Newbie with new T1i, first 2 questions

Hi all!!!! I've spent about an hour here so far... what a great source of info!!!!! Got lost quick. Anyway, I consider myself a semi-intermediate photographer, looking to progress.

What I will be shooting mostly is my 2.5 year old son, my niece's college soccer games, NASCAR races and some high-school basketball.

I just bought a T1i kit last week, and have 2 questions so far... and I tried to search the best I could, so please cut me some slack....

1. So, for what I said I will be shooting, I am looking for a zoom lens, but am SO confused as to brand or focal length. My budget is going to be only about $300-$400, so I know that makes my choices limited. Also, I was looking at the Canon "Normal" 50mm f/1.8 lens, but for $100 was thinking it's not good (used as my everyday lens instead of the kit lens).

2. I have a pretty old Minolta 35mm S4000 film camera, and have a Quantarray flash (it was given to me, and worked kinda well at the time). Until I can raise more funds for a 430EX flash or the like, will I be able to use this flash for my T1i? It pivots and swivels and such, but wasn't sure of the hot shoe and if it would be compatible with my Canon.

I will definitely have more questions, but this is it for starters... big thing is looking for a decent zoom for sports photography, the rest will come later.

Thank you all in advance!!!!!


Ken
East Providence, RI

EDIT: I spent so long in the EOS camera thread that I didn't realize that there was a separate area for lenses... sorry.....

first off welcome to the forum! your second question I cannot help you with, however the first one I can, the 50mm f/1.8 is an EXCELLENT lens, it is quite quick with a maximum aperture of 1.8 which will do wonders, as for sports shooting with a zoom lens, You will want a quick lens, with my 80-200 f/2.8 for high-school basketball (aka terrible lighting) I find myself at 2.8 and ISO 3200 or 6400 to maintain 1/500-1/800 second shutter speeds, so you will want to try to find a zoom lens that has the lowest f number for the price with a good autofocus system aswell. If you are lucky you can find a sigma 70-200 f/2.8 or canon 70-200 f/4 (non IS) in the 500 dollar range, other than that you could try to find a cheaper old lens with a good maximum aperture, I found my tokina 80-200 f/2.8 for $175, its AutoFocus (AF) is quite slow however the speed that the aperture allows easily compensates for the price!

take a look first off around the EF-EFS lens forum, there is a section at the top that has something like 7 pages of threads all with real world sample pictures of each lens which is a great tool to have, most reviews don't give many of these or any at all (for good reviews of most canon lenses i've found www.the-digital-picture.com to be quite good), also, take a look at the marketplace section to familiarize yourself with lens prices, they can get expensive!!

again, welcome to the forum and enjoy!
-luke

Quantaray make different flashes, some for Canon cameras, which one do you have?

The 50mm is a pretty good portrait lens for the $100 price, I wouldn't count on using it as a 50mm prime for sports though you might be disappointed. but again it often amazes me with some of the shots that come out of it!

As for a zoom for your $400 price range Id start looking at the Sigma Lenses they offer some good lenses priced lower than many competitors

Welcome welcome! To the forums and as a fellow T1i owner.

1. The 50mm 1.8 is a really nice lens for $100. It doesn't have the best autofocus in the world, but it's image quality is good. I have one and love it! Now soccer, NASCAR, and basketball are kinda different animals. Well... they are more similar if you are shooting from the stands...

Some variant of the 70-200 is generally recommended for outdoor sports. However, it is rather expensive. The Canon 55-250 IS is a relatively cheap lens with good image quality. It's drawback is slow autofocus. If you can save for a 70-200 (preferably a 2.8 IS USM if you plan to do any indoor sports)

You might find the 70-200 and even the 55-250 too short for NASCAR. I don't have much experience with shooting racing so I will let someone else answer that one.

2. Knowing exactly what model flash will help but I recommend you buy a Canon flash. You can find used 430EX and 580EX for good prices. If you want a 430EXII or 580EXII I would most likely buy new as the price will be similar used.

Sigma is my favorite non-Canon lens maker. Their OS (Sigma's IS) is good and their HSM (sigma's USM) is also very good.

I bought my T1i at the end of August. I didn't realize I'd be shooting a lot of my kids sports but I did and then I shot thousands of shots of soccer, etc. when I realized I wasn't getting a whole lot of keepers, mostly due to slow fps and autofocus on the T1i. Don't get me wrong, for everything else it is a great camera but for fast action it is not the best. Maybe you can get better results than me but I need a faster body (I got a 40D and a 1D Mark II) for fast action for more than a few keepers out of every 100 shots. Don't let me discourage you, try the T1i for yourself first but if you find a lot of shots are out of focus or you have a lot of pictures before the ball hits the hoop and after the ball is through the net then you might need to look at the 40D/50D/7D/1D cameras for faster performance.

For lenses, the T1i's kit lens 18-55IS is a good all around lens already. The 50 f/1.8 is good too if you want to isolate the subject using a wide aperture but otherwise the kit lens is more versatile as an everyday lens.

For basketball the 135mm f/2L or cheaper 100 f/2 or 85mm f/1.8 would be a good bet. Indoor lighting is generally terrible and you need a fast lens to keep the shutter speed fast and a USM lens to focus fast enough. These lenses will be good for indoor soccer as well.

For NASCAR you probably want some reach. There the cheap solution is the 55-250IS and the better solution IMO is the 100-400L though the 70-200L might do as well for less money. Both of the L's there have USM which helps and the 100-400L and the IS versions of the 70-200L have image stabilization which helps when you do panning motorsports shots. These lenses will be good for outdoor soccer too.

