here" on your gear posts does not float with me.
I don't understand Carls rules of gear posts in the the sports forum either. Radios, strobes and remotes are allowed!?! - I guess because they are venue specific to shooting sports?
Why aren't strobes forced under lighting? Why not remotes forced under gear, etc..
Well, this post is not Canon specific nor Nikon specific. Its about applying the right settings (lens and camera) to a specific sport. One that happens to be in the same realm that one would use radios, strobes and remotes.
I agree with Luke, there should be some expansion of this limitation: if it's a WB issue, lighting issue, etc... about a specific sport, then it should be in the sports forum.
That being said...
BT - Like Luke mentioned, it depends. Some venues let you get right up on the action. Some don't let you get within 60-100ft of the stage.
Some have 150,000 watts of light on the stage, some have half the house lights.
And are you looking for pix of your daughter, or of the group effort?
The faster the lens, the better you'll deal with the light as well as provide background separation. Then, depending on venue and intent, longer lenses will give you tighter shots. Wider lenses will let you get more groups - again, depending on distance - where you'll bump ISO to get more DOF.
For me, as an event shooter, sometimes I can put a camera at the edge of the mat, or like this weekend, we were shooting with a 400mm from 30ft back. It really does depend on the venue, the host, and your intent.
I have had both the Canon and Sigma 70-200 and their was a noticeable difference in color and speed of autofocus. However, with the price difference you are definitely in the Sigma (Tamron) area. If you could find a nice used Sigma, then you could also get the 50mm f1.8. This would be a nice combo for you!
Until my little one went off to cheer @ college, this is all I shot. The 70-200 2.8L has been my mainstay in that type of shooting. If you like primes, the 135L is superb in dark arenas. But a used 70-200 would be my recommendation. Just don't bother with anything slower than f/2.8...you'll be disappointed.
I have had both the Canon and Sigma 70-200 and their was a noticeable difference in color and speed of autofocus. However, with the price difference you are definitely in the Sigma (Tamron) area. If you could find a nice used Sigma, then you could also get the 50mm f1.8. This would be a nice combo for you!
+1
Sounds like you are on a tight budget. Shooting in the dark + a low budget don't generally mix. Ben's solution, however, would give you some focal-length flexibility (from 50mm to 200mm) and the 50 1.8 would be a fall-back solution to the really, really dark venue where 2.8 just isn't fast enough. There was a nice Siggy here yesterday on FM buy-sell that would fit your budget with plenty of room for the 50 1.8. The 135L 2.0 is a fantastic lens, but the variation in venues (and access to the mat) may render this lens less useful than a zoom. The Sigma is a fine lens - not Canon L quality, but not far from it. You can research it right here on this website in the Review section.
Another lower cost lens is the Sigma 50-150 F/2.8 II. I rented one of those to shoot the 2009 Worlds where the spectators were limited to lenses < 5" in length. It did a pretty good job with my 50D. The colors weren't as good as my 70-200L but very useable.
