Indoor sports shooting to outdoor wildlife .suggestions on lenses and body

[jmp2204]

Hello ,i am a newbie here .I have read threads on here and there seems to be a mountain of information to be had .I will ask for comments /suggestions from anyone has wants to share their knowledge about my specific needs.

The past couple years i've been using and s5is and it has been a great camera for the most part . Where it really falls short is in shooting pictures at the hockey rink .unless i am on the ice and can use the flash the picures are very grainy.Also in my quest for the ultimate clarity and sharpness i feel it's time to step it up. With very little technical knowledge on cameras and lenses (and needing video to replace my rarely used dvd camcorder ) i've narrowed my search to the t2i.Mainly would like to stick with Canon because of familiarity and excellent service i have gotten with them .

the main thing i really want to improve on is the indoor hockey shots. that seems to be the most elusive for my s5is. I do bowhunt and often find myself inside 20-30 yards of wildgame (deer , bears , turkey) and would love to take breathe taking photos of them as well. Of course there is going to be the candid shots of my 4 children playing in the yard and playing soccer and baseball as well as portriat type shots. I am really looking for quality photos .i am on a budget (wifey sez) so i need to start with a camera and starting lenses but will build on my package as i can (trading up lenses ) any advice?

[shoturtle]

You will be investing allot into lenses with your desire for indoor sports. The canon T1i or T2i would be a good body to start out in. But you will need a sports lens. The kit lenses and 2nd tier zooms will not be great for the low light conditions of indoor sports. You will most likely need a 70-200mm 2.8 lens by either sigma or canon as they are fast focusing lenses. Very important if you consider that a player skating at full tilt is going about 25-30mph. So you really need a fast auto focusing lens. canon 1700 dollars, sigma 800 dollars. Canon is the better lens.

But for you outdoor wild life the 70-200mm will be a bit short at 200mm. You may need 300mm or better. The canon ef 70-300mm 4-5.6 IS USM would be a good lens for that. Also this lens will do well for outdoor sports in daylight of the kids play soccer. As it will give you more reach for covering the pitch with the longer range.

There are some good news, the kit lens that comes with the t1i or t2i will do candid shots well. For the indoor stuff. Another inexpensive lens is the ef 50 1.8 MK II. It make indoor low light shots easier, and it does portraits well

But you will be looking at a large investment

[jmp2204]

Originally Posted by shoturtle

You will be investing allot into lenses with your desire for indoor sports. The canon T1i or T2i would be a good body to start out in. But you will need a sports lens. The kit lenses and 2nd tier zooms will not be great for the low light conditions of indoor sports. You will most likely need a 70-200mm 2.8 lens by either sigma or canon as they are fast focusing lenses. Very important if you consider that a player skating at full tilt is going about 25-30mph. So you really need a fast auto focusing lens. canon 1700 dollars, sigma 800 dollars. Canon is the better lens.

But for you outdoor wild life the 70-200mm will be a bit short at 200mm. You may need 300mm or better. The canon ef 70-300mm 4-5.6 IS USM would be a good lens for that. Also this lens will do well for outdoor sports in daylight of the kids play soccer. As it will give you more reach for covering the pitch with the longer range.

There are some good news, the kit lens that comes with the t1i or t2i will do candid shots well. For the indoor stuff. Another inexpensive lens is the ef 50 1.8 MK II. It make indoor low light shots easier, and it does portraits well

But you will be looking at a large investment

Thank you for the response ...Forgive my ignorance but what do the #'s in the bold represent?

[shoturtle]

That refers to the max aperture f number. Sorry I should have type F2.8. The lower the number the wider the aperture. You will need wider for indoor low light shooting. That way you can free action without motion blur. So with the 2 lenses I mention first. At any range the lens can open up for f2.8

The second lens, the max aperture changes as you zoom out. And 70mm you have f4 but at 300mm you only open up to f5.6

The human eye is F1 which is the gold standard. Very high price lenses from canon is a F1.2 on some of the L series primes. You are looking at a 1500 dollar 50mm lens.

[shoturtle]

Also the 2 canon mention have high iso ability of 12800, but at 3200iso it is still very clean, not to noisy. Which will help for indoor low light shooting when match with a bright lens with a low F number of 2.8 or better. And canon has the best AF system in the entry level market. Which is very important for action shooting.

[TCav]

Ok. Just to be clear, you bow hunt bears, and you want to bring along a big, heavy camera?

For indoor sports, I agree with shoturlte for the most part, but I think the first thing you should look at are the Canon 85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2.0 and 135mm f/2.0 lenses. Hockey rinks, by virtue of their white surface, cast more incident light on the subject(s), so you may be able to get away with an f/2.8 lens, but I think you'd be better served by trying the 100mm f/2.0 first. It's not expensive (relatively speaking), it will work, and it will let you know if, in your situation, you can get away with an aperture of f/2.8. If you go with the 70-200/2.8 first, and it doesn't work well, you're stuck with an expensive white elephant.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by shoturtle

The human eye is F1 ...

Not so. The f/number is the ratio of the focal length of a lens to the pupil diameter. A lens with a 100mm focal length and a 50mm pupil diameter would have an f/number of f/2.0 (100mm / 50mm). The maximum f/number of the human eye varies, especially with age, but can be as large as about f/2. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_eye#Dynamic_range )

[shoturtle]

All the lenses that Tcav mention are fix focus lenses, and are what I shot mostly. But as any fix focus lens, you have no zoom ability. That is why I mention the sigma 50-150mm. It is not much more then the 100mm f20 85mm f1.8 on the used market. It will give you the ability to frame your subject better if you can not move in an out quickly.

[jmp2204]

Thanks for the replies ,seems like the smaller the f # the better it will be for lowlight shooting? will it be a detriment for brighter or outdoor shooting ? meaning will it cover both worlds ,but excelling in low light?


does the price go up with lower f #'s

and yes i would carry the equipment bow hunting bears , but i'm more likely to just take the camera only at some points with all game. The funnest part of hunting is getting as close as you can without spooking them

[TCav]

Originally Posted by jmp2204

Thanks for the replies ,seems like the smaller the f # the better it will be for lowlight shooting?

Absoultely. The smaller f/number means larger optical elements which let in more light, which is what you want for fast shutter speeds in low light.

Originally Posted by jmp2204

will it be a detriment for brighter or outdoor shooting ? meaning will it cover both worlds ,but excelling in low light?

No, you can stop down the lens so it will work fine. Too much light is rarely a problem, and even when it is, there are things you can do about it. It's not enough light that's the more frequent problem.

Originally Posted by jmp2204

does the price go up with lower f #'s

Yes. Very quickly. That's why I suggested that you start with the Canon 100mm f/2.0. It will do what you want, it doesn't cost a lot, and with it you can find out if you can get away with something with a smaller aperture but a variable focal length.

You could also buy the camera with the kit lens for general purpose photography, and rent the lenses you're thinking about, just so you can try them out before you buy them. LensRentals.com is a good place to look.