Thanks to you all for your replies!!!!

That's a lot of info, and I appreciate it. I will look into the zooms this weekend to see what I can get.

I am learning so much here, but I know I will have TONS more questions.


Thanks again!!!!!

hpulley wrote in post #9488493
For lenses, the T1i's kit lens 18-55IS is a good all around lens already. The 50 f/1.8 is good too if you want to isolate the subject using a wide aperture but otherwise the kit lens is more versatile as an everyday lens.

I tried the kit lens at a basketball game, but as I figured, the faster the shutter speed, the darker the photo. I will have more time to practice. Although I have taken some pretty awesome shots of my son, so that makes it better for me...

And the red-eye reduction is fabulous... I have a Canon SD1000, and I was constantly getting red-eye on anyone I would take a picture of. And I was taking some close-ups of him, and the pics look terrific!

The kit lens is not a good indoor basketball lens, too small an aperture, too slow as we say. The 50 f/1.8 probably focuses too slowly (a different kind of slow), but it might work better than the kit lens. Might be worth a try. An 85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2 or something like that would work better. I like the 135 f/2L but it isn't cheap, though really for an L prime it isn't that expensive.

hpulley wrote in post #9491532
The kit lens is not a good indoor basketball lens, too small an aperture, too slow as we say. The 50 f/1.8 probably focuses too slowly (a different kind of slow), but it might work better than the kit lens. Might be worth a try. An 85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2 or something like that would work better. I like the 135 f/2L but it isn't cheap, though really for an L prime it isn't that expensive.

Yea, I am going to get the f/1.8 lens for sure. Now, the 100mm f/2, is that a zoom, or is that fixed? Sorry if I don't quite get it yet...

And I'm not looking for a super-duper zoom right away, but something that will last me a few years or so till I re-learn all of this.

I super-appreciate your help!!!

It is a fixed or "prime" lens. Thats why it only has one focal length, 100mm.

themadman wrote in post #9491672
It is a fixed or "prime" lens. Thats why it only has one focal length, 100mm.

Ahh.... I was kinda thinking that, but wasn't sure. I think I would want to stick with a zoom, but will get the 50mm f/1.8.

Let me explain some of the benefits of primes over zooms.

1. Large aperture. Thats the little number after the focal length like 50mm 1.8. That 1.8 is the maximum aperture. Yes, the smaller the number, the bigger the aperture. The aperture halves in size every (root 2) * aperture size as in "1.4 lets in double the light as 2.0 and 2.0 lets in double the light as 2.8"

More light getting in lets you keep the shutter speed high to capture fast action motion without dimming the photo.

I don't think any zoom gets larger than 2.8 so many primes will let in more light and perform better in low light situations.

Larger aperture also separates the subject from the background which is often desirable for many photos.

2. Price. Prime lenses generally cost less than zoom counterparts for the obvious reason they are limited to one focal length when the zooms need much more work and engineering to give them good performance over a range of focal lengths.

3. Image quality. I find primes have superior image quality to similarly prices zooms.

Yes, you can't zoom with them but you can always crop or move further away depending on the situation =)

Benefits of zooms over primes... they zoom =)

I have used my Sigma 70-300 at Nascar races with some decent results. I am not trying to sell them or blow them way up but they do have the cool factor with my friends.

The first is Carl Edwards' first win at Texas in November and the second is Matt Kenseth in the pits. The lines are from the fence.

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themadman wrote in post #9491767
Let me explain some of the benefits of primes over zooms.

1. Large aperture. Thats the little number after the focal length like 50mm 1.8. That 1.8 is the maximum aperture. Yes, the smaller the number, the bigger the aperture. The aperture halves in size every (root 2) * aperture size as in "1.4 lets in double the light as 2.0 and 2.0 lets in double the light as 2.8"

More light getting in lets you keep the shutter speed high to capture fast action motion without dimming the photo.

I don't think any zoom gets larger than 2.8 so many primes will let in more light and perform better in low light situations.

Larger aperture also separates the subject from the background which is often desirable for many photos.

2. Price. Prime lenses generally cost less than zoom counterparts for the obvious reason they are limited to one focal length when the zooms need much more work and engineering to give them good performance over a range of focal lengths.

3. Image quality. I find primes have superior image quality to similarly prices zooms.

Yes, you can't zoom with them but you can always crop or move further away depending on the situation =)

Benefits of zooms over primes... they zoom =)

Thank you for that awesome explanation!!! It makes total sense now. I was looking over the lenses at B & H, and noticed the ones with the fixed focal length, but they weren't designated as "prime", so I was wondering what that term meant. I've never used a lens like that, so I'm sure for the first few weeks I'm going to try to zoom with it, until I get used to it.

With your info I will look again and probably find a great choice...

Another quickie: Do any of you find the Canon lenses ok, or is there another brand like Sigma or Tamron that are better?


Thanks again!!!!!

dshoots wrote in post #9493991
I have used my Sigma 70-300 at Nascar races with some decent results. I am not trying to sell them or blow them way up but they do have the cool factor with my friends.

The first is Carl Edwards' first win at Texas in November and the second is Matt Kenseth in the pits. The lines are from the fence.

Nice shots! I go to the New Hampshire race in September (The Chase opener, had same tickets for about 7 years...), and we always finish during the day...

Your Sigma, is it a certain model? Let me know if you can.

Thanks!!!!!