First shots of oldest son coaching H.S. Wrestling

I made a collage of my oldest coaching 2 weeks ago for his grandmother. Aaron was an outstanding wrestler in H.S. and now really enjoys coaching. Here are the first pics I took with my new f/1.8 85mm and 7D. I would have liked to have used flash and kept the ISO down but the officials were adamant about no flash. Kind of strange but that was the first time I ran into the no flash rule.
Anyway here is the collage and a couple of one of his wrestlers.

Do you usually shoot the wrestlers or was this just a day for your son? The reason I ask, if you usually shoot the matches, do you know of any short comings using the 85mm?

Thanks!
Jim Smith

I shoot mostly high school wrestling. My previous lens was a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 before I bought the Canon f/1.8 85. I felt I really needed that extra 1 and 1/3 stop sometimes to keep the ISO down and the shutter speed up on my 7D. That and the weight of a 70-200 lens while shooting an all day tournament can be torture on the arm.
I can honestly say you can't go wrong with the 85 with it's large aperture and fast focusing abilities in gymnasiums.

Thorrulz wrote in post #11563112
I shoot mostly high school wrestling. My previous lens was a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 before I bought the Canon f/1.8 85. I felt I really needed that extra 1 and 1/3 stop sometimes to keep the ISO down and the shutter speed up on my 7D. That and the weight of a 70-200 lens while shooting an all day tournament can be torture on the arm.
I can honestly say you can't go wrong with the 85 with it's large aperture and fast focusing abilities in gymnasiums.

So, you think there's no problem with a Canon 50D?

Thanks for all the help!
Jim Smith

If you are planning on using the 50D for wrestling, basketball or volleyball your best choices would be one of the following.
1. f/1.8 85mm This would be the best choice if you are reasonably close to the action.
2. f/2 100mm This would allow a great mid point in the focal length range.
3. f/2 135mm If you're shooting from the stands this is the one you want.
Since you have a 1.6x crop camera like I do those lenses basically give you a focal length range from about 135mm with the 85mm, 160mm with the 100mm and 200mm with the 135mm. Throw in the 15MP and good ISO capabilities of your 50D and you have a really nice combo with any of these lenses.
I'll post a couple more pics I took in a dungeon like atmosphere later so you can get an idea what it's like to shoot at or near wide open with the 85.

Thanks. I'd llike to see some pictures of what I can expect.

Thanks Again!
Jim Smith

Nice series!

WB seems way off in the last 2.

Aressem wrote in post #11567312
WB seems way off in the last 2.

I attribute the WB being off to the red mats they used.

Here are a few from an earlier meet. It was also the first time with the 85 so I experimented with the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. The only lighting in the gym was a single light about 20' above the center of the mat.

f/2, 1/250, ISO 1600