Can you recomend a good lens for capturing high-speed action in a gym? I have a film Canon Elan. I'd like pictures of high enough quality to hang on my wall, but I don't want to break the bank. It seems that lenses are either several thousands of dollars, or cheap junk. I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for so any suggestion is welcome. I'm thinking, it would be ~f2.8 and >50mm. I don't know what a good length would be. The action will probably be about 30 - 50 feet from me, and I want the competitors to fill the frame. It needs to have an aperature large enough to compensate for gymnasium lighting.
Is there a good lens under $400 (better under $350) that will fit my Elan and produce great sports pictures?
Do I just need to be a better photographer???
Answer
The Elan 7E is a decent Canon EOS film SLR capable of handling any of the Canon EF lenses, but not the EF-s lenses made for "crop" dSLR cameras. For indoor sports photography, you're going to need fast film (ISO1600 at least) and fast lenses to get the required shutter speeds.
(A quick aside about shutter speeds: For capturing "action" shots where the subject will fill a reasonable amount of frame, you're going to need at least 1/500th of a second or faster shutter speed. If you have to do 1/400th, you'll see some motion blur, but that might be acceptable to you. Even at 1/500th, you'll relatively freeze the players, but any ball may show motion blur.)
For indoor sports (I'm assuming basketball, volleyball, maybe wrestling), you're going to want a fast focus and wide open (f/2.8 or better, with f/2 preferred) aperture. This means mostly prime lenses, except for expensive zooms.
A bunch of choices, in increasing focal length:
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (AKA "thrifty fifty") is a lightweight, inexpensive ($80!) lens that can really help out if you have a low budget. I own this lens, and it's nice to carry in a jacket pocket "just in case." However, it has a standard autofocus motor, so it's not all that fast of focus, but good enough for slow-paced action like free-throws or a volleyball serve. It's a bit short, but doable in a pinch. It's an all-plastic body and feels flimsy, so don't give it too hard of a time. Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (AKA "nifty fifty") is a great lens with fast ultrasonic motor (USM) focusing and an all-metal body. Heavier than the f/1.8 above, it still suffers from a short focal length. You can get this for around $300 usually. Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM is a pro-series "L" lens that you'd think would be great for indoor sports... except that it's not all that fast of a focus and not made for sports. For over $1000, I'm including it just for completion. Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM is a fantastic lens with fast USM focusing, a decent focal length (perfect for portraits, btw), with a nice, fast aperture. I know several professional photographers that shoot basketball (HS, college, and some NBA) with this lens on their main camera (HS, college) or backup (NBA). I own this lens, and it's on my camera 70% of the time for indoor soccer. It is, however, a bit too short for my soccer fields, and a longer lens is planned. You can get this for around $350 usually. Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM is another pro-series "L" that sounds great, but WAAAAY too slow to focus. At over $1200, you'd think it'd be good for sports, but alas, it's not. Canon EF 100mm f/2.0 USM is a fantastic lens, but is often either too short or too long. At $460, it's close to your budget, and may work out.
Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L USM is a pro-series "L" lens that is reputed to be one of the best lenses ever made by Canon. For $900, it doesn't meet your budgetary requirements, but I would be amiss not mentioning this. If you want one of the best indoor sports lenses, this is on the short list. Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM is another pro-series "L" but more reasonable and a staple of indoor sports shooters. New, this lens is around $650, but attainable used for around $500. At f/2.8, it's a bit slower than the previous lenses, but doable. If you really like the 200mm focal length and really really REALLY want a faster lens, you can always attempt to find the... Canon EF 200mm f/1.8 L USM lens, which has been out of production for years, and used lenses go for over $2500 last I checked. The price is simply supply and demand. There is a heavy demand (professional NBA photographers, gymnastics photographers, etc.) and not much supply. This is a dream lens for me, but I can't rationalize the purchase at this time. Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM is a zoom lens that is reported to be one of the optically best zoom lenses in the history of Canon. At $1100, it's a bit out of range, but well worth looking at. If you have $600 more available, look at the IS version with Image Stabilization. Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO HSM is Sigma's entry similar to the Canon zoom above. At $900, it's $200 cheaper and still a very nice lens. The images tend to run a bit cool, though, so you may need your lab to provide some slight color correction.
I recommend using your current zoom to figure out at what focal length you're more likely to need by just framing the shot and taking a note as to the focal length. I'm sure you'll see that you're often close to one of the prime lenses listed above.
I hope that's a good list for beginning. If you want to talk lenses more, drop me a private message.
As for buying lenses, take a look here (Amazon) which really is a portal for www.adorama.com, which is a very reputable camera store. Also, check out www.bhphotovideo.com which is another top-notch store with often the lowest prices around.
