All Car photographers Chime in please

[IanBMW]

I am at a cross roads, so here is the situation. I plan on shooting AutoX locally. It is always in broad daylight and I can get pretty close to cars. My choices are:
70-200L f/2.8is $1700
70-200L f/2.8 $1,060
70-200L f/4 $580

It comes down to this, I wont be able to upgrade my camera body for atleast another 6months, and if I buy the first option prolly a year. I dont think I can take advantage of the 2.8 really just yet. And even tho the IS would be nice for my handheld shots I guess, the fact that the f/4 is ALOT lighter to me would negate this. I dont really care about weather sealing. My biggest concern is buying the f/4 only to need the f/2.8is a year down the road and eating the difference plus massive depreciation. What do ya'll think....can I hack it with f/4 or buckle down for f/2.8(is)?

[Cadwell]

If you're only shooting outdoors in daylight then the 70-200mm f/4L will be fine. The only place I find it struggles is for indoor sport. f/4 isn't that slow and it's one of the few lenses I am comfortable with shooting wide open.

As far as depreciation goes, I believe the lens holds it's value pretty well...

IS is great but doesn't help much when you are shooting moving targets as you will want to maintain a reasonably high shutter speed. My normal speed for race car photography is 1/320th (slower for pans) at which point IS is largely irrelevant on a 200mm lens.

[Andy_T]

Hmmm.

Do you also consider the 100-400 IS?

You mentioned that you can get close to the cars, but I don't think that there is something like 'too close' for sports pics :lol:#

But maybe you'd like to hear that there will not be a massive amount of depreciation on a 70-200 Canon L lens...

Best regards,
Andy

[Incomplete Pete]

IS is great but doesn't help much when you are shooting moving targets as you will want to maintain a reasonably high shutter speed. My normal speed for race car photography is 1/320th (slower for pans) at which point IS is largely irrelevant on a 200mm lens.

I disagree, if you set the IS to panning mode it can really steady up the camera when panning quickly.

[IanBMW]

The 100-400L is out for the moment, just because honestly when I say I can get close, I use my 100mm 2.8 Macro and sometimes have to step back a couple of yards. So I really want a smaller zoom.