Airshow action type lenses

Hello all.After using my kit lenses for my XSI,i decided to start looking at lenses.Man theres alot of choices out their.I ve narrowed it down to 3.Ive read users opinions - reviews here and elsewhere.They all have the good the bad and the ugly.

If you guys/gals were buying any of these 3 for airshow type fast action and overall walkaround for a $500 ish budget which one would you recommend?Thanks for any and all advice.Ive worked myself into a headache trying to decide on these 3.LOL

(1)Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens

(2)Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

(3)Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

ReDDoG wrote in post #7999642
Hello all.After using my kit lenses for my XSI,i decided to start looking at lenses.Man theres alot of choices out their.I ve narrowed it down to 3.Ive read users opinions - reviews here and elsewhere.They all have the good the bad and the ugly.

If you guys/gals were buying any of these 3 for airshow type fast action and overall walkaround for a $500 ish budget which one would you recommend?Thanks for any and all advice.Ive worked myself into a headache trying to decide on these 3.LOL

(1)Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens

(2)Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

(3)Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

Why not the 70-200F4L meets the $$ and will out perform all those lenses for action. Take a look in the FS forum there are ones going for below $500 quite often. For walk around the 70 might be to long for your wide end. You could keep the kit lens and get the 70-200 and I think it would be a good combo.

The 70-200 f/4 is a good lens no doubt, but if at an airshow it would come up short unless you get a TC for it. Adding to the expense of the lens making it above your budget. Out of what you list I would go with the 70-300, it is a very flexible lens with a good reputation. I used to own one and enjoyed it very much.

Yea ive looked at the 70-200 but the cheap one doesnt have IS.Will that make much difference for hand holding type pics?Ive read alot of good things about that lense.It just seems really big/heavy.But for what im asking i guess thats to be expected as far as lenses size.

ReDDoG wrote in post #7999642
Hello all.After using my kit lenses for my XSI,i decided to start looking at lenses.Man theres alot of choices out their.I ve narrowed it down to 3.Ive read users opinions - reviews here and elsewhere.They all have the good the bad and the ugly.

If you guys/gals were buying any of these 3 for airshow type fast action and overall walkaround for a $500 ish budget which one would you recommend?Thanks for any and all advice.Ive worked myself into a headache trying to decide on these 3.LOL

(1)Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens

(2)Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

(3)Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

just to give you more headaches you can get very good air show pics with a $200 telezoom (55-250 )

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For air show, 70-300IS is the lens you want. However, it is not a walk around range lens. It is hard to have 1 for all lens.

ReDDoG wrote in post #7999692
Yea ive looked at the 70-200 but the cheap one doesnt have IS.Will that make much difference for hand holding type pics?Ive read alot of good things about that lense.It just seems really big/heavy.But for what im asking i guess thats to be expected as far as lenses size.

there's four versions of the 70-200L and two are very light. you don't need f2.8 or IS for airshows.

ed rader

I have a 70-300IS and it did me okay for airshows. I always felt like it was coming up short for me though. I would think about the 70-200L instead. If you want more reach out of it on a budget you could buy a Tamron TC to gain a bit more reach.

If you can wait, save up and buy a 400L f/5.6. Awesome lens worth the money and the wait.

If you aren't gonna need a long lens on a full-time basis, have you considered renting?

Air show images from a 70-300mm IS:

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ed rader wrote in post #8000069
there's four versions of the 70-200L and two are very light. you don't need f2.8 or IS for airshows.

If you shoot anything with propellers IS can be useful to be able to hand hold a long lens at the sort of shutter speed you need to get prop blur.

Focal Length is also sort of dependant upon how big an airshow you're at.

At a Major Airport or AF Base, you'll usually be farther away from the action than at your local aerodrome or municipal airport. There are minimums for how far away the acts must be while in flight but you can often be far away or very, very close for shots of taxiing aircraft.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #8000161
Focal Length is also sort of dependant upon how big an airshow you're at.

At a Major Airport or AF Base, you'll usually be farther away from the action than at your local aerodrome or municipal airport. There are minimums for how far away the acts must be while in flight but you can often be far away or very, very close for shots of taxiing aircraft.

correct, but most airshows including AF bases like Langley Virginia you can get pretty close to the runways, enough for a 250mm lens to get good shots

Wow great pictures from both lenses.Just curious whats your camera/settings for those pics?Also watt100 do you consider the 55-255 a good addition overall along with the kit lens?
Ive considered renting a lens,but for the price i think it might make $$ sense to just pony up and buy a decent one and save for a top-of-line lense down the road.
Here in North Carolina most airshows are at 2 airforce bases,both allowing close up seating.This of course is not my deciding factor on my new lense,but its important to have a lense capable of zooming for fast action shots.

At my first show I used my 70-200 f/4L plus TC and rented a 100-400L. I got great shots from both setups. FI you want a lens strictly for airshows either the 70-200 f/4 L or the 70-300 would be my choice (although the 55-250 seems to be a great lens if you want to save some money). here are a couple from the 70-200

This one made it into the POTN Book, Vol 2.

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