Lens purchase help

hello everyone. i would want to hear your input regarding my intended lens purchase/s.

i have an xti with the 18-55 IS and the nifty fifty.

i intend to purchase a telephoto zoom lens. as of the moment, my choices are the 55-250 IS, the 70-300 IS and the 70-200 F4. i have been reading the forums for the past weeks, and i must say i have learned a lot. for this telephoto, it will be mostly for outdoor stuff. kids baseball, dog pictures outside. despite the great reviews of the 70-200 F4, i may need more reach. and i think i will benefit a lot from IS. i cant afford the 70-200 F4 IS (or if i could, then i wont be able to buy anything else).

i also intend to take indoor shots of school activities and indoor sports (basketball and the like) and for this, i plan to purchase the 85 f1.8. given that i have the nifty fifty already (although i do realize it's limitations), would i benefit more from the 100 F2 with what i intend to shoot?

obviously, cost is a big factor. i would like to keep everything under 1k CAD (even less and misis will be happier!!!).

looking forward to reading your expert input. thanks.

ed in toronto

While the 70-200 f4 is a great lens, if you need more reach the 70-300 IS should fit your needs just fine. IS is quite helpful on a longer lens. Just keep in mind, that the IS will not help you if you are shooting moving subjects. It will help with camera shake, but if you are shooting a moving subject you will still have to keep your shutter speed high enough to keep your subject sharp.

thanks crn3371. i have seen some shots being able to freeze some action with the 70-300 IS outdoors so i am hoping i will be able to do it too. do you have experience with the 700-200 F4 for outdoor sports?

thanks.

ed

crn3371 wrote in post #4929564
While the 70-200 f4 is a great lens, if you need more reach the 70-300 IS should fit your needs just fine. IS is quite helpful on a longer lens. Just keep in mind, that the IS will not help you if you are shooting moving subjects. It will help with camera shake, but if you are shooting a moving subject you will still have to keep your shutter speed high enough to keep your subject sharp.