Reccomend me a good sports lens..

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ash400D

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I need some help, far too many lens' out there.

I have a 400D and require a good telephoto lens for sports (motocross) photography..

Tamron, Sigma?

70-300, 75-300?

Another factor is cost, im pretty skint atm, but would ideally like the lens before christmas. Theres a pre-owned mint condition Tamron 70-300mm lens in my local Jessops for £55, but im unsure if its Canon fit.. If it is, are they any good?

Cheers.
 
I'm sure you'll find something much better on the sales forum here for the same sort of money ;)
 
If you have the budget, go for a Canon 70-300mm IS. To be fair, I've been using at 75-300mm USM II for this year, which everyone says is the worst piece of glass Canon makes, and I've got reasonable results with it on a 400D (check my Flickr). The Sigma lens is supposed to be pretty good for the money.
 
RichardC27 said:
If you have the budget, go for a Canon 70-300mm IS. To be fair, I've been using at 75-300mm USM II for this year, which everyone says is the worst piece of glass Canon makes, and I've got reasonable results with it on a 400D (check my Flickr). The Sigma lens is supposed to be pretty good for the money.
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i might be wrong but i think that 70-300mm IS might be above his price rnage at £400


i jsut got the 55-250mm IS lens and im over the moon with it, i cant put it down :D
 
It may be, which is why I gave the alternative of the much maligned 75-300mm USM lens. It's a perfectly good motorsports lens if you have decent technique.

Look at this as a 100% view. This is 1/320th at f10 using an 11 year old Canon 75-300 USM II lens on a 400D body. The rear wing of the car is the best view, and IMHO it's quite good enough for most uses. I've had shots published on this lens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard_crawford/2938826483/sizes/o/ An F3 car is doing about 140mph at the point this photo is taken
 
never used one but i had a sigma equiv.

i think for the extra £40 if yo can save to loose 50mm in range the optics in the 55-250 are alot better.
 
From everything I read the Canon 55-250mm is a cracking lens, let down only be the lack of a switchable IS
 
Excellent shots Richard, Im scraping the money together gradually.

Would i be right in saying that on a 400D the 250mm would equate to 400mm?

I'll see what crops up on ebay, if all else fails i'll check out the lens in Jessops..
 
I'm not sure the EF-S 250 would equate to 400mm, since EF-S lenses are built specifically for APS-C 1.6x crop sensors. Any 300mm EF mount lens will give an equivalent of 480mm at full zoom. It may be worth saving for a little longer for a good lens, rather then buying something crap and constantly moaning about it. Sigma's 120-400mm lens is available for £498, and I've read decent reviews of it.
 
Canon 75-300 USM, blurgh! I have one from years ago (think mine is even the MkII version) and its really not very good at all, honestly, I'd avoid it. CA's all over the place. Its old and it shows it.

The Canon EFS 55-250 IS is not quite so good because its non-USM. The focus speed is going to give you problems that aren't there on the 70-300 IS.

The Canon 70-300 IS is a cracking lens - best of the non-L glass they have made for sports action by quite a fair bit. Buy it from HK and get it for about 350 quid... I've taken the bulk of my motorsport shots so far with this lens. I also have a 300 F4 and people often think that is what I have used... honestly, you won't regret getting this glass, its really, really good and a total steal at the price.
 
desantnik said:
Canon 75-300 USM, blurgh! I have one from years ago (think mine is even the MkII version) and its really not very good at all, honestly, I'd avoid it. CA's all over the place. Its old and it shows it.
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Mine is a Mk II version, it must be over 10 years old. It's crap, but you can get a decent shot with it if you work at it. For the cash though, the Sigma 70-300mm is a much better lens.
 
So for my budget, either a Sigma or Canon?

Im going to look at a Tamron 70-300 tomorow, £50 in mint condition, i could always sell it if its no good.

Im saving for a Canon 70-300mm USM IS.
 
So, the Tamron Lens in Jessops that a young lady told me was for a Canon, today when i turned up with my money, turned out to be for a Pentax.. Hmmm.

So, im still on the look out, its highly unlikely, but id like it for this Saturday.

Looking on ebay at a few Canon 75-300 USM 4-5.6 but they're going for about £100+.

I really can't stretch my budget, so can anyone reccomend a decent and cheap lens that will put me on while i save for a better lens?

Aslong as it can produce good, sharp pictures and is around 200/300mm then i dont mind.
 
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG. Good all around starter for long lenses.
 
I shoot motorsport too, but I personally don't find 300mm quite enough sometimes. Its probably enough for half the shots but most of the time I can't seem to get close enough to the action or that I have to stand higher up (further back) to avoid the fence lines/marshalls etc in my shots.
 
Sigma 70-300APO is the best of the budget lenses at around £ 125 with canny buying. Up the budget for a 70-300IS or 70-200 f4 L or a Sigma 100-300EX f4

Consumer lenses are cheap for a reason, the trade off being comparatively slow max aperture and increasing softness at both ends of the zoom range.
 
ash400D said:
Aslong as it can produce good, sharp pictures and is around 200/300mm then i dont mind.
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I think if there was such a lens you'd find we'd all be using it ;-)

As for the question "is 300mm long enough?" it does rather depend on the circuit and the size of the subject you are shooting. The bulk of my shots are 70-300mm on a 1.6x crop, with a handful using a 300mm with a 1.4x TC - but I'd consider those unusually long shots.

Mind you, if you hang out at somewhere like Silverstone, perhaps a 600 f4 with a 2x TC might almost get you full frame :thumbs:
 
I have a Tamron 70-300 it came as part of the kit with my 450D so far I hav'nt found it to be a lot of good.

You will be disappointed I think.

Best to go for somethong a lot better, even if it means waiting a while till you've saved your money.
 
ash400D said:
Would i be right in saying that on a 400D the 250mm would equate to 400mm?
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Yes, because....

RichardC27 said:
I'm not sure the EF-S 250 would equate to 400mm, since EF-S lenses are built specifically for APS-C 1.6x crop sensors.
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...focal length is the distance from the rear nodal point to the film/sensor plane when focused at infinity. So even on a EFS mount lens the crop factor still applies.
 
Unless you are particularly used to using an old film SLR or a FF digital one, ignore the crop factor multiplier anyway. Pretty much everyone when discussing motorsport is talking about lens focal length not the effective focal length with the crop factor.

You'll want at least 200mm on your 400D for motorsport at pretty much any circuit. After that you could well need another 100mm's worth but it depends on the circuit and the location on the circuit you choose to shoot from.

For example at Brands Hatch you'd want anything from 100mm to 500mm to shoot cars depending on the corner (assuming you want a reasonable frame filling shot), whereas Silverstone it might be 300mm - 800mm
 
For the first part of this season I use the EF75-300 USM III (this lens is now for sale in the for sale forum ;) ) and it isn't a bad lens at all.

If you are mainly shooting sports I wouldn't be too worried about IS as you'll probably be at higher shutter speeds anyway...
 
Depends what you call high!!
 
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