Would the Canon EF 300mm f4 IS be a good sports lens for low light situations?

Of course I'd love to have the 300mm 2.8, but I cannot afford it. Period.

The well-lit football fields and indoor gyms, plus the high ISO that newer Canon cameras afford, allow me to shoot at 500 at f4 regularly, at least.

Accordingly, would the 300mm f4 make a good sports lens, i.e. good sharpness, quick focus for indoor and low light situations?

Thanks in advance. Hank

Depends on how low the lighting is and what camera you're shooting with. If your camera can handle relatively higher ISOs well, then it should be ok. The ideal situation is the 2.8, but I understand not everyone can afford that. I use my 70-200mm f/4 IS for low light sports at times and it does fine (with high ISO).

With sports, you'll be pressed to use a fast shutter - so you'll be pushing your camera's low light capability.

If you shooting D3 or 1dmk4 probably yes if lights are good. But I will still take faster lens.

Oops, forgot to mention I'll be shooting with a Canon 7d and Id Mark iii.

Hi Hank,

I use both 300/2.8 and 300/4. I don't shoot indoor sports or night games, but occasionally I have to work in pretty dimly lit covered equestrian arenas. The 300/4 is my longest handheld lens. I try to keep it at 1/320 or faster when hand holding, in spite of the I.S. I've used both lenses with 50D, 7D and 5DII... The 50D can do ISO 1600 presentably, while the 7D an 5DII are usable at 3200 and 6400 respectively, IMO.

The 300/4 is usable on a monopod, too, with I.S. turned on. It's one of the lenses that require I.S. be manually switched off if used locked down on a tripod. (The 300/2.8 turns off I.S. itself, when on a tripod.)

It's sort of unfair to compare the f4 lens to the f2.8. The bigger lens is not pracitcal for anything more than brief handheld shooting, but it has that last little bit of image quality over the f4 lens. The events I shoot are often 6, 8 or as much as 12 hours long, so the f2.8 is nearly always on a tripod with a gimbal mount, and is less mobile than the 300/4. In all other respects, the f2.8 lens excels... but again, I think it's a bit unfair because IMO the f2.8 is one of the best lenses ever made by anyone in this focal length (I'm anxious to see how the Mark II compares).

The 300/4 produces what I'd qualify as a very good image. It's not quite as crisp and doesn't render colors as richly as the f2.8, but it also doesn't have any fluourite elements AFAIK. It's a little slower focusing, but still can keep up with reasonably fast moving situations.

Push the limits on ISO, get good noise reduction software and you should get pretty good results.

:o even with 300L2.8 and a 5DMKII .. can be too slow, if you like to freeze action indoor ..


I was at the limit (even over ?) of the 5DMKII in a dog agility show
1/800 + Iso 4000 + big noise reduction

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …red/930562420_B​sGUv-O.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …red/930561922_K​PsDy-O.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …red/930566958_y​q335-O.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …red/930566768_i​gxsJ-O.jpg

Some places where top teams play have decent lighting where you might get away with f/4, but generally speaking indoor sports needs f/2.8 and even faster. You will likely struggle a bit in many places with a slower lens, usually you're already hurting with slow shutter speeds and/or noise from high ISOs using f/2.8. You also benefit from larger apertures in that you can blur out busy backgrounds more.

I was able to use my 300/4 at ISO 3200 - 6400 at the University of Michigan's Chris Keen Arena. Any high school gym will require ISO 12800 - 25600.

I also have used it a bit for field sports as the sun is just down and the lights are on.

One thought for you - A lens like any of the 70-200/2.8 will be much better for the indoor sports for both reach and speed. Add a 1.4X TC and you have a 280mm f/4 lens. This is close to the 300/4 in reach and speed. AF will be a little slower, and sharpness will be off a bit unless you have the 70-200/2.8 II.

amfoto1 wrote in post #11502903
...
I had to walk several miles to set up for these shots at Laguna Seca... would not have wanted to carry the 300/2.8 that far (maybe by itself with one camera... but not with all the other lenses and two cameras I was toting that day).

I've done that a couple of times at various race tracks, and I can recommend a camera bag with wheels, or even better strap your bag to a small luggage cart for larger wheels that can handle short treks off the tarmac. Your back and shoulders will love you for it, and there's no problem toting a 300/2.8 or even 500/4 all day.

Both would work in most cases. The 2.8 is wonderful for the stop of light and the subject isolation! I started with the f4 and it did fine doing outdoor sports. I was fortunate enough to be able to step up to the 2.8 and love it. Only a few situations where the f4 came into play...now with the ISO capacity....the lighting becoming less of issue with sports. If the light is that bad....probably shouldn't be playing!

As for IS....it's useless in sports unless your panning. Shooting at shutter speeds above 400, the IS does nothing. IS helps camera shake, not subject factors like stopping action. I have found that my focus speed and keeper rate increases with the IS off!

If you're looking at an f/4 lens for sports, then I highly recommend the Sigma 100-300 f/4 over the 300 f/4 IS (both of which I own). The Sigma has slightly better IQ and AF speed, plus it's a zoom.

Anders Östberg wrote in post #11507053
I've done that a couple of times at various race tracks, and I can recommend a camera bag with wheels, or even better strap your bag to a small luggage cart for larger wheels that can handle short treks off the tarmac. Your back and shoulders will love you for it, and there's no problem toting a 300/2.8 or even 500/4 all day.

Well, if I'd been one of the sanctioned photographers, I'd have been camped out on site all week, plus had a golf cart and a driver! That would have been most ideal

Sorry, but I disagree about I.S. being useless for sports.... I think I.S. is useful even on higher shutter speeds. And I like to have the option to deliberately use slower shutter speeds to induce some subject blur. I'm always glad to have I.S. at those times.

Technically, when using a 300mm on a crop sensor camera, one should keep shutter speeds to 1/500 or higher. I often use 1/250 and sometimes even slower. So I.S. gets plenty of use.