Gymnastics - Canon 70-200 F4

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ste1010

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Steve
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Hi
After my trusty Canon P&S died I have made the jump into DSLR purchasing a Canon 550d.

My main use is taking photo's of my kids. My son plays football/cricket and daughter competes at national level at Gymnastics.

My Brother has loaned me a Canon 70-200 F4 which I have used for a couple of football and cricket matches. although probably not up to the standard of the pictures you guys probably take, I am pretty happy with the results.

I have yet to shoot any Gym comps, which are indoors, no flash, and variable lighting.

Ideally I would like to buy a 70-200 f2.8 however the Canon is probably out of my reach, and I am nervous in buying the Sigma equivalent due to reported focussing issues. sods law I will get a poor copy, and am not confident enough to say I would spot it was the lens and not me.

My brother has offered to sell the 70-200 F4, for between £200-300, which is in my mind a bargain as it is a couple of years old, but probably only taken a couple of hundred pics prior to him lending it to me.

Will F4 be too slow for Gym. the pro's all use F2.8 Canons. I had a long conversation with one of them at the last comp she was at and he took a couple of pics at F4 to show me and they looked OK, however he was shooting at ISO 3200, on an EOS 1D (Mark IV I Think). Obviously that body will have a much better performance at high ISO than the 550d.

Has anyone got any advice or guidance around this. Is there any other lenses that I should consider for Gym? If the price was right I could buy my brothers and an.other lens. The obvious answer would be to try it, but she does not have a comp for a while, and my brother wants a decision from me.

sorry for the long winded post, hope it makes sense.

Thanks
 
f/4 will be tooooooooo sloooooooow indoors, lots of folk use the 135mm f/2 or 85 f/1.8 indoors, the f/2.8 will be good in brightly lit gyms but 99% arent.
 
I had to hire a 200mm f2 for the last gymnastics I shot...even then I was shooting at ISO3200 @ 1/500 f/2.0 if I recall correctly.
 
Thanks Gary,

thats what I thought.

I will look into the lens you mentioned. I may even be able to pick up a used one and buy the F4 from my brother for the football and cricket.
 
Tugster - Where were you located when shooting at 200mm. were you able to access each of the pieces or were you shooting from the stands
 
Its mainly the action shots I was hoping to get.

I am guessing I need to look at a fast prime, get as close as I can, and may be crop later
 
As well as Sigma, there is Tamron. My understanding is they are both well regarded, and each is currently sold with a good long warranty. The Sigma is on my wanted list, as I beleive it focuses faster. Go for it, I say.
 
Blythman,

Are you referring to the 70-200 specifically. I have read that the Tamron focusses very slow, where as the Sigma is quick, but has focus issues, especially in low light.
 
ste1010 said:
Tugster - Where were you located when shooting at 200mm. were you able to access each of the pieces or were you shooting from the stands
Click to expand...

I had free reign of all apparatus and the floor, I could not use flash and I did not want to stand too close to the competitors during their routines... I think a 135 f2 would suffice but to be able to catch various disciplines from one point required a longer FL. Hence to 200mm
 
ste1010 said:
Blythman,

Are you referring to the 70-200 specifically. I have read that the Tamron focusses very slow, where as the Sigma is quick, but has focus issues, especially in low light.
Click to expand...

Absolutly 1000000% forget anyone mentioned the Tamron, its AF is ridiculously slow and your subject will have finished their routine before it locks on, even in good light the AF is terribly slow.
 
The problem with hiring is that from what I have been told there are good an bad examples of a particular model.

I am erring on the side of looking for a fast prime, possible a Canon EF 85mm f1.8 USM of Canon EF 100mm f2.0 USM
 
Ally said:
The Canon 85mm 1.8 is fantastic at 2.2! I have used it for years now and it is my first choice lens for indoors. I really don't see why more indoor sports photographers carry it?!
Click to expand...

Ally - What in particular do you use it for. This lens is currently top of the list.

I was looking at the 135mm, but I think that may be a bit long for some scenarios. My reason for the 85 1.8 is the extra 1/3 stop over the 100mm F2 may be more useful than the extra 15mm focal length when shooting indoors. does this make sense.

cheers
 
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