Help me decide on indoor sports lens

Sovern wrote in post #15256835
First off, your body won't do any of these 70-200 lenses justice as it only has one cross af point and the center af point isn't even f2.8 sensitive if I'm correct.....I would not get a 70-200 with that body as my xsi has the same af system as yours and I find only the center af point to be close to 100% accurate every time, the other points are very hit or miss......

I'd suggest an 85 1.8 for indoor sports and eventually saving up and getting either, A. The 135L, or B. A Canon 70-200 F4 IS II.....the f2.8 version is better but considering it's $1,000 more I don't think the very slight increase in speed and bokeh is worth the $1,000 unless you're already a pro and you have the money to blow on it.

Of course I'd suggest getting a body that does that lens or the 135L justice eventually too such as a T4i with all cross af points or a 60D. Also the t4i and 60D both are capable of higher isos with less noise than your current body. From what I've read the 60D/7D can be used up to 6,400 iso and can still be cleaned up nicely and be excellent for large viewing on the internet and decent sized prints.

I am hoping that in 2013 Canon will introduce the 70d (combined 7d and 60d into a new model) Then i will spring for that one
In the meantime I think the t2i serves my needs well!

I have the 55-250 and I find it has pretty good IQ. I also like traveling with it because of the weight. If I were to invest in another zoom it would be mostly for the f2.8.

I like the Sigma 50-150mm 2.8 for indoor sports

So I ended up buying the 100mm f2.0 because I found a good deal on ebay, mint for $320.. so I took the plunge!

I still have not had time to test the focal range properly during sports since my daughter was sick last weekend and I missed all her activities.
But I saw a lot of pictures online from 85-135 and figure it really depends where I will sit.
Also testing at home there is really hardly any difference between 85-100.

Will post some pics once I get out there again!

Lexar wrote in post #15284651
So I ended up buying the 100mm f2.0 because I found a good deal on ebay, mint for $320.. so I took the plunge!

I still have not had time to test the focal range properly during sports since my daughter was sick last weekend and I missed all her activities.
But I saw a lot of pictures online from 85-135 and figure it really depends where I will sit.
Also testing at home there is really hardly any difference between 85-100.

Will post some pics once I get out there again!

Well....a lot of times, it depends how low the lighting is. It isn't all about how fast your lens is. Sometimes, the lighting is so low that even if you have a 50 f1.2 and 1dmark4 you would still produce crappy shots. The correct way is to learn to strobe the subject, your daughter, using your shoe mount flash. Also, for sports, you would find it every difficult to nail the focus when shooting at too wide open. You want more DOF. And your Rebel body would have hard times nailing the focus in low night as well. For fast or faster moving subject, you want at least 1/400s shutter speed. For kids, maybe you can get away with 1/300s. Can you get your shutter speed to 1/300 shooting the lens wide open at max usable ISO? If not, you need to strobe the shot.

I would think strobe and flash is not very appreciated during sports?

Lexar wrote in post #15284749
I would think strobe and flash is not very appreciated during sports?

It's definitely frowned upon, though once when I was shooting a basketball game at my college there was a photographer from some other, local, newspaper with strobes set up along the upper balcony. He did have to run up and adjust a few that weren't working right a couple of times. Definitely requires jumping through some hoops ahead of time, at the very least, and you usually can't do much.

Lexar wrote in post #15284749
I would think strobe and flash is not very appreciated during sports?

Not appreciated? Spend some time in the Sports section. If you are shooting in an indoor arena, you should ask the coach or the AD if you can use flash or strobes. For outdoor shots, you shouldn't have much issues. If you are worried about if the flash would distract the players??? The answer is no unless you walk up to the players and fire your strobe right in their faces. Look at my site....I shoot tons of bike races at 630am in the morning. The only way to get the money shots is to use strobe/flash.

Lexar wrote in post #15284651
So I ended up buying the 100mm f2.0 because I found a good deal on ebay, mint for $320.. so I took the plunge!

I still have not had time to test the focal range properly during sports since my daughter was sick last weekend and I missed all her activities.
But I saw a lot of pictures online from 85-135 and figure it really depends where I will sit.
Also testing at home there is really hardly any difference between 85-100.

