A Couple of Questions...

[Scotty878]

Hello everybody,

Let me start of by introducing myself. My name is Scott Dolansky and I am from *****oft, New Jersey! I have a Rebel XT and love it! I've only been on here a couple minutes and I can already tell you have a great forum here and that I'm going to learn a lot!

Now on with my questions...

First, I'm looking for a nice zoom lense for my camera. As I stated above I have a Rebel XT. I would like it to be pretty quick as I am into a lot of sports and things, and want to be able to capture them if I'm far away. So I was wondering what lense you would reccomend for me?

Second...I was wondering if you could give me a few tips on night shots, especially action shots at night. I went to the local drag strip last week and was rather dissapointed with the shots. Aside from the stock lense not zooming in as much as I wanted, it seemed I couldnt get a crisp picture. Now I know this is becasue the shutter must stay open longer due to less light at night, but I was just wondering if you could point me in a good direction to start? And I have a tri-pod from my old camcorder around my house somewhere, I just cant seem to find it!

Thanks in advance!

Scott.

[tim]

Welcome Scott :)

For lenses take a look in this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=56752). The Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS is a great great lens, at a price that brings tears to the eyes. The Sigma 70-200 F2.8 is great value and is 99% as good as the Canon, but without IS.

Night action shots are hard, a fast lens is the way to go, and high ISO. The 50mm F1.4 or 85mm F1.2 are great lenses, the 2nd is very expensive, but the 85mm F1.8 is more reasonable.

[robertwgross]

And I have a tri-pod from my old camcorder around my house somewhere, I just cant seem to find it!


Be careful what you wish for, the entire forum membership might converge onto *****oft NJ and help you look for the tripod. We have another forum member that gets that way with tripods.

---Bob Gross---

[Jim_T]

Welcome... First, there is a forum for discussing lenses : http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33

As Tim has mentioned you want a lens with a wide aperture.. The f number tells you this.. For night shooting you'll want an f number of f 2.8 or smaller.. Of course at long focal lengths this translates into lots of $$$$$$$$$$$ :)

What ISO were you using ? If you set the camera to iso 800 or 1600 you should get some decent shots even at higher f numbers.. You can't set the ISO using the 'green square' modes.. You have to switch to the creative modes.. P, Tv, Av....

An finally.. A tripod won't stop blur caused by your subject moving, but it will correct blur from your hands moving :)

[kram]

Welcome Scott.....

What lens do you currently have? And what is the amount you are willing to spend. As long as you have the minimum, this forum will help you (and sometimes force you) to spend any amount of money you are willing to invest :)

Good night action shots is the 'last frontier'.....you can lenses for that too, but you have to decide your priority and needs to decide what lens you want to start with.

Whatever you do, dont remember to ignore the letter L in every post. Oops, if you read that, you are already beyond cure!!

[tim]

Be careful what you wish for, the entire forum membership might converge onto *****oft NJ and help you look for the tripod. We have another forum member that gets that way with tripods.

TREASURE HUNT, I'M IN!

[Maureen Souza]

Be careful what you wish for, the entire forum membership might converge onto *****oft NJ and help you look for the tripod. We have another forum member that gets that way with tripods.

---Bob Gross---

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You're killing me, Bob!

[Maureen Souza]

Welcome Scott! There is much to learn here on the forum but be careful! We'll help you empty your wallet, max out your credit cards and enlist you to help Belmondo find his missing tripods :):)

[Snapman]

Hello Scott and welcome to the forums :)

[Krapo]

Hi Scott and welcome!
I am also quite new to the forum but it is incredible how much I have learned during the last 2 months thanks to all these guys around :)
But be careful: although I was very happy with the stuff I had, I am now considering buying one or two extra L lenses, plus a 1-series...;)

For your case in particular, I would advice the 70-200 f2.8IS, although it is very expensive.

With the 1.6 crop factor of your XT, you will get a 112-320mm.
Depending on what kind of sports you're shooting, it can be the perfect lens, or you could need more reach.

If you like to shoot surfing, for instance, you definitely need more (or much shorter if you go into the water...). Then for more distant subjects I would go for the 100-400. Also very expensive.

Since you shoot various subjects and you don't have many lenses, I would not recommend a prime tele because you will probably want the versatility of a zoom.

Also, it depends a lot on the conditions in which you shoot sport. If it is indoor... well, you better have a big wallet!

To summarise:
Alround lens: 70-200 f2.8 (w or w/o IS) or f4 depending on your budget (both are excellent)
more reach: 100-400L, or primes if you really want to concentrate on 1 sport.

ps: I don't want to sound as if I owned the holy truth, it is just my opinion!

Good luck!

François

[Bob_A]

Hi Scott. Welcome!

As others have mentioned, if you want a fast lens with a bit more reach either the Canon 70-200 f2.8L or the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 should be considered. The Sigma is considerably less expensive than the Canon, and there are other members here that own the lens that can comment on it's quality (reported to be close to the more expensive Canon).

For taking night action shots with your XT I would crank up the ISO to 1600 while using a fast lens (f2.8 or faster). Note that to do this you can't use one of the PIC (basic) modes and should select Man, Av or Tv. I don't do a lot of action shots at night, but if I were in the same situation I would probably try Av mode, ISO 1600, with the lens wide open using an f2.8 zoom.

[sdmaker]

I did not see anyone mention it yet, but panning will help alot to get good crisp shots of the cars at speed. but it does take alot of practice. here are a couple of threads that talk about it.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=58417&highlight=panning

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=70558

[Scotty878]

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for all your replies! I did have the ISO set to 1600, but I'll wait till night time tonight and try out some other suggested setting to see how they work out. It seems that the general consensus is for either of the 70-200MM lenses, and hopefully I can save up a bit of money to get one. I'll start looking at all those other threads you guys posted also, it seems like they should help a lot! One more thing, is there a thread or website anywhere that breaks down all the abbreviations and such? I know in the car world theirs so many of them and its hard to keep track...So if theirs like a dictionary of them for the camera and you could post it, thatd be great!

Thanks again.
Scott.

[Scotty878]

One more thing, is there a thread or website anywhere that breaks down all the abbreviations and such? I know in the car world theirs so many of them and its hard to keep track...So if theirs like a dictionary of them for the camera and you could post it, thatd be great!

Thanks again.
Scott.
Bump for that(above) and any more input/insight on a lens, or any recommended equipment for that matter!

[BTBeilke]

One more thing, is there a thread or website anywhere that breaks down all the abbreviations and such?

There is a pretty complete dictionary of photographic terms and acronyms on this site:

http://photonotes.org/
http://photonotes.org/dictionary/

As for a zoom lens, I don't have much experience taking action shots at night. But, I can tell you that I love my 70-200 f2.8L IS. Note that the IS will not help with motion blur of your subject. You'll need a fast enough shutter speed to eliminate the motion blur.