New Glass for Basketball

Just purchased new 85 f1.8 for basketball game tonight. Tried used route but was not happy with less than perfect condition considering cost was close to new. Glass pristine. From what I hear, this is one of canon's gems for low light sports, not to mention portrait work!! Looking forward to tonight!!

I just did my first B Ball game last night, I wanted to use the nifty fifty but it broke yesterday just before the game. I ended up using the 70-200 f/2.8L. I wish that the lens was wider. Plus I only have the 420 ex speedlight. If you don't have enough room from behind the basket to a wall you're in for a tough shoot, as far as getting the shots all the newspapers like to run. I had to stay to the side of the net and get the action coming down the court towards me or look across for me to get a shooter from outside the arc. Good Luck, have fun with the new glass.

I use the 50, the 85, and the 100 f/2 for the majority of my basketball shots. Stop it down to about f/2.2 for best results, as the depth of field with this lens is very thin. And don't use flash. Please.

50mm 1.8 and no flash for me as well. It's a little slow to focus sometimes and sometimes it does seem a bit short but I love mine, the best £70 I've ever spent.

In fact, in the last 2 months, the 50mm 1.8 has made me the most money of all my lenses! Not bad for what is possibly the cheapest Canon lens on the market.

Darren

The 85mm is an excellent lens for hoops, particularly if you like to shoot tight around the basket (i.e. do your cropping 'in camera'). Here's a shot from tonight using the 85mm on a 1D MkII - the image is pretty much full frame except to centre it up slightly:

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Nice work Gavin. What was a score?

Do you charge the club for usage on their website? I saw your watermark on the LU website today. I'm wondering as I always post links to my website on our forum and on whatsbev to let people have a look but I've never offered the club the images as I am primarily for the paper. Also the club print the images they are supplied by another tog and I don’t want to step on any more toes Long story that I won't bore you with.

Darren

liza wrote in post #2495120
I use the 50, the 85, and the 100 f/2 for the majority of my basketball shots. Stop it down to about f/2.2 for best results, as the depth of field with this lens is very thin. And don't use flash. Please.

MMMM....I used the 85 for most of last year, but I have made a deal to sell my Mark II n and I don't want to increase the shutter count. I have two games to shoot tomorow and I will have to make do with my 5D.

You think I should pack up the 85,100 and my 135? This will be my first Basketball game this year and it will take a while to get into the swing of things again I think the 50 would just be two wide...right?

Thanks,

On full frame, yes.

I have used the 50 and the 85 for basketball. I prefer the 85 for the tight shots. My 50 is slower to get on focus.

cking2 wrote in post #2495466
MMMM....I used the 85 for most of last year, but I have made a deal to sell my Mark II n and I don't want to increase the shutter count. I have two games to shoot tomorow and I will have to make do with my 5D.

You think I should pack up the 85,100 and my 135? This will be my first Basketball game this year and it will take a while to get into the swing of things again I think the 50 would just be two wide...right?

Thanks,

Rick,

The 1Ds MkII will solve that problem for you. Granted, it is not as fast as the MkIIn but you can crop the heck out of it and still get plenty of pixels. Enjoy her. I will miss her.

Ovi