Just ordered a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 II

Lonz

Lonz

Lonz

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Decided not to take the plunge on the 70-200mm L just yet. £1600 for my first zoon lens is just a bit steep!

It'll be going on my 40D for the moment, before I upgrade to a 7D next month. I'll see how it copes with sports. I'll be shooting a few American Football matches and will post the results!

Any tips for the first attempts?
 
Well shutter speed is your key area to look at, if you're shooting in daylight you shouldn't have any issues. However under floodlights you're going to be raising that ISO to get a decent shutter speed. I like my sigma though and have found it fast to focus:

 
As it happens, I think it will be under the floodlights at first.. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! I'm hoping the 40D can cope well with ISO3200 after a bit of post-processing maybe. What's the minimum shutter speed you find you can get away with?
 
The minimum I try to have is 1/640 but you're going to get some motion blur on feet, hands etc. Floodlights vary quite a lot so you'll have to see what the conditions are like when you are there. The f2.8 helps a lot though :)

edit: Just looking through some shots on Flickr, under floodlights at Kingsholm (which are seen to be pretty good for rugby), I'm at ISO1600-2000 to get 1/800 (although these may have been twilight games rather than evening kick offs!). Football grounds tend to have better floodlights, but all depends on the facilities where you are going to watch the game.
 
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Rojin said:
Well shutter speed is your key area to look at, if you're shooting in daylight you shouldn't have any issues. However under floodlights you're going to be raising that ISO to get a decent shutter speed. I like my sigma though and have found it fast to focus:

Click to expand...

That's a very nice shot there. I'm quite jealous :D
 
Right, bear in mind this is my first attempt shooting sport, and the first time I've actually used a zoom lens at all, so be nice with the critique!

Some good shots, some not so good. I'll get there with practice I'm sure. It took a bit of getting used to and I think I got the hang of it a bit better as the game went on. I also found 200mm to be a bit short when I was trying to get people's faces in; I'm on the edge of the pitch people are usually facing away from you unless they're on the other side of the pitch.

These were with my 40D, with AI Servo focussing (took a bit of getting used to, and some of the shots had to be written off due to it focussing in the wrong place).

















More on the photostream if you click on them.

Cheers.
 
Lonz said:
Click to expand...

Excellent first attempt at sports. Think the shot above is my favourite as you're right in on the action and caught it well.

Out of the shots you've posted on your photostream I'd probably ditch half of them. I think you do have some good sharp shots of 'action' and essentially thats the sort of shot you want to aim for (goals and celebrations being the main ones) but i think you need to be more selective in the images you post.
 
Get lower (60cm off ground ideally)
Crop tighter.
Level out horizons.
Shoot more portrait.
Run auto-contrast/auto-levels/bit more vibrance.
Sharpen a little bit more.

Shoot tight - crop tighter.
 
p0ss3s3d said:
Get lower (60cm off ground ideally)
Crop tighter.
Level out horizons.
Shoot more portrait.
Run auto-contrast/auto-levels/bit more vibrance.
Sharpen a little bit more.

Shoot tight - crop tighter.
Click to expand...

How do you get down lower? Most of them I was sitting down (I've got the muddy arse on my joggers to prove it!)

Also, to shoot tighter I'd have to have more zoom, or run up and down the touchline?
 
Lonz said:
How do you get down lower? Most of them I was sitting down (I've got the muddy arse on my joggers to prove it!)

Also, to shoot tighter I'd have to have more zoom, or run up and down the touchline?
Click to expand...

Get on your stomach. (bring a bin bag)
 
Yeah, sit down height is good, about the height of a typical monopod without extension. (get a little chair for fishing people can be had for like £3.50 and gives you sharper and contrastier photos ;) )
 
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