Noob needs help please!

ejlkicks wrote in post #3942260
Thanks for all the help mark. I really appreciate it.

One more question though, what would be a good lens for sports pictures? I want to take pictures for my schools football team and baseball and what not

When you’re on a budget, I would recommend either a Sigma 55-200/4.0-5.6 DC or – supposedly better yet – wait for the new Canon EF-S 55-250/4.0-5.6 IS; it will be twice as much as the Sigma though.
These two lenses are just a compromise, but they are affordable. The ultimate solution would be a 70-200/2.8 USM lens, but the cheapest version (Sigma AF 70-200/2.8 EX DG) would already cost nearly 1000$, I guess.

Mark_Cohran wrote in post #3947269
Once again, what budget? I can suggest lenses that cost $1600, but that's not going to do any good if you can't spend that much. For those sports, the best lens is a long, fast lens which is very pricey. A compromise, would be a long, slow zoom - not as expensive and you'll have to use higher ISO's to compensate for the smaller maximum aperture.

Mark

I'd say under $300.

I'm not looking for something super advanced. Just something to learn and play with until I get the hang of everything

I recently got a Sigma 70-300 APO DG f/4-5.6 ($300). It's quite sharp and I've gotten some nice pics in daylight.

At f/5.6 (300mm) or f/5 (200mm) it's a stop slower than an f/4 lens and might require ISO 1600 for good football shots under the light.

Still, 1600 on your XTi is probably better than 800 on my 300D, and that works well for me.

-js