Telephoto lens for indoor sporting events...?
cerbberi
Can you recomend a good lens for capturing high-speed action in a gym? I have a film Canon Elan. I'd like pictures of high enough quality to hang on my wall, but I don't want to break the bank. It seems that lenses are either several thousands of dollars, or cheap junk. I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for so any suggestion is welcome. I'm thinking, it would be ~f2.8 and >50mm. I don't know what a good length would be. The action will probably be about 30 - 50 feet from me, and I want the competitors to fill the frame. It needs to have an aperature large enough to compensate for gymnasium lighting.
Is there a good lens under $400 (better under $350) that will fit my Elan and produce great sports pictures?
Do I just need to be a better photographer???
Answer
The Elan 7E is a decent Canon EOS film SLR capable of handling any of the Canon EF lenses, but not the EF-s lenses made for "crop" dSLR cameras. For indoor sports photography, you're going to need fast film (ISO1600 at least) and fast lenses to get the required shutter speeds.
(A quick aside about shutter speeds: For capturing "action" shots where the subject will fill a reasonable amount of frame, you're going to need at least 1/500th of a second or faster shutter speed. If you have to do 1/400th, you'll see some motion blur, but that might be acceptable to you. Even at 1/500th, you'll relatively freeze the players, but any ball may show motion blur.)
For indoor sports (I'm assuming basketball, volleyball, maybe wrestling), you're going to want a fast focus and wide open (f/2.8 or better, with f/2 preferred) aperture. This means mostly prime lenses, except for expensive zooms.
A bunch of choices, in increasing focal length:
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (AKA "thrifty fifty") is a lightweight, inexpensive ($80!) lens that can really help out if you have a low budget. I own this lens, and it's nice to carry in a jacket pocket "just in case." However, it has a standard autofocus motor, so it's not all that fast of focus, but good enough for slow-paced action like free-throws or a volleyball serve. It's a bit short, but doable in a pinch. It's an all-plastic body and feels flimsy, so don't give it too hard of a time. Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (AKA "nifty fifty") is a great lens with fast ultrasonic motor (USM) focusing and an all-metal body. Heavier than the f/1.8 above, it still suffers from a short focal length. You can get this for around $300 usually. Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM is a pro-series "L" lens that you'd think would be great for indoor sports... except that it's not all that fast of a focus and not made for sports. For over $1000, I'm including it just for completion. Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM is a fantastic lens with fast USM focusing, a decent focal length (perfect for portraits, btw), with a nice, fast aperture. I know several professional photographers that shoot basketball (HS, college, and some NBA) with this lens on their main camera (HS, college) or backup (NBA). I own this lens, and it's on my camera 70% of the time for indoor soccer. It is, however, a bit too short for my soccer fields, and a longer lens is planned. You can get this for around $350 usually. Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM is another pro-series "L" that sounds great, but WAAAAY too slow to focus. At over $1200, you'd think it'd be good for sports, but alas, it's not. Canon EF 100mm f/2.0 USM is a fantastic lens, but is often either too short or too long. At $460, it's close to your budget, and may work out.
Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L USM is a pro-series "L" lens that is reputed to be one of the best lenses ever made by Canon. For $900, it doesn't meet your budgetary requirements, but I would be amiss not mentioning this. If you want one of the best indoor sports lenses, this is on the short list. Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM is another pro-series "L" but more reasonable and a staple of indoor sports shooters. New, this lens is around $650, but attainable used for around $500. At f/2.8, it's a bit slower than the previous lenses, but doable. If you really like the 200mm focal length and really really REALLY want a faster lens, you can always attempt to find the... Canon EF 200mm f/1.8 L USM lens, which has been out of production for years, and used lenses go for over $2500 last I checked. The price is simply supply and demand. There is a heavy demand (professional NBA photographers, gymnastics photographers, etc.) and not much supply. This is a dream lens for me, but I can't rationalize the purchase at this time. Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM is a zoom lens that is reported to be one of the optically best zoom lenses in the history of Canon. At $1100, it's a bit out of range, but well worth looking at. If you have $600 more available, look at the IS version with Image Stabilization. Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO HSM is Sigma's entry similar to the Canon zoom above. At $900, it's $200 cheaper and still a very nice lens. The images tend to run a bit cool, though, so you may need your lab to provide some slight color correction.
I recommend using your current zoom to figure out at what focal length you're more likely to need by just framing the shot and taking a note as to the focal length. I'm sure you'll see that you're often close to one of the prime lenses listed above.
I hope that's a good list for beginning. If you want to talk lenses more, drop me a private message.
As for buying lenses, take a look here (Amazon) which really is a portal for www.adorama.com, which is a very reputable camera store. Also, check out www.bhphotovideo.com which is another top-notch store with often the lowest prices around.
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