FF & Sports

This is probably a stupid question...

I just bought a 5d (pisses pants with excitement) and I've gotten used to my crop body and 70-300. The high end lens is 70-200 2.8... how do guys with F use it? Do they add an extender and take the loss of light hit? Do they use a longer lens and shoot at 5.6? or f4? I was under the impression sports at 2.8 = gold...

help

2.8 is good to have in case you need it for the light or to help with backgrounds. It does not automatically make any given picture better. Timing, angle and focus have much more to do with = gold

If the light is great and background reasonable a lot of pros stop down to f/4 anyway.

What you are going to struggle with using a full frame and what is considered a pretty short lens in 200mm (for most sports) is the backgrounds. Also someone will mention the fps which is a very small factor IMO. I have never used a 5D so my biggest question would be focus speed ability.

I use a 400 and shoot at f/2.8; f/3.5 if the light and background allows for it. Almost all of my long field shots were taken using a 5D and now 1Ds3.

FF with a 70-200 is more suited for photographing small children at play. An extender can help you with distance but you lose a little focus speed - not a lot, but noticeable.

I'm guessing this is why they make 400 f/2.8 lenses. It seems sort of pointless on a crop body, but with FF, I can see how you could definitely use it for sports...

If you have one of those pointless 400's lying around send it to me ...

Seriously for A LOT of sports 400 is very usefull on any camera

bieber wrote in post #5822222
I'm guessing this is why they make 400 f/2.8 lenses. It seems sort of pointless on a crop body, but with FF, I can see how you could definitely use it for sports...

Peter Reed Miller of SI often uses 3 camera bodies, all 1 series, with a 600 f/4 on one, 400/2.8 on one, and a 70-200 2.8 IS on the other.

.... and did you see the setup for Barry Bonds record home run .

3 - mark III's and 3 - 600's

I had the opportunity last Saturday to shoot figure skating from a rinkside corner with the 1Ds3. I used the 400 for the senior ladies and mens singles and switched to the 70-200 for the pairs. It was a good opportunity to compare the two lenses from the same spot. You can see the difference in the background. The 400 was perfect for the singles and I got some excellent close ups. I shot both of these at ISO 1600, f/2.8, and 1/500s.

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