Which lens? On a budget!

I take several photographs for the high school yearbook of which I am the

advisor. I have a Canon Digital SLR Rebel XT and I was wondering what lens is

good for basketball, football, baseball, soccer, etc. I have a Quantaray 70-

200, but most pictures are extremely noisy. I was considering the Canon 70-

300 F 5.6 IS lens, but I'm not sure if it's the right choice or not (as I

don't know much about f-numbers and such). I only have a bout $500-$600 to

spend. Any suggestions? Also, please give suggestions on how to precisely

stop action and blur background. I'm a newby at this:), but quick learner~

Thanks!

<p><i>"but most pictures are extremely noisy"</i></p>

<p>Thats the fault of the camera, not the lens. For the budget you give, go with either a Canon 70-200 f4L and a 50mm f1.8 (for basketball), or a couple og shorter, faster primes in the place of the 70-200, if most of these sports are done in low light. As for the 70-300, avoid it, it won't do you any good in this situation, since IS can't stop subject motion. In general, what you need is a faster lens that is preferably f2.8 or faster.

The noise is the result of using a "slow" lens. IS helps in situations where the the subject is static but doesn't help very much at all when the subject is moving. Once exception would be the use of panning.

 

To blur the background you need a low aperture setting and then you need to separate the background from the subject. Ideally you would want a F2.8 zoom lens for this but even third party lenses are little outside your budget at longer focal length.

 

It's easier to blur with longer lenses than it is with shorter lenses.

 

You need to be at around 1/250 or 1/500 to stop action. To do this you need to use a higher ISO which means more noise or you need a faster lens which is expensive or in the alternative you can use a flash. But that has all sorts of other problems.

 

Since yearbook photos are mostly cropped anyways. I would look at a fast prime lens. Maybe get the 50 1.8 and 85mm 1.8. These two lenses would keep you under your budget and give you more freedom for creative shots like stopping action and blurring backgrounds.

The Canons should be able to handle a higher ISO with better "noise" control...even up to

800-1600 range.

 

I would think the 50mm/1.8 or even the 85mm/1.8 would be excellent choices for what

you need. As with any genre of photography, it's gonna require practice (and study of

others' work as far as the type of shots you are going for).

 

These lenses go for the low $300's each, I believe--but I wouldn't necessarily think you

would need both. I don't have the 50, but the 85 is a fantastic lens, and for what you're

describing with limits placed on the cost, I think you'll be able to do something with either

lens.

In addition, the smaller the f-number (referred to as f stop) the bigger the opening of the lense, the more light it will let in. Hence if your shooting in a dark gym, you must let a lot of light in or use a flash, so you want a lense with a smaller f stop, the smaller the number the "faster" it is. If you can get close you can use the 50, but if your shooting from the side lines you will need the big long lense and the fast one in this size are out of most peoples price range. I don't know the prices of Cannon lense but if you want to carry one lense the shooting range you are at is between 70-300, a F/4 will be ok, but I would suggest as fast as you can afford,the 2.8 will do you well, stay away from anything above F/4. If you want to go with primes, get a 50 and something in the 180 or 300 range as fast as you can afford, if you can't, save your money, don't be like me and waste it on glass that won't do what you want. In disagreement to other posters on freezing subject and blurring background. This is usually done by shooting as a slower shutter speed and following the subject like duck hunting. Use manual and start with 125 and bracket slower. Your not going to get a lot of perfect shots, but it's all based on light, lense length, where you are, how fast the subject, etc. What you are doing is letting the center focus area track the subject and leaving the shutter open and moving the camera blurs the background. Hope this helped you, there is a learn section on the front page there may be something there to help you.

You will blur the background if you use Jim's technique above--as in "in motion"--but if

you are talking about bokeh--which is what most people refer to as "background blur,"

you need wide apertures.

 

I would recommend trying to shoot action straight-on in basketball, as in hide at the

endline and under the basket (presuming you're not using flash--probably aren't allowed

unless you are hooking up strobes in the rafters) and shoot the players as they face you

coming up the court.

 

And get a monopod.

 

The only other thing I'd add is that the 50 and the 85 are frequently used as portrait

lenses--so it's not like you'd be using them exclusively for basketball.

I agree with most of the comments above, just wanted to add that the Quantaray 70-200 is very likely the cause of your problems, not your camera, since this lens is probably extremely soft. Yes, a fast prime for indoors and an f2.8 or f4 zoom for outdoors. I should add that a Canon EF 200mm f2.8 L prime for outdoors might be the best option for your budget. For outdoors a 200mm lens will never be too long and its image quality is said to be superb.