Basic Sports Lense

[Photo 5]

Hi:

I am now using a Sony A700 as my body. I have a Tamorn 28 - 300mm lens and the sony kit 18 - 70mm. I can also borrow the sony kit 55 - 200mm as needed (kit lenses meaning the ones that cane with the A200).

I am looking to expand to another lens that would be good for general sports shooting. I am mainly going to be doing baseball and track and field with the occasional football and basketball game thrown in. I did a charity basketball game last year with the 28 - 300 mounted on an A200 and got some decent shots at ISO 1600.

So if I was to get "one" more lens what would you recommend? The thing I noticed about the 28 - 300 is that in low light situations its too dim needs to be lower f/s number in order to get better shots and possibly focus faster.

dave

[JohnG]

Dave - I'm afraid 'one' lens won't cut it. Baseball requires 300-400mm if you're shooting from the field and it's a full size diamond. If you're happy with what the 28-300 gives you then stick with that. Otherwise you'll need something like the 70-300 - which would be good for Baseball and track. But no good for indoor basketball. For that you're looking at 70-200 2.8 and ISO 3200-6400 or 85mm prime and ISO 1600-3200.

[JimC]

I'd probably lean towards the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM II for indoor sports use. I know one Sony A700 user that prefers it for indoor sports (and he also has both the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 and Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lenses). He usually shoots at ISO 4000 with it. He's also using a Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 on a Canon 7D (recently posting some pretty nice basketball photos from it taken at ISO 5000 using a Sigma 50-150mm).

You'll want a different lens for outdoor sports use.

What's your budget?

[Photo 5]

Budget is $500 - $600.

dave

[Photo 5]

Originally Posted by JohnG

Dave - I'm afraid 'one' lens won't cut it. Baseball requires 300-400mm if you're shooting from the field and it's a full size diamond. If you're happy with what the 28-300 gives you then stick with that. Otherwise you'll need something like the 70-300 - which would be good for Baseball and track. But no good for indoor basketball. For that you're looking at 70-200 2.8 and ISO 3200-6400 or 85mm prime and ISO 1600-3200.

Excellent point and info provided. John G your the man! The guy here who has a photo business doing sports photography has a Cannon 5D and uses max length of 300mm on the long end for sports. He tells me you don't need above that unless you in the stands. He suggested a 70 - 300 f 2.8

he's using for his cannon
18 - 55mm
55 - 200mm
70 - 300mm f 2.8
don;t know the f of the other two. He also told me the 18 - 55mm is for portraits and shots when they have the places walk onto the field being recognized for senior night etc.


dave

[JohnG]

Dave - there is no such lens as a 70-300 f2.8 in any system I'm aware of. Certainly not in the Canon system. The only thing close is the Sigma 120-300 f2.8.

[Photo 5]

thanks John thats what he told me this past summer, I guess he doesn't know his own gear.

dave