Need Good Sports Lens

[shirschfeld]

Hello everyone! I found this great site and I'm new around here! I'm wanting to take sports pictures of football games and soccer games and resale the photos to parents online.

I need to find a lens that will let me zoom in to the action and take great pictures in low light. I have a Canon 5D.

I'd like to take them and do something different with them in Photoshop to make them more marketable. All thoughts would be helpful!

P.S. This is a great website!!!!!

[asylumxl]

Canon 70-200 f2.8 if you have the cash, Sigma 70-200 f2.8 if you don't :).

[liza]

Sigma 120-300 (and a monopod). And you may find the lower fps on the 5D a bit limiting if you're doing action sequences. If you work on your timing, you should be all right. As for selling them online, I've not had much success doing this. Price your 4x6's high, because that seems to be what they buy most.

[carpenter]

X2 on the 70-200 2.8

As for marketing. poster style photoshops always seem to be a hit with the parents. You can make them into sports cards. Also mpix has a thing to make event tickets with the photo as well. A couple different things that I have found parents really like.

http://cryo-laboratory.com/upload/userfiles/carpenter/poster.jpg

[LightRules]

Sigma 120-300 (and a monopod)


+1...ad infinitum.

[shirschfeld]

Awesome!

Hey Carpenter...How do you sell your photos and what sizes? I was thinking of using an online service like Smugmug...any suggestions?

[twoshadows]

Hello everyone! I found this great site and I'm new around here! I'm wanting to take sports pictures of football games and soccer games and resale the photos to parents online.

I need to find a lens that will let me zoom in to the action and take great pictures in low light. I have a Canon 5D.

I'd like to take them and do something different with them in Photoshop to make them more marketable. All thoughts would be helpful!

P.S. This is a great website!!!!!

Scott,

Hi. A few points about shooting sports and selling to parents:

1) If it's high school sports, you'll need permission from the AD at the schools you plan to shoot at. A well thought out, well written proposal with a cover letter is a good way to go. Keep in mind that these are minors you are putting up on the web.

2) Parents are fickle buyers and you'll have to promote the heck out of yourself. Have lots of business cards that have your website, phone #, and email address on it handy. Even with all of this, don't expect to make a lot of money.

3) You'll need lenses: For field sports both day and night, the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 with and without the 1.4 x TC. For basket ball, volleyball, wrestling, etc., the 85mm f.1.8 or the 100mm f/2. The 70-200 non IS (Canon or Sigma) is also excellent for sports, although I find it not to be necessary if you have the Sigma 120-300.

4) The 5D is barely adequate for sports. Between the shutter lag and slow frame rate, you'll really be working HARD for the few good shots you'll get. Also, the FF will mean you'll have to buy longer, much more expensive glass to compensate for the shorter AOV (angle of view). The 40D will take you much further, and, if you're really serious, a used 1DmkIIn is the way to go.

HTH,

Ian

[shirschfeld]

So I got the Canon 70-200 USM! Wow! what a lens! Thanks guys!

[vic6string]

I would strongly suggest talking to a lawyer who has dealt with this type of stuff as taking unsolicited shots of minors is something that can get you in trouble if the wrong parents don't like the idea. Posting pictures of a kid on the web without parental consent could be a real problem. And if you go the route of making the pictures only available to the parents (or upon parental consent) you need to make sure that a trained IT professional sets up your site. If your pics get hijacked due to bad server security, and make their way to a MySpace page or something where it shouldn't be, it may be your responsibility. The idea doesn't sound bad, but there are alot of issues to be aware of to CYA.

[eigga]

I would strongly suggest talking to a lawyer who has dealt with this type of stuff as taking unsolicited shots of minors is something that can get you in trouble if the wrong parents don't like the idea. Posting pictures of a kid on the web without parental consent could be a real problem. And if you go the route of making the pictures only available to the parents (or upon parental consent) you need to make sure that a trained IT professional sets up your site. If your pics get hijacked due to bad server security, and make their way to a MySpace page or something where it shouldn't be, it may be your responsibility. The idea doesn't sound bad, but there are alot of issues to be aware of to CYA.

I see this kind of advise posted a lot but has anyone ever been sued? I have had a parent ask to take their child off the site but have found as long as you honor the request there is not an issue. Keep all images of kids password protected and I think you are fine.

[vic6string]

I am not a photographer professionally, but I did spend 15 years in the information technology business, and stuff like this is beginning to become a big deal. You have bad server security, some pics get taken by a high school kid, they get posted on a MySpace hate page (pages made specifically to taunt/humiliate).... and this is a very litigous society we live in now. You don't want to be the feature story in Popular Photography because you were the one that got sued and lost.

[Kcussbuc]

I see this kind of advise posted a lot but has anyone ever been sued? I have had a parent ask to take their child off the site but have found as long as you honor the request there is not an issue. Keep all images of kids password protected and I think you are fine.

Great point. It is my understanding that photographing people "in plain view" in public is not a problem.

I found the linked list of photographer's rights from an Oregon attorney. Your state laws may vary.

http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

[TDCat]

Moving back to the lens requirements if I may rather than the legal aspects.

Is 200mm really enough?

I would love a 70-200mm because of it's awesome speed (for a zoom) but I just can't establish if 200mm would leave me needing more reach at a sports game or dance performance. Does it give the reach required at these types of events?

[QF-347]

for outdoor sports on a 30D im finding 200 a lil short.. for indoor.. its perfect :)

camo

[packpe89]

For outdoor, I think you will want more reach. I have a 300F4L and Sigma 50-500. I am trying to decide which is my favorite for sports. They are very different lens, each with it's advantages over the other.

I shot alot of baseball this summer and being able to get close-ups of the batter or pitcher with the 50-500 was great (and profitable). Just got the 300, so I'll have to see which I end up using more.