Shooting PPV Wrestling - Lens?

[Cinka]

Hey. I'm being hired to shoot a high profile Pay Per View wrestling match. As you can imagine, the lighting will be very bright. I currently have a 24-105 Canon L Series and the standard 28-55 lens, which I'm thinking might not be optimal for this kind of action shooting. I'll be very close, near the ring with a group of other photographers. I've used my lens for concert shots, but this is going to be different.

Can anyone recommend a good lens for fast paced, well lit, sports event?

Thanks! And if anyone has done this sort of work before, I would love to hear your thoughts on what to expect.

 

[Dave127]

I do a lot of indoor sports/action and feel the 70-200 F2.8 IS is probably the best lens. The real shame is, they were just on sale.

 

[keith204]

I've done cage fight photography and was always right against the fence. My 70-200 was too long, and my 17-55 was a hair too short. I'd say your 24-105 will be a great length if you're in a group right up at the boxing ring. My only concern is it being f/4. Are you allowed to use flash? I was and was thankful for it. A couple fights had a huuuge bright light up top, but the shadows were terrible and fill flash was necessary. Anyway, just a few thoughts for you.

 

[prodigy2k7]

How can be 55mm too short and 70mm too long... When it comes to boxing I dont know how that is possible.. Care to tell?

 

[keith204]

How can be 55mm too short and 70mm too long... When it comes to boxing I dont know how that is possible.. Care to tell?

haha..sorry, my bad. The 17-55 was too short, and the 70-200 was too long. The ranges were both awkward in my opinion. A medium telephoto would have served me better. For instance, I had a 17-85 IS lens for awhile, that was very useful because I was shooting in the 50-85mm range often.

 

[keith204]

one more note. I was shooting through a chain length fence. You're probably not going to have the same dilemma. In order to shoot, the rim around my lens had to be touching the fence, or crazy close at a long telephoto length in order to blur out the fence so it's unnoticeable or virtually invisible even at f/2.8. Your shooting situations are going to be different than mine.

 

[JerryPH]

Its logical that your lens choice is going to depend on WHERE you are shooting from. If somewhere up front, as mentioned a medium range zoom is perfect. If you are far away... obviously, the greater the distance, the longer the zoom needed to get the shots.

Where will you be sitting, Cinka?