So I am very new to photography and have been looking for any suggestions on what lenses to look into shooting College football. I have the Nikon 300 f4 that works great for the first half of the game but i am too new to figure out the settings for when it gets darker out. as the game progresses it becomes much harder for me to figure out all the settings that i need to dial in with the f4. I rented a 300 f2.8 which was great and i am looking for any suggestions on what lens to rent next, or if i should just stick with the f2.8. thank you very much for any insight. BTW the body is just the d200.
The body "just" a d200? That is a fine, capable camera.
It is important that you either read a basic photogrpahy book, or get into a class that covers the exposure variables. You'll feel sooo much more comfortable in your shoots. If you never shoot in difficult situations, the basic exposure stuff can be postponed for quite a while - but seeing as how you're already in tricky situations, I would not postpone that step.
To reiterate the post by gkopp1999, neither do I want to undermine your skill, but there are three variables to the exposure question - all with benefits and tradeoffs.
Additional lens speed is always nice - but finite - I doubt you'll find anything faster than a 300 f/2.8 - so when you need more light, and a 300 f/2.0 or f/1.4 just isn't made, you'll eventually be right back here. The basic tradeoffs are:
Faster lenses cost way more, and are heavy.
Slower shutter speeds mean greater throw-away rate due to camera shake - or require vibration reduction lenses - again more dollars.
Higher ISO generally means more noise.
Each can be managed. For example, If you're shooting at ISO 200, then moving to ISO 400 will get you faster shutter speed with little noise penalty. A whole lot cheaper than a 300 f/2.8 lens...
Consider too, that a tripod or monopod can let you shoot with a much slower shutter speed than you could ever hand hold. Also a whole lot cheaper than a 300 f/2.8 lens...
The other option is it set the camera in AV mode, open the lens all the way, and choose auto ISO as well (I think the d200 does that...) - that should get the most out of your lens and choose the best combination od shutter speed and noise to get the shot.
You can look at the EXIF data afterwards to see just what the camera was doing, and try to relate that to the situation.
