lens help

macca

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Iain
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hi guys,

ive got a canon 40d and im after a new lens. i photograph sports and motorsport for which is use a canon l series ef 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L is usm. ive started trying to photograph sports like football under floodlights and have found that even with the iso set on 3200 then images arent coming out as sharp as i had hoped.

can anyone suggest a lens i should buy that is faster than my 100-400 so that i can photograph better and clearer under the floodlights. open to any suggestions as i can make my budget fit or can save up the extra cash if needed

thanx guys, any help appreciated :thumbs:
 
The 70-200 2.8L is the obvious choice I suppose having reasonable reach for your purposes. The 300mm 2.8L would be ideal but you're talking serious wonga!
 
Macca,

Can you post an example with the EXIF data. It seems that you're a long way out on the ISO without getting a sufficiently quick shutter speed...it surprises me.

Bob
 
Macca

Canon Bob's right, you need to look at the exposure data to see why your images aren't sharp. I suspect you've got subject movement, bur without knowing exposure info it's difficult to say.

I've spoken over the years to several press photographers who cover football, and they all have problems with enough light. even in some of the better stadiums. My recollection was most used the 300mm f2.8. Big lens, big price tag.
 
heres an example, not quite sure how to get the exif info up tho :S

fnight2.jpg
 
Well Macca, you shot that one at 1/100th ISO 1600 at 4.5
I would guess that your 100-400 was back close to 100mm.

The goal posts and nets are reasonably blur free so it's just a case of the shutter speed being too slow for the action. I would say you'd need 1/500th minimum for this but there wouldn't be enough light without using flash. Your 40D's flash would cope at this distance but coouldn't sync that fast.

The bottom line looks like you'll need a faster lens or get clever with a 580EX flash (or similar) and use manual settings to have a higher shutter speed.

Bob
 
bob, i posted that shot in a thread in the sports section with a few others to try get some tips. after being guided how to get my iso from 1600 upto 3200 i went out sunday night and tried again. this was 1 of the best shots i managed

size.jpg
 
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