What lens to use with Nikon D3200 for College Basketball?

[THPhotos]

I have done a few pro college basketball games in the past few weeks, I am on the court down at the ball goal, I use the Nikon D3200 and take 2 lens with me the 18-55mm and the 55-200 , I use the 18-55 for close shots at my end, and then the 55-200mm when the home team switches to the other end of the court for far shots, but am tired of having to switch them all the time for diff shots, what lens would good to have and not to switch out alot?

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, well I guess my first question would be what sort of budget your looking at - my second question would be about the lighting. I'm assuming both of the lenses your currently using are most likely kit lenses with a max aperture of 4.5, do you find that sufficient to maintain an acceptable shutter speed for your shots?

 

[THPhotos]

the lightening is pretty good lit with it being a huge sports arena , esp the court and players, the fans are darkened a little, but bright in my area, the ones I have taken being kit lens have produced some nice images and haven't disappointing, I dont want to go overboard in budget but hope to get something not to high in price, a couple hundred dollars, no thousands for now, I usually keep the shutter speed around 400-500

 

[robbins.photo]

Well there are plenty of 18-200 mm lenses out there, I think most of the Nikkor's generally start at around $600. You could probably find a Sigma or a Tamron a little cheaper, or maybe even get a little cheaper than that used. I myself am not a big fan of the "all around lens", now I haven't actually tested the newer 18-200 mm's mind you but generally speaking most lenses that cover such wide focal lengths generally have to make a lot of compromises and as such the IQ suffers. One option you might want to consider believe it or not would be to invest in a second camera body and a harness that would allow you to carry them both at the same time. A used D3100 or D5100 would probably be quite a bit cheaper than a good 18-200 mm lens, roughly around $250-$400 used. If it were me I'd mount the telephoto on the D3200 and use the 18-55 on the D3100 or D5100 - since they use the 16 mp sensor you wouldn't need to worry as much about the close end shots needing to be cropped quite as heavily.

 

[THPhotos]

thanks for the info, I had been thinking about getting a 2nd body and mounting the other on it instead of forking out more money for a lens, I see alot of photographers with 2 cameras so that would prob work best, I was looking at the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX (VR) Vibration Reduction Lens

 

[robbins.photo]

thanks for the info, I had been thinking about getting a 2nd body and mounting the other on it instead of forking out more money for a lens, I see alot of photographers with 2 cameras so that would prob work best, I was looking at the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX (VR) Vibration Reduction Lens

They are pretty reasonably priced but you will be losing almost half your telephoto range that way, so something to consider - might want to look through some of the EXIF data on some of your previous shots and just see how often you go above 105 mm - if it's quite a bit then that probably wouldn't be your best option. Also at some point you might want to seriously consider grabbing a Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto lens, the image quality on them is absolutely amazing. It is without a doubt my favorite lens, hands down. Not a must have at the moment I'm sure but something to consider putting on your wish list at some point.

 

[raventepes]

Do you have the option of perhaps renting a 200-400 for the game? If not, I agree with the 70-300.

 

[THPhotos]

I have looked at the rental sites, but wasn't sure how well the rental thing worked.

 

[Derrel]

It's best to have two cameras, one with a short lens, the other with a long lens for the far end of the court, and to alternate bodies. Failing that, focus on just ONE end of the court, and ignore the other end when the lens is totally wrong for the situation. FOr the close end, I would want a 24mm f/1.4, for the far end a 200mm of f/2.8 or faster. Since the D3200 NEEDS an AF-S lens for focus, there are not a whole lot of primes from Nikon that will actually autofocus, except the "good" G-series AF-S models.

 

[robbins.photo]

Yup.. I think the two cameras would be your best bet as well. I'd probably think about getting either another D3200 if that's within your budget, or a D3100 if your budget is a little more limited. If your going to be using two cameras and switching between them a lot it would just make more sense to me if you were using 2 cameras that have similar control systems. Less chance of missing shots that way I would think.