Dark Areas, Moving Dogs and Close Quarters!

[DMoon]

Hello, I'm a newbie overall, and I've been reading the forum but have never posted.

I do a lot of action shots with dogs in dog show and in such events as agility and weight pull. Most of this is done inside in bad lighting. For Christmas I was given a flash which has helped tremendously with the darkness of the photos, but the biggest issue I'm having now is my lenses. I have a Canon XTi with the factory 18-55mm and a 75-300mm lens. I've noticed that when I use the 18-55mm subjects are further away and if I crop, because of the harsh lighting I get tons of noise in the photos. With the 75-300mm I'm just too close to the subject and in the 20seconds I have to take the photos, I can only use 10seconds before the dogs are too close and out of frame.

I'm looking into buying a Canon 28-128mm or a Tamron 28-300mm, but I'm not sure what to really get. Any suggestions? What should I be looking for?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4747499313_4b4aca869b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4748136898_341e8b778f.jpg

Thank you in advance for your time!

[Meanderthal]

Welcome to the joys of posting. Nice shots, thank you. There's some weight pulling in our neighborhood, and my wife has agility equipment in the back yard, so I understand your objectives. You may, however, get more responses at the Canon Lens forum. Some will recommend Canon 50mm f/1.8 if on low budget. Maybe Canon 85mm f/1.8, a fine lens for a bit more $$$, if the focal length suits you. The latter you can study by spending a day with one of your lenses at 50mm, and then another day at 85mm.

Questions: What is your budget? Are you willing to get two lenses (agility and weight pull are quite dissimilar). Are you interested in fixed focal length lenses to get good light-gathering at a reasonable price? Which flash do you have (at ISO 400 or 800 it might reach the weight pull dogs)? Do you do post-processing, in which case Topaz Denoise or such software would be helpful? Etc. etc. etc., the more we know, the better our suggestions.

Before spending money, do consider your technique. Are you making the most of your current gear, e.g. are you in Tv mode and set ISO to get appropriate depth of field?

Good luck.

[teena22]

I suggest you go with Tamron 28-300mm because it is wide and it would be a good lens on taking pictures at the dog show.

[stsva]

From your original post it sounds like you're looking for something between about 55mm and 75mm in focal length, so how about an EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro (even though it's macro you can take regular shots with it). You can get one for about $370 refurbished or $395 new at www.adorama.com. If you want to stick with a zoom, you'll need to cover that 55-75 gap you now have, so maybe an EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 IS for about $230, or the EF 28-135 (I think maybe that's the one you meant in your post) f/3.5-5.6 IS for about $290 refurbished (also, there are a lot of these available used, so you could probably pick one up for around $250 or maybe a little less on Ebay). If you want a better quality zoom, you might look at the EF-S 15-85 f/3.5-5.6 IS for about $720. You can find samples for all of these lenses here http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=107

[DMoon]

Thanks for the informations, I'll cross post in the lenses area.

My budget is around $400 to $500, of course less is better. It cost a bit for Agility and Weight pulling as you may know.

I'm still very much learning, I've found that my best photos I've taken come out of the automatic mode, which I know I'm missing a lot by using that. I have a few books coming in soon that should help me understand my camera and everything better. I just know that while what I have is nice, I can do better and I want the best bang for my buck that I can grow into.

I'll wonder on over to the lens forum :) Thank you!

[cdpits]

Hey DMoon, I'd recognise Ryker anywhere :)

[DMoon]

Lol, hey CD, wasn't expecting to run into someone I'd "know" around here. Your correct that's Ryker. I love taking photos of that boy. Very much an amusing dog to watch pull. Hearing his owner and him talk on the track is funny as heck.

I ended up finding a deal on a sigma lens 18-200mm and I've loved the results I've gotten thus far.

[Lego&Jacub]

Wow... those are amazingly clear photos!!! And I have to say that I didn't even know there was such a thing as "pulling" for dogs... learn something new every day!!

Sandra

[Gatorboy]

Get some good L-glass. The 70-200 f/2.8L is a good start.