Best lens for Fast moving object/people CANON

manuel87roma · May 1, 2018

Hi guys I just bought a 85mm f1.8 una lens for my canon EOS t1i which is really good I guess for portrait, and actually not bad for shooting fast moving objects and people. I was wondering though which could be a better choice with a bit zoom that could take good shots of dancers dancing in a theatre for example??

Any suggestion? Not too expensive something low/mid range. And if you have some photo sample would be great.

Thank you

Overread · May 1, 2018

The trick with fast moving subjects is that you need a fast shutter speed; so with a lens that means you want a nice wide aperture so that it lets in the most light and thus allows for a faster shutter speed. For dancing I would guess that you would be wanting at least 1/500sec and possibly 1/620sec as your slowest shutter speeds.

Of course, as I'm sure your 85mm has shown you, wider apertures means thinner depth of field so at a practical level you can often find there's a depth of field that is practical and one that isn't practical to work with.

So for indoor action f2 to f2.8 would probably be the maximum (smallest f number; widest aperture) aperture that is practical to use in depth of field terms for dancers.

So your 85mm should already do the job more than good enough. However from what you say it sounds like you need more focal length reach to photograph the subjects based on where you and they are. A standard lens for this would be a 70-200mm f2.8 lens. Canon has several new or secondhand choices in this. The top is their 70-200mm f2.8 IS L Mark II, though that comes with a high price tag. The non IS version is cheaper and the original 70-200mm f2.8 IS L is still out there (second hand).
Sigma and Tamron also make decent 70-200mm f2.8 and their newer models (again with higher price tags, but cheaper than Canon) are very good (The canon Mark II is still the best, but the newer 3rd party offering compare very favourably ).

If you can't afford the f2.8 then you could use the Canon 70-200mm f4 which has the bonus of not being as big a lens and being cheaper. The maximum aperture is smaller and that means that you will have to take your ISO higher to get a similar shutter speed when the light is pushing it. Personally, having shot action (equine) indoors and needing those faster speeds, I've found that f2.8 is needed (I've even had cases where I've been at the maximum ISO for my camera and at f2.8 and still been underexposing at 1/500sec).

So I would go for the f2.8 if possible, but it shouldn't be the end of things if you can only get the f4.

One thing you can do is use your 85mm in the venue and see how if performs exposure wise at f2.8 and f4. See how high you have to take your ISO to get to the required shutter speeds and see if the f2.8 to f4 difference is important for your situation.

TCampbell · May 1, 2018

As focal lengths get longer, the very “low” focal ratios start to disappear.

Canon has these two...

EF 135mm f/2L USM (about $1000)
EF 200mm f/2L IS USM (about $5700)

I use the 135mm f/2 for low-light concerts because it gives me a long-ish focal length with a low focal ratio and I don’t have to re-mortgage the house to afford it (you may have to re-mortgage the house for the 200mm f/2)

Apart from that... it’s f/2.8 zooms such as the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II (a fantastic lens ... about $1900 as I recall (without checking the price). The 70-200 is extremely popular. It’s my most-used lens (I own the gen I and II versions).

Upgrading camera bodies is an alternative as that would let you crank up the ISO (as I recall, the T1i caps at ISO 3200). A 6D II would have negligible noise at ISO 3200 (it’d be like shooting ISO 400 or 800 with your camera) and it goes much higher... this is a full-frame camera). A T7i or an 80D would be another attractive upgrade (this are APS-C size sensor cameras — like your T1i).

ac12 · May 2, 2018

At this point of time and age, I would upgrade the old T1 to a T7i or 77D, to stay with a crop/APS-C sensor body, for better low light capability. The T7i can get up to ISO 25600, if you need to. Image quality goes down as the ISO level goes up, but if you need the high ISO, you have it.
By raising the ISO level, you can shoot with a slightly slower lens, like f/2.8 or 4 zooms.

Fast zoom and low/midrange price do not go together.
Fast zooms (especially f/2.8 zooms) are expensive, new they are $2k-3k. You have to buy them used, to bring the cost down to a more affordable level of about $1k-1.4k. The older non IS zooms may be cheaper, but today, I personally would NOT get a non IS long lens.