Lens Recommendation needed...

I'm shooting a high school play and need some advise on what lens is best.

I have a 70-200 f/2.8 IS L, and was thinking of adding either a 2X or 1.4X tele extender for greater reach. I'd like to get some shots, close up.

The stage will be fairly well lit with stage lighting.

Is this lens a good choice? Should I NOT use the extenders?

Or, would I be better using a 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens.

Help is appreciated!!!

You own some great glass. Will your primes not work, the 50, 85 or 135? Do you not know ahead of time what distance you will be from the stage?

If not then probably the 70-210 with the 1.4.

Damn, you've got some great glass

The 100-400 will be too slow. Biggest thing would be to find a way to get as close as possible. Correct exposure and AWB will possible also be issues if you have never done this before.

matonanjin wrote in post #7403737
Will your primes not work, the 50, 85 or 135?...

Thanks! I think the stage will be too far away for the primes. I did think about bringing the 135mm, but without zoom, It'll be difficult. (I love that 135mm L, though).

I'm shooting the full dress rehearsal, so there's no audience and I'll be able to roam freely, but will not be permitted to use flash or go on stage. I can get close to the front of the stage, but it's high up. Looking up is ok for some shots, but not good for most.

The stage is a bit high up, so I'm going to bring a ladder to provide a higher vantage point.

There's a balcony in the far back of the theater, that I thought might be good, but it may be too far and out of reach.

puggle wrote in post #7403859
Thanks! I think the stage will be too far away for the primes. I did think about bringing the 135mm, but without zoom, It'll be difficult. (I love that 135mm L, though).

I'm shooting the full dress rehearsal, so there's no audience and I'll be able to roam freely, but will not be permitted to use flash or go on stage. I can get close to the front of the stage, but it's high up. Looking up is ok for some shots, but not good for most.

The stage is a bit high up, so I'm going to bring a ladder to provide a higher vantage point.

There's a balcony in the far back of the theater, that I thought might be good, but it may be too far and out of reach.

if you can move around freely, i think you might be ok with the prime. and since you said no flash, you might get better results anyway

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gasrocks wrote in post #7403775
The 100-400 will be too slow. Biggest thing would be to find a way to get as close as possible. Correct exposure and AWB will possible also be issues if you have never done this before.

Excellent. Thanks, you just saved me $1400, since I don't own that lens yet.

I was going to use AWB. I might try tungsten and see what that does.
I did shoot a performance before, with a slow lens (all I had at the time), and actually got decent results:

http://www.flickr.com …1/sets/72157614​071342821/

BTW, the stage in these shots is the same one I'll be shooting soon.

I'm going to shoot Manual mode, and spot meter.

The stage will be brighter than the shots you'll see from the link, but I think spot metering will still work ok.

I'll need to push the ISO upto 1600 (I think).

Does this sound good?

LostShootingStar wrote in post #7403873
if you can move around freely, i think you might be ok with the prime. and since you said no flash, you might get better results anyway

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Yes, I can move freely, thanks! I'll bring the 135mm L !!

I agree, it's tough to beat the quality of primes, and that 135mm is amazing.

puggle wrote in post #7403690
Is this lens a good choice?

Yes.

puggle wrote in post #7403690
Should I NOT use the extenders?
Or, would I be better using a 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens.

Compared to 70-200 f/2.8 with 2X, the 100-400 will be much higher image quality.

In my experience, many stages require ISO 3200 for f/2.8 and 1/125. Hopefully yours will be brighter than this. f/5.6 puts you at ISO 12800, which is too noisy for all but web images. You can drop your shutter speed for the really slow scenes (even down to 1/30 if you bracket), but then you'll miss the action shots.

the 135mm f/2 would be another excellent choice for the wider shots (or if you can get closer). That would give you ISO 1600 at 1/125.

(Note that you may not want to actually shoot at any ISO over 400, as you will likely have important highlights to protect, but you have to balance that against shadow noise.)