lens for snowboarding

I have a canon 40d and am going to be taking pictures of snowboarding this year.. i was wondering what lens you would recommend. I

was looking at either the canon 10-22mm, the sigma 10-20mm, or maybe the canon 15mm fisheye.. please let me know what you think..

If you want a picture of the person snowboarding you will need a much longer lens size depending on where you are shooting from. My guess without knowing youe specifics is that a 200mm is what you will need.

You need to decide what kind of photography you are going to be shooting. Are you going to be in the park shooting rails or big tables? Or are you going to be in the backcountry shooting cliff drops and powder turns?

 

The park stuff will require a wider angle lens the backcountry stuff will require a longer lens. A fisheye will only be useful for a few specialized shots in snowboarding, it's much more of a skateboarding type lens (though that 15mm won't be a fisheye on your 40D just a distorted wide angle). In general, I would be looking for a 17-35 and a 28-70 for park stuff or a 28-70 and a 70-200 for backcountry. These focal lengths are 35mm equivalent.

If you are on the snowboard yourself, then I recommend a disposable film camera! At the very least you'll need an

underwater mounting. Perhaps the best alternative would be some of the (Pentax? were they) point-and-shoot

cameras that are water sealed to a certain modest depth.

 

Otherwise, I am at a loss to imagine what kind of snowboarding pictures otherwise would use an ultra-wide-angle

lens. The snowboarder would be tiny in a mass of white.

 

By the way, whatever lens you use, be aware that on camera metering will want to present all that nice white snow

as an 18% gray. Modern cameras have some "intelligence" for backlighting and so on, but there's no intelligence

like the real thing.

JDM,

 

Next time you are at a news-stand, pick up a copy of Snowboarder or Transworld Snowboarding. there are plenty of ultra wide angle "skateboard" type shots taken in the halfpipes and "parks" I mentioned earlier.

 

No underwater housing is needed. Disposable cameras will be useless as will point and shoot cameras if Darren is serious about snow photography in any way. Just as with any type of adventure photography, there is a risk to your gear. But anyone who has some years of experience on skis or a board can ride just fine with a camera pack on their back.

 

FWIW, one of my first long term photography jobs was as an assistant to the senior photographer/art-director at Morrow snowboards. And my first published image was a snowboard shot. Then I realized I didn't like professional snowboarders and that snowboarding photography really messed with my actual snowboarding. So I moved on to BMX and Skateboard photography.

Yeah, close-ups with ultra wides and/or fish-eyes are very common in snowboarding photography esp. getting air,

half-pipe, etc. Any of the lenses the OP has mentioned will work great for close-ups and "winter wonderland"

pictures.

I have the 15mm Fisheye and a 20D - for the type of shots I assume you are after and I do assume close quarters

work: Of the three, the15mm will be least flexible and IMO, least the useful, generally.

 

I have shot only I snowboarding competition, and that was at a vantage point where I needed to use a 70 to 200 to

get a competitor full frame: but I do shoot a lot of close quarters very wide shots at the swimming events - at the

starting blocks. I do not use the 15mm on my 20D, but rather a 16 to 35 on my 5D.

 

I have not used either of the 10 to 22 lenses you mention, but I would prefer the Canon for its lens speed: not that I

suspect you will use F3.5 on the snow, but it is a faster lens, thus more flexible as a general tool. But I guess it is

more expensive, too.

 

WW

Well, I confess that while I do not read the "trade" snowboard magazines, I'd sure be reluctant to take my own

good equipment into that environment and on that kind of transportation. I yield to your superior knowledge and

information, but the OP was ambiguous about whether the pictures were to be taken <b><i>of</b></i> snowboarding

or taken <b><i>while</b></i> snowboarding.

If you're intending to shoot in a park, then a longer lens is essential as you will have to be out of the way to give the boarders enough room to manoeuvre (and crash). I have a 24-105 and its not long enough.

 

I'd recommend picking up a CP to give the pics a bit more zing

While I do appreciate all the comments. I would suggest that for the people that do not snowboard not worry about my equipment. I am

quite capable of riding all season with out falling, and just because it is called snowboarding does not mean that it is always snowing. That

is not really an issue.. And as for how close I will be taking the shots from. Id say for some shots 4-10 feet and others maybe 10-20 feet.

However I am not really concerned about the longer shots because I feel my 28-135mm will handle those just fine..

> Id say for some shots 4-10 feet and others maybe 10-20 feet. <

 

My assumptions were correct.

 

At the Starting Blocks, I am also shooting 4 to 12 ft (one or sometimes two main subjects in shot) - therefore I stand

by my suggestion for the Canon 10 to 22 for your 40D.

 

Regarding the extra speed (of the Canon lens compared to the Sigma) also note that although I need and usually use

the 16 to 35 at about F4.5 to F5.6 indoors, sometimes I do open it up to F2.8.

 

At F2.8 I can get emphasis, by selective DoF (about 3 ft), on one Swimmer when I am at about 4ft to 5ft subject

distance.

 

I am not sure how applicable that is for your situation - but it was another thought I had last night when I was

previewing your possible shots, in my mind - F3.5 at 10mm on a very close subject, could be quite creative, I think..

 

WW

I used to shoot a lot of action and boarding back when film was in my camera. I had a 21-35, 28-105 and 100-300 and used all of them on my full frame camera. My cameras have changed since then I own a 10D and just bought a 30D yesterday, I am way psyched.

 

I own the Sigma 10-20. It is a great lens and makes a world of difference in my current photography, but would not be my go to lens for boarding unless I was just shooting pipe competition and knew where everyone would hit. My new camera came with an 17-85IS which will be a good all around lens and I think would work well for this. 17-40 also may be good. I would have a 70-210 as a second lens, then a 10-20 as my 3rd lens.

<p>Darren, I'd like to know if and what you ended up purchasing and if you've gotten the chance to use the new equipment. I shot snowboarding last year with a Tamron 28-75 with some success. With a 28 I didn't have much room for the halfpipe and so I'm looking at either the 10-22 or 17-40 for my 40d. On the long end, I was a bit too close for comfort on several occasions in freestyle and slalom so I think I'm going for either a prime (100 or 200) or the 70-200 4. </p><div></div>