Basketball

Can your bring your camera with long lens(70-200 or 300) to a NBA game?

Anyone have some info regarding this? I know that you can bring up to a 6 inch lens to a Seattle Seahawks NFL game, but I haven't been able to find any info on camera restrictions for NBA games.

I believe they usually say on their website or you can call them and get that information

I have seen this lens recently at a Toronto Raptors game. I didn't take mine, thinking I would be barred but, apparently, it is acceptable, at least in Toronto.

Perhaps that was ME you saw at the Raptors game sporting a 70mm-300mm!

Currently, unlike the NHL and others, the NBA does not restrict lens size. The following is from the Raptors' website:

"For most events the use of flash photography and professional equipment, video or audio recording is not permitted. However, small "point-and-shoot" cameras are generally permitted. NBA: Use of flash photography is strictly prohibited. Video cameras ARE permitted, but the use of still photos or video footage for commercial purposes without written permission from the NBA is prohibited. NHL: Video cameras are NOT permitted. Non-flash still photography is permitted; however, if the lens is detachable it must not exceed 75mm."

I applaud the NBA for its progressive and fan-friendly attitude to photography and laugh that the NHL (the league most desperate for more popularity) is more restrictive.

A tolerant security guard let me into a Leafs hockey game with my marginally offside 17-85mm kit lens but I always worry some stickler is going to make a fuss at the 10mm excess (as did happened to me at the Junior World Cup soccer tournament held in Toronto last summer). I also smuggled the 70mm-300mm into a Leafs game but was busted by an usher during the second period and had to check that lens at security.

At a recent Raptors game, an usher warned me that security might take exception to the 70-300mm lens. I explained to her the differences between the NBA and NHL policy and that sufficed. But given that experience, the next time I go to the Air Canada Centre, I'm going to bring a printout of policy.