Will post some pics once I get out there again!

It's a good choice.

It's got fast USM, light and easier to hand hold, larger aperture to work with and nobody seems to mention a larger aperture lets the AF work better because more light can get in. Whether a max f2.0 lens has an advantage over a max f2.8 lens is something I don't know. However, working at f2, you will have to expect some slightly out of focus shots because the depth of field is smaller (if you are one for zooming in on the eyes on the computer).

The 70-200mm 2.8L is no slouch but I would advise the IS version. There may be situations where you want a shot of a static pose and a lower shutter speed with lower ISO might give you the colors that you want. I have shaky hands so I find IS useful at 1/250th when at 200mm end. Check the amount of light in those places where you will use it first before buying.

Lexar wrote in post #15284651
So I ended up buying the 100mm f2.0 because I found a good deal on ebay, mint for $320.. so I took the plunge!

I still have not had time to test the focal range properly during sports since my daughter was sick last weekend and I missed all her activities.
But I saw a lot of pictures online from 85-135 and figure it really depends where I will sit.
Also testing at home there is really hardly any difference between 85-100.

Will post some pics once I get out there again!

Your 100/2 will serve you well both indoors and our. A $320 you got it at the right price as well!

A little off topic but I thought it didn't warrant another thread and it seems there are some knowledgable people here on sports shooting. I'll be using my 5D3 + 200L shooting indoor soccer this weekend and for those who have this combo, which AF selection points are you using ? I was thinking keeping it simple using single point with surrounding eight points and probably start by leaving it in the middle. I'm sure I'll get better as I fire more shots but it be good if I can hit the ground running .

cdang wrote in post #15290624
A little off topic but I thought it didn't warrant another thread and it seems there are some knowledgable people here on sports shooting. I'll be using my 5D3 + 200L shooting indoor soccer this weekend and for those who have this combo, which AF selection points are you using ? I was thinking keeping it simple using single point with surrounding eight points and probably start by leaving it in the middle. I'm sure I'll get better as I fire more shots but it be good if I can hit the ground running .

I've not had the 5D3 long enough to give a concrete answer, but you should experiment with different expansion and tracking modes, and pay attention to which AF mode you are selecting. The 5D3 makes this a lot easier to pick based on the characteristics of the sport. I'm greatly encouraged with my 5D3 shooting so far that these other modes will be where I live going forward (rather than solely shooting single point). I am going to be trying with all points enabled and letting it track. I tested this with tennis a bit and it worked quite well.

The 100/2.0 is a nice choice. It should let you capture good distance shots as well as nice closeups. For tracking the action, use center-point only, AI Servo, 1/400, and adjust ISO until you get reasonable brightness in camera. You can always add a bit of lighting in PP.

I'll repeat some advice that DC Fan gave me: "for published shots, always have the face, the ball, and the action". I've also found that shooting in burst mode gets me some keepers that I wouldn't have gotten in single click mode.

bubbygator wrote in post #15291142
The 100/2.0 is a nice choice. It should let you capture good distance shots as well as nice closeups. For tracking the action, use center-point only, AI Servo, 1/400, and adjust ISO until you get reasonable brightness in camera. You can always add a bit of lighting in PP.

I'll repeat some advice that DC Fan gave me: "for published shots, always have the face, the ball, and the action". I've also found that shooting in burst mode gets me some keepers that I wouldn't have gotten in single click mode.

Great advice!!
Thanks...

depend on what sports
like NBA basketball, with f2.8. Iso can be kept around 1600. with model dslr, the photo look very nice.

I once watched a tutorial video from kelbytraining.com. It is about shooting high school football at night.
The guy use f2.8 lens and the iso is 5000. He use d700 body. He said the photo still look pretty good.

bubbygator wrote in post #15250270
Instead of the 70-200/2.8, I chose Canon 200/2.8L - ($770 on Amazon) ... it's black, and shorter, lighter, and almost 1/3 the cost of the zoom.

But, some people swear by zoom lens ... do your own hands-on investigation.

I got the Σ70-200 f/2.8 OS HSM $20 cheaper ($750) from a guy on CL. And it has OS!