Yearbook lenses

In my high school desktop publishing class, where we produce the school yearbook, we purchased two Canon Digital Rebel XTi’s, with our profits over the past two years, both with the standard 18-55mm lenses. We would like to order another Canon for next year, possibly an XSi, however, I would like to order just the body of the camera and get some better lenses to go along with it. I would like a lens that would allow us to zoom in to take closer shots at sporting events. We need outdoor football, track & field, baseball and softball photos. For indoor sports we have volleyball, basketball, and wrestling where we also need better zoomed-in photos. I would like an additional lens that has a real tight depth of field for taking photos where the background is blurred out. We could spend up to $1,000 for new the lenses. I am fairly new at photography, and the photographers will be junior and senior high school students who are serious about making a great yearbook but also lack any formal photography training other than the basic instruction that I have given them. Would you have any lens suggestions for our yearbook program?

if you could swing it, a 70-200 f2.8 (non-IS) would be good for that (its not much more than $1000

Maybe EF-S 55-250mm IS and 85mm f/1.8?

I shoot most of our high school sports, and the low light ones are about the most demanding subject on your gear. Cheap, slow lenses won't cut it for this action, but there are some reasonably priced gems. For indoor basketball and volleyball, in the absolute best-lit gyms we ever get to use, I can get away with using an f/2.8 lens. Anywhere else, I'm using my 85/1.8 and wishing for more light. At our night football games, same situation. The trouble is, you have to keep your shutter speed high enough to stop athletes in action, which you can only do with a very wide aperture.

For the indoor sports, here are some Canon lenses to consider:
85/1.8
100/2
135/2

The 85/1.8 serves me very well indoors, although it's not long enough to handle both ends of the court from one position.

As to greater reach for outdoor sports -- if your football games are daylight games, you can use a slower lens, which will be less expensive. I'd suggest a 55-250 or a 75-300. If they're night games, a 70-200/2.8 (Canon or Sigma) will be the least expensive option that will give you a decent number of keepers from the game. Or a 200/2.8 prime, if you're ok with not having a zoom. At 200mm, you'll want more reach at times, but you'll get some usable shots anyway.

A combination of lenses from this slate to cover your needs will probably cost more than what you've budgeted for glass (well, the Sigma 70-200/2.8 or Canon 200/2.8 plus the Canon 85/1.8 might come close). Your XTi bodies are great cameras for high school yearbook photos, and an XSi won't give you any better sports pics if you don't have fast enough glass in front of it. To afford the glass, you might consider either purchasing a third XTi or waiting another year before you buy a third camera body.

Here are some very basic pointers you could give your students for shooting low-light sports.

Settings (in advance)
1. RAW mode
2. ISO 1600 (or higher if available)
3. AI Servo
4. Center point focus
5. Tv mode
6. 1/400s shutter speed (in darker conditions, you might have to slow it down -- in better light, bump it up if you can)

Technique (at the game)
1. Wait till the action is close enough to fill more than half the frame.
2. Try to keep the center point over the athlete's face.

The 85mm f/1.8 is probably your best bet for indoor sports at around $350. It also makes a nice portrait lens.

Then for the added reach at outdoor events you could pick up a 70-200mm f/4L (non-IS) for about $560. Or if you're willing to you could step up to a used 70-200mm f/2.8L (non-IS).

You don't need no stinking lenses yet. A good book explaining the nuances and quirks of light, the basics of exposure, and composition techniwes will be 10x more helpful. Also, there should be a digital photography class right? I know there is one at my school. Ask them to teach you a few things. Also, whatever you do, IMO, dont buy an L lens (one exception if the EF 70-200 f/4L). Yes they are the best lenses available, but almost all cost a fortune and all are out of a high school yearbook clases budget. For 1000, you could get ONE (1) good telephoto lens for sports. Yes, these L lenses give amazing quality on the computer screen, but the paper/printer that you guys will be printing on in the yeak book wil not be able to take advantage I would stick with cheaper alternatives. For indoor sports, defintely go with the EF 85mm 1.8 or EF 100mm f/2. The fact that they are prime (fixed focal length) lenses isn't all that great, but for indoors you definelty need them for their fast maximum aperture. That will set you back slightly under 400 dollars. I know i said don't get L (luxury) lenses, but if you really want to do sports, the only thing i could reccomend that is withing your budget is the EF 70-200 f/4L. This would be a good choice for outdoor sports, as it provides the longest focal length (maybe short for football and soccer) for the money, has fast AF for tracking players, and is light. Total, this would be just under or equal to 1000 dollars. Hope this helps! Good luck! Oh, and buy ONLINE! Do not buy in stores! Store prices (Ritz, Wolf) can be jacked up to as much at twice the price on some lenses. Buy from reputable online stores, such as B&H Photo and Video, Adorama, or Canoga Camera. Again, good luck, and have fun shooting!

the 70-200 f/4L is only $550ish and then you could get something like the 50mm 1.8 for less than $100 and. That should cover the basic ranges imo.

liquefied wrote in post #5627229
Maybe EF-S 55-250mm IS and 85mm f/1.8?

