Telephoto for outdoor dog sports

Hi all,

I am thinking about purchasing a telephoto lens for the purpose of photographing (or having my boyfriend photograph) my golden in hunt/field training and tests. I'm wondering if there is anyone on this forum that photographs at hunt tests because I have a question regarding how much reach I will need. I would love the constant aperture of the 70-200 f/4L but can anyone tell me if I will need the extra reach of the 70-300L? Thanks in advance.

What camera do you have?

I love the 70-300L for dog agility. On full frame, 70-200 is too short. The extra 100mm makes a pretty big difference on getting to those obstacles that are on the other side away from you. I also have a crop sensor camera, which makes the lens even better reach wise for the big courses.

AF is wicked fast and its tack sharp wide open even at 300mm.

I have the 60D. Do you shoot agility indoors with the 70-300L as well? I also do obedience and would love it if I can use the 70-300L indoors. Obedience is obviously not as fast as agility so perhaps it will do just fine.

vhuynh2 wrote in post #16015106
I have the 60D. Do you shoot agility indoors with the 70-300L as well? I also do obedience and would love it if I can use the 70-300L indoors. Obedience is obviously not as fast as agility so perhaps it will do just fine.

Depends on the lighting of the venue - and that is with the higher ISO ability of my 5D3. I have not had that many opportunities to shoot indoor sporting events yet, I'm almost always shooting outdoors in some fashion. It's certainly my go-to lens for that.

Retriever trials and hunt tests will definitely stretch your equipment. I have trained a couple of labs and worked at hunt testing and tried photographing some of it. First, since these tests rarely allow anyone in the running area, it means your boyfriend will be located fairly close to the line and the dog will be running dead away from him for 50 or more yards. In hunt testing, with the long retrieve being 100 yards, a 400mm will still be a bit short for getting tight shots of the pick up. On the reverse, when you are on the line, your BF will probably be pushed into a standard or wide angle focal length approach if you want over all shots of you marking the dog. BUT, on entry, he may need to quickly hit about a 200mm length to pull the dog in close for the initial hit. As you can see, there is no one lens that works perfectly. I would personally start to think about what you want from the photos. Is the dog just running away from you for a deep fetch what you want? Personally, I liked the shots at the line with me interacting with the dog (my wife was my photog) and if possible, the send both on land and in water. The long pickups became a bit boring after a few shots of a dog picking up a duck. That said, before buying a 70-300, I would pick up a 1.4 teleconverter. It will not quite hit the 300 mm but at 280mm, it will be close enough that you can do some comparison of focal length and the fstop will be the same at the long end. It will NOT be quite as versatile of course since the 70-300 covers more range but it would be a cheaper way to see if you want that much range. If you find that you DO want the whole range of the 70-300, then go for it.
Something else to consider, It is nice for sure to get shots in competition but I found it easier to help my wife set up shots during practice. I could set her up on the far sides of ponds and shoot back across so that the fronts of my face and the dogs were visible. This also allowed good shots of the dogs face when entering the water. Usually that can't be done in a competition since the running field is off limits to spectators. Just my thoughts.