Set up for kids sports and family

A lady who works in my office was asking about a new camera. She has a Canon XSi. She has several grandkids who are involved in youth sports of various kinds (baseball, soccer, flag football, basketball) and wants a camera that will take better shots than what she has been able to get with the XSi and kit 18-55. The indoor basketball photos are the real sticker as some of those youth gyms are tough, even with good gear/fast glass.

A lot of her photo needs are just basic family, holidays, birthdays etc. I realize the "sports"answer is likely a DSLR with fast glass but looking for something more user friendly as she is not a photographer per say, just wants good photos of her family. I would guess that her budget is about $750? I don't know that a faster lens will help that much given her old XSi body? I am not familiar with that camera.

if she wants to keep things on the cheap...
Sigma 18-50 2.8 / Tamron 28-75 2.8 are well viewed

Canon 50 1.8 and 85 1.8 would help as well

Many years ago, I spent many hours near a basketball net with a 7D+Sig30 1.4, and that was pretty decent

All the above will go a long way for indoor stuff, and are pretty easy on the wallet

The outdoor field sports will be a different story, but if those are in day-time, a 70-300 will be ok

Most of the baseball shooting will be various angle to the pitcher, and various angle to the batter/home plate area - for the most part under 85 will do fine here (at least until you get to older kids playing on bigger fields)

The XSI goes back to the days of the 40D-ish, and didn't have a great AF system, so even with a faster lens, it is likely it won't be able to track action, etc. However to do that, the budget probably isn't reasonable.

This is my suggestion (kit lens is much better than her existing one)
https://shop.usa.canon​.com …55-is-stm-kit-refurbished
https://shop.usa.canon​.com …85mm-f-18-usm-refurbished (or find this lens used from a forum member at $100 lower price)

Sell off the XSI and old lens for $100 to someone, or donate to family member so they can take up photography.

She does have the kit 55-250 that came with the camera, I asked her, so outdoor youth stuff should be OK. But I doubt it is the STM version, which I think is better?

I think it is the AF that she is struggling with as some of the photos she showed me are not in good focus. I did give her a few suggestions for the outdoor stuff.

duckster wrote in post #18919203
She does have the kit 55-250 that came with the camera, I asked her, so outdoor youth stuff should be OK. But I doubt it is the STM version, which I think is better?

I think it is the AF that she is struggling with as some of the photos she showed me are not in good focus. I did give her a few suggestions for the outdoor stuff.

The latest STM version is better in all ways than the older 2 versions. However I don't feel it is the best sports lens due to at least how slow it is for gathering light.

The 45pt AF on the 77D is much better and should track and drive a lens better though, and the 85mm is pretty darn fast with sports too.

AF can be either body, lens or both, but with the XSI, I feel it would be body first, but the lens is mediocre if the first 55-250.

Refurbs for me (and many others) have been basically new gear from Canon, and with a 1 year warranty. They are not beat up bodies or well used bodies.

Thank you for those links. I would agree with you completely.

I will chat with her this afternoon.

Remember to discuss the tilt touch screen too, that will be hugely different and nicer over the XSI. Video of her kids will be much easier with DPAF as well.

I agree!

I will try and show her some basic settings to help her get started. She loves taking photos of her family and making scrapbooks of the photos for each grandchild every year. As the kids have gotten older, she now is seeing more "poor" photos due to their activities and the limitations of her current gear.

I think a used 7D would be marvi. Great focusing for the price, "decent" low light performance without having to dump a lot of money into the system... and a fast lens... she should be good to go.

duckster wrote in post #18919223
I agree!

I will try and show her some basic settings to help her get started. She loves taking photos of her family and making scrapbooks of the photos for each grandchild every year. As the kids have gotten older, she now is seeing more "poor" photos due to their activities and the limitations of her current gear.

Regardless of body or lens, I think her biggest challenge is learning how to use AI-Servo.

I think the 85 1.8 will give her the best bang/buck - I found it plenty fast for indoor volleyball and is a good portrait lens, but as others have mentioned the Sig / Tam 2.8's are also quite good. That should leave room in the budget for a decent (higher end) used body or a newer Rebel series body which are also quite nice.

I agree with this 100%. You said she isn't really a photographer ... she'll need to decide first if she wants to become one. If not, it's all wasted money.

edit to add: A quick search thru flickr's xsi group should show the capabilities of that camera body ... I think it's up to the task.

Sibil wrote in post #18933471
Regardless of body or lens, I think her biggest challenge is learning how to use AI-Servo.

kmilo wrote in post #18933616
I agree with this 100%. You said she isn't really a photographer ... she'll need to decide first if she wants to become one. If not, it's all wasted money.

edit to add: A quick search thru flickr's xsi group should show the capabilities of that camera body ... I think it's up to the task.

I agree. I showed her how to make some basic adjustments on her current camera and she was happy with the fact that she did capture some better shots. But no she also starts to realize the limitation of her current gear.