I say this since it's only a highschool yearbook and nothing that professional.

I'm no expert but I'd say if they can spring for it get the 70-200 f/2.8. If that's too much, I know you said they want to go Canon, but I've heard only good things about the sigma 70-200 f/2.8, and if not that then the canon 70-200 f/4. Also, if they are going to get a body, a 40D would be much better for sports and it's not way too much more. You could, in turn, get them to spring for a flash.

Zoom: 70-200 f/2.8 Sigma Ex HSM, nuff said. It is almost(I stress almost) as good as the Canon non-IS, and I don´t get why it isn´t mentioned more often, and why the f/4 Canon 70-200s are taken into consideration when the focus is sports.

Prime: Sigma 30/1.4 HSM and Canon 85/1.8.

Buy all used, you should get it well beneath 1000 USD.

arild8515 wrote in post #5628006
Zoom: 70-200 f/2.8 Sigma Ex HSM, nuff said. It is almost(I stress almost) as good as the Canon non-IS, and I don´t get why it isn´t mentioned more often, and why the f/4 Canon 70-200s are taken into consideration when the focus is sports.

Prime: Sigma 30/1.4 HSM and Canon 85/1.8.

Buy all used, you should get it well beneath 1000 USD.

Yep, Id agree. I shot with my school paper and a Nikon D50 (max ISO1600 as well) and a Sigma 70-200 2.8.

You dont even need the 85/1.8 as you should be perfectly fine at F/2.8 in almost all gyms.

That would give you money to get a Canon EX430 flash which would be 500% better then the onboard flashes. I can't tell you much I hated our yearbook these past few years since they used the onboard flash which overexposed the faces
I can;t

Most of my shooting is HS YB sports. See my web site for examples. I've tried a number of lenses. YMMV, but here are the RULES that I've learned the hard way.

For indoor sports (basketball in my case), and shooting things in the gym and theater, these lenses are great:
85 f/1.8
50 f/1.4
135 f/2 ($1000)

Zooms are too dark. Even f/2.8 zooms are too dark, even at ISO 3200. I'm convinced those who say otherwise are routinely underexposing their shots (using the meter rather than the histogram) or are shooting in exceptionally bright gyms. I've shot in 3 gyms in the area and all were 1/400 f/2.5 ISO 3200.

The 50 f/1.8 lens focuses far to slowly and to be reliable for basketball. The 50 f/1.4 is better and it is only marginal.

Lenses that did NOT work well for indoor sports:
EF 24-70 f/2.8L
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8
EF-S 60 f/2.8 Macro
EF-S 17-55 f/2.8
EF 50 f/1.8 II

Flash - Some of my best shots were taken with the 580 EX flash bounced off the gym ceiling. With this scenario, the f/2.8 zoom works fine. BUT you need a white ceiling and one that isn't terribly high. You need as much flash output as you can get (580 EX-II) because you need to overpower the gym lights. An external batter pack helps to keep the recycle times at or below 2 seconds.

Outdoors - This is easy: 70-200 f/4. A very sharp lens, focuses fast, does a great job. I use it for track & field, soccer, lacrosse baseball, softball. I often combine mine with a 1.4 Tele Converter to get more magnification. The 135 f/2 is also quite nice for softball and track & field.

Talk to some kid who has decent lenses. That's how I got on as yearbook photographer.

n1as and others mentioned flash. I suggest reading everything by the Strobist (Google for it). He regularly shoots basketball with pre-mounted flashes and Pocket Wizards. You can save a significant amount of money, with a slight loss of power, by getting the Sigma EF-500 series instead of a 580EX. When triggered by a remote, the other features of the 580 don't matter. You can save even more money by going with the absurdly cheap Ebay remotes ($20-40) instead of PWs ($300). Two EF-500s, two Ebay remotes, and one Ebay transmitter can all be had for $500.

gkuenning wrote in post #5629275
n1as and others mentioned flash. I suggest reading everything by the Strobist (Google for it).

Strobist rocks, and the Strobist basketball techniques yield some very nice results. Remote flash is also awesome for graduation and award ceremonies. In my school's league, however, using flash would get me kicked out of a game. Be sure you know your league rules before you make this kind of investment.

Another word against purchasing an XSi for the OP's situation... the XSi uses SD media, not CF, so would require additional purchases and complexity because the cards aren't interchangeable among cameras. Just a factor to consider.