Crop Lens for ringside MMA

[Herbo]

Note: This is a post copied from the Lens section. It was suggested that I post it here also.

Hi all,

Just a quick post to introduce myself and ask a little question.

I'm just getting into photography seriously and need a little of your advice.
I shoot MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, otherwise known as Ultimate Fighting) from ringside as well as from in the stands. Also, I am getting into stock photography (living in Japan I have the ability to provide some different shots than a lot of people on stock sites) and of course love to take travel photos.

I'm looking one two lenses for ringside photography:
Either the EF-S 17-55 F2.8 or the EF 24-70 2.8 L.

I currently have a 50mm F1.8 Mark I on my 30D for the extremely bad light and will round out my collection in the future with a EF-S 10-22 for landscapes and street scapes and a 70-200mm F2.8 IS for shooting from the stands and travel photography.

Im leaning a little for the 24-70 because its compatible with a full frame camera if I ever want to upgrade and has a little longer range which is useful for shooting across the ring or cage. The IS would be pretty nice but I rarely get blurred shots I find and I have shoot really fast to stop the action anyway.

Thankyou in advance for any insight you can give me. Now I'm going to enjoy some soup. :smile: ANY thoughts or links that you can give me would be great.

What would be ideal for me is to have a fast lens (obviously) that can go from extremely wide to get crowd reactions and a full ring shot after a knockout. Also it is just as important for me to get a nice close crop on a fighters face across the ring or cage if they are bleeding or something like that.

So I think 17 - 100 or so would be ideal. That lens doesn't exist so I think two bodies may be the way to go in the future. I need something now though...

[Linkzi]

hehe...heres a thread for you discussed some earlier.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=313915&highlight=mayweather

[Herbo]

Ha ha, thank you Linkzi.

[Herbo]

Looking at posts from muls (Ed Mulholland who shoots boxing for HBO and MMA) he uses the 24-70 but on a 1.3 cropped body rather than the 1.6 that I'm using.

17-55mm
1.6x = 27.2-88mm
1.3x = 22.1-71.5mm

24-70mm
1.6x = 38.4-112mm
1.3x = 31.2-91mm

As you can see above - the 17-55 is actually much closer to the 24-70mm on my body so I think I will go for this combo. Can anyone see any flaws in my reasoning or offer further insight? Unfortunately it leaves a little hole in my lens range (55-70) if I was going for the "completeness" of a set and its an EF-S lens. Ah well, such is life.

Hopefully Ed sees this thread ;)

[edpoin]

I am not the other Ed but I am another Ed:) The prefered lens of boxing and MMA is the 24-70-2.8L that is a fast lens in low light, the 17-55 will only take you to the max of 55mm.. When the fighters are in the far corner you will wish you had that extra 15mm, I never really hear of anybody useing the 17-55 for low light boxing/MMA, not sure if it will hunt for focus?

The last match I shot a couple weeks ago a photographer was shooting with the 20d and 24-70L his photos make it to a few publications with that combo,
Linda also on this forum uses that combo and does very well with photos.

If you are useing one camera and its a canon the lens you will be happy with should be a 24-70 and if you use a 2nd camera add a 70-200 2.8 don't forget to take filter off when shooting if you use one, you will have so mush lens flare with it on. Note that is if you are shooting with light truss over head, bad light cave won't matter to mush..

Hope this helps you a little,
Eddy

[Herbo]

I am not the other Ed but I am another Ed:) The prefered lens of boxing and MMA is the 24-70-2.8L that is a fast lens in low light, the 17-55 will only take you to the max of 55mm.. When the fighters are in the far corner you will wish you had that extra 15mm, I never really hear of anybody useing the 17-55 for low light boxing/MMA, not sure if it will hunt for focus?

The last match I shot a couple weeks ago a photographer was shooting with the 20d and 24-70L his photos make it to a few publications with that combo,
Linda also on this forum uses that combo and does very well with photos.

If you are useing one camera and its a canon the lens you will be happy with should be a 24-70 and if you use a 2nd camera add a 70-200 2.8 don't forget to take filter off when shooting if you use one, you will have so mush lens flare with it on. Note that is if you are shooting with light truss over head, bad light cave won't matter to mush..

Hope this helps you a little,
Eddy

Thanks for your reply another Ed :) ,
Taking into consideration the crop factor of my camera versus the 1DIIn I thought I would be better off using the 17-55mm as it would basically put me in the same range.

Do you not agree?

[edpoin]

Do you not agree?
Yes I agree with you and your calculations.. This is why you want the 24-70 and not the 17-55, you will need the crop factor more on the 24-70 then the 17-55, the preferred way to shot boxing/MMA is crop tight, crop the action.. Knock downs/knock outs 24mm will work well getting wholes bodys ringside.. I shot with the 20d 24-70 for a little and was very happy with that combo.. The 24-70 is a good all around lens and works very well on the 20d crop,

Looking at your above post. The 24-70 will also give you very nice landscapes and street shots. A good thing would be if you could rent the 17-55 and the 24-70.. I can almost be sure you would keep the 24-70.

If I would recommend a lens for boxing/MMA don't matter if its a 20d or Mark2
or better yet mark III the 24-70 is the lens that get you the action shots you need for that sport.

Eddy

[Herbo]

Excellent! Thank you very much for your help Ed. I really appreciate it.

[edpoin]

Anytime on the help Herbo, make sure you post some of your photos.

[Petepix]

I agree 100% with Eddy. I use a 30D and the 24-70 f/2.8. You get the shot with the 2.8 and then crop it down if need be. It's the only lens that I see (besides the 70-200 f/2.8) ringside for boxing or MMA.