Indoor sports and low light lens

[SHKJ]

Hi All,

i am looking for a lens to be used strictly indoors under "low" light conditions for sports (hockey,ice skating,gymanstics,basketball,etc)I also somtimes attend school plays and recitals.

The 135 F2L is really out of my price range, also will a 135 MM lens on the 20D be to long making it 216MM for these applications ???

Would be better off with either the 100 f2 or the 100 f2.8 macro which lens is better for sports and is sharper ???

I do own the 70-200 f4L and it is kinda hard to use under these conditions

Can any one show me samples from either lens ???

Thanks in advance......shkj

[DavidEB]

Focal length need depends on which sport (size of arena), and also where you sit. For instance, if you shoot basketball from the floor near the hoop, a 50mm lens is perfect, but from 5th row of bleachers, you're better off with a longer focal length.

If you want to shoot players in different parts of arena, a zoom is key. For instance, if you're shooting hockey sitting in your teams' penalty box, you want about 70mm (on a 1.6x crop body) for players near the deffensive blue line, shorter at the red line, and close to 300mm for players deep in the offensize zone. I use a 70-200 f2.8.

For figure skating and gymnastics you have better control over your distance to the subject.

[EricKonieczny]

Here is an entire gallery of shots with the 70-200 2.8 IS. i know it is not one of the mentioned lenses above, but it is close to your 70-200f4.

The lighting was horrible, custom WB, and got these shots out of about 250 shots.

http://www.ekreating.com/gallery/list.php?exhibition=43

[grego]

70-200 mm f/2.8 sigma. 700-800 US dollars

50 1/4 for basketball is good if you are on the baseline. Not sure about the other.

[tucked]

I've had some good luck with the 85mm f/1.8. great lens! Have used it successfully for dance & volleyball.