Best lens for night football

[ottor]

I"ll have a Canon 5D Mark III - ..... now I need the perfect lens for shooting from sidelines at a night football game. I have a 2.8, 70-200 but I want more reach than that.... I can rent. College games....

Suggestions ???

 

[ronlane]

300mm f/2.8L would be my choice or a 400mm. But those are REALLY expensive.

You could get a 1.4 Teleconverter and get closer.

 

[ottor]

How aobut the 70-300 F/4 IS ? - or is f/4 not enough?

 

[ronlane]

I shoot with a 70-200mm f/4 for night High-school games but I really could use the f/2.8 though. Specially if you add that 1.4 TC to it, you will loose a stop of light with that.

 

[ottor]

BTW, I'll have a Canon 7D body with me also... but I think the 5D will handle the ISO a little better .... I hvae the older 7D, not the new one..

 

[ronlane]

You are correct the 5D mk III will handle low light better but you will give up a frame or two per second on the 7D mk I and 3-4 per second on the 7D mk II. Honestly, if I were trying high school or college football at night, I would get the 7D mk II and the 1.4 TC with the 70-200mm f/2.8L. That combo would be half the cost of a used 300mm f/2.8 and get you a lot closer.

 

[Gary A.]

Ideally, the 70-200 f/2.8 and/or the 300mm f/2.8. The f/4 is too slow and you really want to shoot at f/2.8 for the shallow DOF and subject isolation.

 

[Tailgunner]

300mm 2.8 minimun

 

[D-B-J]

I'd look heavily at the Sigma 120-300 2.8 Sport and a 1.4 or 1.7TC.

Jake

 

[Gary A.]

I'd look heavily at the Sigma 120-300 2.8 Sport and a 1.4 or 1.7TC.

Jake

That ... is the perfect lens for football.

 

[D-B-J]

I'd look heavily at the Sigma 120-300 2.8 Sport and a 1.4 or 1.7TC.

Jake

That ... is the perfect lens for football.

If I were still shooting sports I'd be lusting after one. I forget who, but somebody here was posting soccer photos with it paired with a D800 and it was a seriously impressive lens.

Jake

 

[Tailgunner]

I'd look heavily at the Sigma 120-300 2.8 Sport and a 1.4 or 1.7TC.

Jake

This^

Third party glass is going to be your friend if you're working on a tight budget. I don't have any experience with this lens but I have heard good reviews about it.

 

[BillM]

With the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 Sport

 

[BillM]

You really don't want to go with a TC for night sports, the loss of light and speed to focus will make it real hard. Before I bought this I found an old Tamron 300 f/2.8 on Adorama for $1200. It gave me a chance to shoot some games and really made up my mind that this was something I really wanted to do long term and then I didn't mind spending more that $3000 on the Sigma.

This was with the Tamron with great lighting in the fog.

 

[Ido]

Best would be a 400mm f/2.8, probably, on the 5D Mark III. If you have the budget for it, definitely get it. I'm talking about a used Mark I, not a brand new Mark II! Use that with the 5D and the 70-200 with the 7D and you'll be set.