Choosing a 70-200 f2.8 for indoor sports.

[dkhillerud]

Kathy, have you considered using a prime either an 85mm or a 100mm? I also shoot colorguard and found that as much as I would like a zoom, I could never get the speed, because as they say you need to keep it at least at 1/500. So I started shooting with my 85mm which is a 1.8 ( I shoot canon) You might consider renting both of the above lenses, and see if they work for you? by the way what guard and level are you shooting? My daughter competes from NY we just won the WGI Eastern Scholastic A Championship,and then the local MAC Scholastic national A championship, what a whirl wind season it was.

I did consider the 85mm, but the sales person at the camera store I was buying from said the zoom would be better. Still considering, as it would be a nice lens to have. Do you have any color guard photos posted anywhere?

Congrats to your daughter, so exciting!! My daughters guard is from MN, Irondale High School. They are competing at the WGI national championship in Ohio right now! They compete Scholastic A as well. Here in MN they compete Scholastic open, their instructor thinks that it pushes them to become better. They just won first at our state championships! I love color guard, just really want to get better pictures! It is definitely a challenge!

 

[AndrewWG]

Maybe I've been going about this the wrong way? I've been shooting at about 150-180 mm thinking that I can just crop in later. I would probably be better off shooting at 200 mm and trying to get the shot right from the start.

A couple more thoughts. Put the camera in AI Servo focus mode. When you lock on the focus, it will track the motion of that locked on area. Just keep the shutter button pressed half way until you want to shoot the photo.

Also, just so you know, if you go all the way to 200mm, you will need an even faster shutter speed. Also, depending on the lens, it MAY look worse. Sometimes a lens all the way zoomed one way or the other isn't the strong point of the lens. Try it. See what you get for results. Could be just fine.

 

[ejcraft]

Kathy, good luck to your daughter in Dayton, we wish we were there, but alas it wasn't in the stars this year, which is really to bad for us, for if we had been able to go we were ranked #10 in the country, just above Greater Johnstown, as we beat them to win the Eastern championship, by the skin of our teeth. This year everything just seemed to go our way, and it's the best I've seen us do since I got involved 5 yrs ago. We are trying everything we can to take the girls next yr to Dayton. Sorry I don't have enough to attach a picture or I would. good luck on whichever lens you decide to go with. Like I said I liked my 85mm the best I did some shows with my canon 70-200mm F4L, but there is a big difference in trying to keep the speed up. The problem I have is the 85mm doesn't work when I'm roaming with the kids as I chaperone,, then I need my 18-135mm , but hate to carry more than 1 lens, as I also carry the water and extra stuff they may need. so what's a girl to do?!

 

[dkhillerud]

A couple more thoughts. Put the camera in AI Servo focus mode. When you lock on the focus, it will track the motion of that locked on area. Just keep the shutter button pressed half way until you want to shoot the photo.

Also, just so you know, if you go all the way to 200mm, you will need an even faster shutter speed. Also, depending on the lens, it MAY look worse. Sometimes a lens all the way zoomed one way or the other isn't the strong point of the lens. Try it. See what you get for results. Could be just fine.

Good to know! Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it!!

Kathy, good luck to your daughter in Dayton, we wish we were there, but alas it wasn't in the stars this year, which is really to bad for us, for if we had been able to go we were ranked #10 in the country, just above Greater Johnstown, as we beat them to win the Eastern championship, by the skin of our teeth. This year everything just seemed to go our way, and it's the best I've seen us do since I got involved 5 yrs ago. We are trying everything we can to take the girls next yr to Dayton. Sorry I don't have enough to attach a picture or I would. good luck on whichever lens you decide to go with. Like I said I liked my 85mm the best I did some shows with my canon 70-200mm F4L, but there is a big difference in trying to keep the speed up. The problem I have is the 85mm doesn't work when I'm roaming with the kids as I chaperone,, then I need my 18-135mm , but hate to carry more than 1 lens, as I also carry the water and extra stuff they may need. so what's a girl to do?!

Sounds like you had a fantastic season! Hope you get to go to Dayton next year. My daughters team advanced to semi finals! So excited for them!

 

[DoDaLeCa]

You are shooting on a crop camera (1.5x multiplier FOV compared to a full frame 35 mm sensor).

To eliminate camera handshake blur you should be shooting at 1/(Focal Length x FOV multiplier) minimum shutter speed (maybe 2X better).

So if at 200 mm for a non-IS/OS lens you need to shoot at 1/(200 x 1.5) = 1/300s to eliminate handshake blur but more speed (faster shutter = less time) would help eliminate blur. At 1/320s you are right at the edge of what you need to minimize hand shake blur; 1/400s should be better from that aspect.

However, that shutter speed might not be fast enough to eliminate blur from the subject moving so that might mean an even faster shutter speed is required.

In all the lens I have owned (Tamron, Sigma, Canon) the Tamrons have been the slowest focusers. I have the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 OS for Canon which I've found to be a pretty good performer but a faster lens (f/2 or faster) would help by letting more light allowing a faster shutter speed (minimizing blur) and/or lower ISO (eliminating noise in the picture). OS only helps with eliminating camera shake but you need a fast shutter speed for moving subjects.

Not familiar with Nikon focusing but their equivalent of Canon's AI servo mode usually works better for tracking moving subjects.