KmH said:
SNIP>>>Unless you're shooting from the sidelines, even 300 mm is going to be a bit short.
I do not believe that statement is entirely accurate, at all. PLENTY of high school football action comes very CLOSE to the sidelines. MANY running plays that come outside the hashmarks and toward "your" sideline are going to be easily captured with a 50mm normal lens, especially on a 1.6x camera body!!! Heck, the standard second camera is a 24-70, or a fast-aperture wide-angle prime worn around the neck, and a longer lens on a monopod.
PLENTY of good football shots have been made with SHORT lenses, most-especially from the sidelines, and the corners of the field, and the back line on touchdown and extra-point and 2-pt conversion tries and short field goals. Normally, just stay 5,6 yards in front of the line of scrimmage on each play, and shoot what you CAN. When running plays come toward your sideline, or receivers come toward your sidelines, no way a 300mm is needed...it is in fact the wrong lens. When the offense gets to within 35 yards of the goal-line, move down to the back end of the endzone and wait for passes and TD's. Get into a spot, and be ready! When the ball is inside the 35 yard line, a 300mm is a hindrance, not a help, unless the shooter is a dead-on expert level shooter.
A 70-200 on a 1.6x body is going to be about all of the lens weight and mass that an average, inexperienced "football mom" wants to handle...I highly,highly doubt you could handle a 7-pound 300 + camera, nor a 15 pound 400/2.,8 + camera.
Again...it's a matter of shooting what action you CAN get. MOST h.s. fields, and I have been to literally dozens of different fields and stadiums, have lights that absolutely SUCK, especially at the endzones. Again, this is a new shooter, shooting H.S. ball, on a hs lighted field, NOT NCAA or NFL lights!!! Two different things, totally.
Based on 3+ decades of photography, I think a beginning h.s. football mom with sideline access would PROBABLY have as good a results with an 85mm f/1.8 prime as with a 300...BETTER, actually...
it takes a few years to learn how to instantly locate action with a narrow-field telephoto...just FINDING the subject is a learned skill...the Canon EF 85/1.8 is cheap and VERY fast-focusing, very light, and easy to work with. It's better to get a SHARP shot from a bit farther away, and then crop-in, than to get an OOF half-body with no football. For goal-line offense, think 35mm f/2 from the back line. When that running back busts thru the line from 18 feet away...you WANT a short lens on the camera!
This is not a Sports-Illustrated scenario, shot under NCAA- or NFL-caliber lights...think utter crap lights, with end-zones as much as 3 stops darker than mid-field...you'll be well-served by a FAST 85/1.8 or 135 f-2 L lens, and cropping into shots that are shot at FAST speeds, like 1/500 at f/2, IF you are lucky, at ISO 3,200.