sports lens

I plan on shooting football, hockey, soccer, and baseball. How is the
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens

for this?

I also plan on taking some candid photos and perhaps some portraits, does this lens work with those types?

thanks

As an all-round sports lens it's probably the best you can get.

TDools411 wrote in post #3465853
I plan on shooting football, hockey, soccer, and baseball. How is the
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens

for this?

I also plan on taking some candid photos and perhaps some portraits, does this lens work with those types?

thanks

yes. very well. get a 1.4 TC for sports.

ed rader

That one should work nicely, although the IS version is better.

it is not long enough if full size pitches

MaDProFF wrote in post #3465871
it is not long enough if full size pitches

yeah but you gotta start somewhere and i think the 70-200L is a must-have lens for just about every kit.

ed rader

true ed, but he did ask a pretty straight forward ? and you really need a 100-400 at least even on a crop

And this lense works on the 400dXTI right?

MaDProFF wrote in post #3465871
it is not long enough if full size pitches

NOTHING is.

And you would discover that a 600mm f4 is too short for some things and too long for others. For six years I shot football for a daily newspaper with a Nikkor 180mm f2.8ED and had lots of success. I just had to know the game and I had to be patient enough to let the action come to me. The 70-200 on a 1.6 camera is effectively 320mm at it's far end and I could only dream of this when I was shooting for the paper; so I'd say it's more than long enough.

On the other side of the page I was using my 300 f2.8L IS the other day to shoot 12 year old's baseball and I switched from my 20D (effectively a 480mm f2.8 ) to my 5D as the shots were too tight, and I would have never expected that!

In any case the 70-200mm f2.8 is a great lens and I doubt if there's any sports shooter out there who doesn't use their's a lot.

TDools411 wrote in post #3466011
And this lense works on the 400dXTI right?

Yes, very well. If you only have one lens for sports, it is probably the best choice as others have mentioned; IS isn't necessary but f/2.8 is. It is just wide enough of an aperture for night sports and indoor basketball, and 200mm is enough length for getting half of the field from the sideline for football. For day games adding the 1.4TC will get you some more length.

If you know you won't shoot night games you can think about something slower and longer, but otherwise forget about it.

MaDProFF wrote in post #3465964
true ed, but he did ask a pretty straight forward ? and you really need a 100-400 at least even on a crop

i don't think so. i'd rather have a 70-200L if i could have only one lens. in fact it's the lens i use for sports along with my 300L f4 IS and i use the 5d.

the 100-400L would be slower than i care for.

he also asked about portraits and candids...and i think the 70-200L is an excellent choice for both.

ed rader

I shoot high school sports for a central Indiana magazine. I completely agree with Ed. The 70-200 f2.8 L IS is virtually the only lens I use (5D - no crop factor).

Also, I stayed away from TCs for a long time because I was afraid they would degrade the image too much; but I really needed more reach and couldn't afford a longer lens. I finally broke down and tried the 2x TC. I love this thing. It made such an immediate difference in my images, after the first time I used it, one of the editors emailed me to tell me how happy he was with those shots.

thanks for your help guys, im pumped to get this. Any good ideas on a good place to get a used one? I know this forum has a WTB and WTS section, but opther than there and the standard ebay/craigslist? Also, how good are lenses used/off of ebay/craigslist? Again, thanks a bunch i should have fun with this.

AS for a TC i am thinking of grabbing a 1.4x canon TC in the future. i heard the 2x doesn't work on the XTi because it brings the default aperature to low or something... not sure on that...

But this seems good thanks for the input

I would avoid fleabay, and instead look here, keh.com, or at fredmiranda.com. It might take a week or so of looking, but generally speaking the crowd here and at fred miranda are a whole lot more trustworthy. B&H and adorama sometimes carry used or refurbished copies as well.