Sports shooters

[MN Shutterbug]

Would you recommend the Tamron 28-75/2.8 or the nifty fifty, for indoor sports such as volleyball and basketball? The speed of the 50mm would be nice, but is it going to be enough focal length, even on a crop body? It's been so many years since I shot indoor sports, and then it was with 400 ASA black & white film. I remembering using a 28-135 back then, but of course this was full size sensor, and I have no recollection of the most useable focal length. I'm assuming I used a flash back in those days, too. It sounds like flashes aren't allowed anymore.

[finnbay]

Everything depends on how close you can get to the action. I've tried the nifty fifty and really didn't find it met my needs. If I remember correctly, you have a 50D and the 2.8 lens will give you anything you need as far as shutter speed. I've shot my 50D inside at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 with my 2.8 with very good results in a very dark venue. I use my 70-200 2.8 almost exclusively for basketball and volleyball and that gives me both the action and close-ups that I use. If you weren't concerned with the real tight half body portraits, you might get by with 75 focal length. Can't comment on that particular lens because I haven't shot it.

Using a flash effectively in this day and age is a lot trickier than years past. Dan had a wonderful primer last year and I try to copy that when I use lights - which I bounce off of the ceiling. That said, I still do a lot of my shooting without flash - sometimes because I have to, sometimes because it's just not practical to set them up.

Without strobes, I take a grey card along to have something to work color balance off with all the wierd lighting you might have. I then take a number of practice shots during warm ups to establish the best shutter speed - look at histogram, etc. Once I determine that, I use manual settings because the backgrounds will raise holy grief as you follow the action. If you shoot Av, one background may give you a shutter speed of 1/320, and turn a little further and now have 1/120. Shutter speeds of at least 1/320 is what you want. Less than that and you'll lose a lot of shots to soft images. I have one venue I can shoot at ISO 3200 and manually use f/2.8 and get 1/400. Another one I shoot at will only get me 1/320 at f/2.8 and ISO 6400. But knowing that I get a lot more keepers.

That said, a couple of other problems you'll have to deal with. Gyms for the most part are not lit evenly. There are bright spots and dark spots, and what would be a great shot under a bright spot is unusable under a dark one. I know my venues, and even though it kills me not to take shots when my subject is in certain parts of the gym, I stay away from them because I know I'm not going to be able to use them anyway. The other thing is that certain lights cycle at 60 cycles per second and you'll catch the dark part of the cycle in a certain number of shots. Nothing you can do about that, but when you see four shots in a row and one is unusable because of under exposure, that's why.

Hope this helps, Mike.

[Steve Foss]

If it were me with the 50D I'd strap on the Tamron instead of the nifty, Mike. Flexibility is a big reason. Reach is another one. Be sure to use the center focus point (as has been mentioned now and then, the xxD and Rebel series camera autofocus performs faster/more accurately when the center point is used on lenses f2.8 or faster). And in those low-light conditions, it's always great to try to grab contrasty uniforms to give the AF something to bite into.

I haven't shot that particular Tammy, but if the AF performs like my Tammy 17-50 f2.8, it's plenty fast for indoor action.

[MN Shutterbug]

Thanks, guys. My other option would be the Canon 85/1.8, which isn't much more than the Tammy. But then again, I'd lose the flexibility.

[Steve Foss]

With the loss of flexibility, however, comes half a stop more aperture with a very nice focal length. And it'll be a bit sharper than the Tammy, being a prime. Lots of 85 1.8 lenses out there in sports shooters' bags.

Of course, outside the gym the fixed focal length might be quite a limiting factor in other settings. Just hard to say. It does make a very nice portrait lens.

Trade-offs. Always.

[finnbay]

I have to agree. I think I could make the 85 work if I can move around a bit to get the different types of shots I use. And in actuality, I don't ever use less than 70 anyway. (Not quite true, but close enough).

[fishinchicks]

Mike, I've used the 85/1.8 for danceline photos in various gyms. I really like it. One thing I have had troubles with is having the focal point be the gym floor instead of the girls. Dbl explained how he gets past that problem, but I am too tired to remember what the correct term is. You probably know all about that, though.

[mcary]

Mike,

Another consideration with the 50mm is focusing accuracy, especially in Servo mode. I have the f/1.4 and it does a lot more hunting than locking in poorly lit situations. This is really unfortunate because it's a nice sharp lens. Considering you'd be shooting it at wide apertures, focus lock becomes pretty critical and I haven't been overly impressed with it when used for moving subjects. My 1 year old son doesn't really constitute a fast moving target and it has real trouble locking on him indoors, especially at closer distances. I've used the 50mm f/1.4 on both my 40D and the Mark II with similar results.