300mm for sports?

[happypoo]

I'm planning to purchase a Nikon 70-210 f/4-5.6 (non D) for my D70. I

will be shooting many sports with it (football, basketball, water

polo, baseball, softball, etc etc.). All sports are high-school

level. With the D70's magnification, the lens would come to about

300mm. Is this sufficient for sports photography or should I opt for

a 70-300 (effectively 450)? Is the compromise in quality (I would get

the 70-300 G) worth it? And is the 70-210's focus speed really all

that slow? I used to use a ZLR, so pre-focusing and making room for

slower focus is something I'm used to, but I may have become somewhat

spoiled after a year with an SLR and a lens with a somewhat fast

autofocus. Thanks!!

[francois_gauthier]

Because of the cropping factor, a 70-210 should be fine. But F4-5.6 is rather slow. An 80-200 F2.8 would be great but expensive. Try to find something in between.

[lex_jenkins]

If you're already accustomed to the Olympus ZLR you probably will be satisfied with the 70-300 Nikkor for most purposes. The maximum variable aperture is comparable and the D70 and 70-300 will autofocus a bit faster. Some folks claim the 70-300 AF's slowly but it seemed pretty quick on my D2H.

 

But I'd get the ED version, not the G version.

[k_michael]

You be disappointed when the shutter speed gets real slow.

[happypoo]

Bah. My lens right now is f/3.5-5.6 and while I do find myself wishing for an extra stop or so, whatever. Grin and bear it.

[KenPapai]

Indoor sports action requires faster lens. Why not better ask this question in the Nikon forum? You might be able to get away with a slow lens with the outdoor action.

[peter_nelson1]

<I>Bah. My lens right now is f/3.5-5.6 and while I do find myself wishing for an extra stop or so, whatever. Grin and bear it.</I><P>

 

If you are serious about getting good results f/4-5.6 is too slow for indoor or fast action. A good 80-200 f/2.8 gives you a full two stops more light on the long end which means you can use a shutter speed that's 1/4 as long, which means 1/4 the motion blur. But as you say, "whatever".

[awindsor]

Outdoor sports during the day are nowhere near as demanding as indoor sports in terms of light level. Given that the dSLR performs reasonably well at high ISO you can compensate for the slower lens. Poorly lit indoor arenas are very demanding - people used to use ISO 1600 films for this even with fast lenses.

[40mm]

It's not just hand-held shutter speed. Poorly lit, indoor sports also tend to have ugly and cluttered backgrounds, whichever way you point that long lens - another reason why the f/2.8 zoom is so popular for this kind of photography. If the budget is tight, therefore, better to go for a shorter f/4 than a longer f/5.6, say.

[happypoo]

Sorry, I didn't mean to dismiss anyone's opinion or treat them as irrelevant :(. I just meant that a lens any faster than this is simply not something I can afford at this point, so I might as well make do with what I have. I kick the ISO up to 1600, I hand-hold at 1/60-1/100, I do some serious editing, and I filter the noise out. The results are not what I would get with a faster lens, but they're usable. Maybe in the future, when I have money to spare, I will take speed more into account, but for now, this is the best I can get for my budget. Besides, I shoot mostly outdoor sports in bright sunlight (in which case I keep my aperture at f/8 anyway). Thanks for the comments, though!!

[lex_jenkins]

HP, one thing you might want to consider is a good used 180mm f/2.8 AF-Nikkor. The optical quality is far better than the 70-300 zooms and even a bit better than the 80-200/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 VR Nikkors.

 

You really don't need the latest "D" version and you'll save some money buying an earlier version. I doubt Nikon ever made a bad version of this lens, tho' some feel sturdier than others. Mine's the earliest, heavy metal version and as much as I like it, I wouldn't mind having a smaller, lighter version.

 

I've used mine to shoot junior high school basketball in a poorly and irregularly lighted gym. I left it wide open and with ISO 400 film got shutter speeds of 1/30 to 1/125 second, depending on the location in the gym. Got some motion blur that looked good in some cases. I also used flash, which helped freeze action.

 

Best bang for the buck in a fast, moderate length telephoto Nikkor. Check KEH for prices - they usually have several.