Which Lens would be best

[Bella99]

here is the website to the top photographer in our sport nationally and internationally. Just an example of what it is. The sport is always outside during the day.

Nov 2019 USCA GSD National IGP Championship

Brian Aghajani Photography

www.brianaghajani.com

 

[Bella99]

@ac12 Tv is canon speak for shutter priority (stands for time value)

To the OP, it's a difficult question becuse it sounds like you'll be in the same category as sports photographers and that kinda puts you in the big white category.

Will the events take place during the day or would you be looking to shoot indoors or night?

Settings wise you might find that you'll need to look at shooting in manual mode, setting the aperture and shutter speed yourself, but using auto ISO. This way you can control the depth of field and the shutter speed.

Focal length wise it's pretty tough to say, I'd imagine that 400mm-600mm is where you'd want to be at, but fast glass at those lengths costs a lot of money. A 150-600mm may be an option, but only if you have good light. A lot of sports photographers go for two camera bodies, with a big lens on a monopod and a wider lens for when the action gets close. It may be worth renting a few lenses, that way you could try them out and find something that works.

Always during the day. I have been watching you tube videos on using the camera for action shots and fast paced sports. There I learned to use TV mode for faster shutter speed and honestly its what I have left it at as I got frustrated in setting my camera. Lazy....I know...have had the camera for a year and I need to do better.

 

[Bella99]

TV mode ???
Never heard of that. I will have to look at the T7 manual.
Do you have the T7 or the T7i?

You NEED do another shoot, but shoot from about the same distance that you will be at when shooting during judging events. Otherwise you cannot determine if your 70-300 is long enough, or NOT long enough. And your practice shooting will not duplicate what you will run into at a judging event.
Practice conditions (including distance to the subject) should be as close to the actual conditions as possible.

You being close, for these pics, explains the shallowish DoF.

It is just the T7. I have used the camera from a similar distance we would be in for trials and the pictures seemed grainy when I had to zoom in all the way to view the handler and dog. Again, it could be the settings my camera is set to? My lens does need to be cleaned I am just nervous at doing it myself. Maybe that plays a roll in the grainy-ness? I am also trying to figure out shooting pictures that go from the light and into the shade as there are many trees surrounding the field.

 

[weepete]

@Bella99 thanks, that's useful. The lens he's pictured with looks like this one to me: AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8E FL ED VR | Interchangeable lens for D-SLRs from Nikon

The canon equivalent would be this: Canon U.S.A., Inc. | EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM

But that's some serious kit and has a price tag to match. I'd suggest the Canon EF 100-400mm ii here: Canon U.S.A., Inc. | EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

That's the lens I'd be looking to if I didn't need the reach of a 600. If that's still over budget, there are various options. Cheapest would be a used Sigma 50-500mm, it's not as fast, as sharp or will autofocus as good but could get resonable shots. The Sigma 150-600mm C is another option, better than the 50-500mm, but not as good as the Canon, or the Tamron 150-600mm which is pretty close to the Sigma, though a less popular choice. There's also the older Canon 400mm primes to consider, though generally the newer zooms have roughly equal sharpness to the old primes and offer a bit more flexibility. If you need weather sealing then the Sigma 150-600mm Sport, or the Canon L series is the way to go.

Bear in mind that systems are moving to mirrorless, and the lens mount is changing from EF to RF. There is a converter avalible, but worth bearing in mind if you will be looking at mirrorless cameras for your next body upgrade.

 

[photoflyer]

For perspective, I have the 70-200 f 2.8 Mark II L and the 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 Mark II L and the 300 f 4 L Mark I. All are incredible but they are also between1500 and 2300 USD each. But, I also have the EF 70-300 f 4-5.6 Mark II. It may be the best value out there. I've shot it on the T3i and the T7i while at the same time I had the full frame setup with the 100-400 and when reviewing shots later, it was difficult to tell which lens was used. It is not as durable as L glass and I don't think it is water sealed but you won't be putting it on a water sealed body so that does not matter. At $550 USD it is a bargain and I stongly suggest you check it out unless you are willing to pay much more.

 

[ac12]

@ac12 Tv is canon speak for shutter priority (stands for time value)

To the OP, it's a difficult question becuse it sounds like you'll be in the same category as sports photographers and that kinda puts you in the big white category.

Will the events take place during the day or would you be looking to shoot indoors or night?

Settings wise you might find that you'll need to look at shooting in manual mode, setting the aperture and shutter speed yourself, but using auto ISO. This way you can control the depth of field and the shutter speed.

Focal length wise it's pretty tough to say, I'd imagine that 400mm-600mm is where you'd want to be at, but fast glass at those lengths costs a lot of money. A 150-600mm may be an option, but only if you have good light. A lot of sports photographers go for two camera bodies, with a big lens on a monopod and a wider lens for when the action gets close. It may be worth renting a few lenses, that way you could try them out and find something that works.

Ha, caught me. I was thinking TV not Tv.
Shutter priority is reasonable.

 

[ac12]

It is just the T7. I have used the camera from a similar distance we would be in for trials and the pictures seemed grainy when I had to zoom in all the way to view the handler and dog. Again, it could be the settings my camera is set to? My lens does need to be cleaned I am just nervous at doing it myself. Maybe that plays a roll in the grainy-ness? I am also trying to figure out shooting pictures that go from the light and into the shade as there are many trees surrounding the field.

"the pictures seemed grainy when I had to zoom in all the way to view the handler and dog"

This is confusing.
Are you saying it looks grainy when you zoom the lens in on the camera, OR when you zoom in on the picture in your computer?
If you are zooming the lens, the "graininess" should not change.
If you are zooming in on your computer, then it makes sense that you are seeing grain, actually noise. The more you zoom in on the picture in the computer, the more you will see image noise and the quality of the image will degrade.

The idea is to zoom in as close as you can with the lens, and do minimal zooming in edit on the computer.
The reality is, when I am shooting sports, I do not zoom tight. If I do, it it is harder for me to follow fast moving action, and keep it in the viewfinder. So when I shoot sports, I leave space around the subject, more so when I have a subject that can change directions on me.

"I am also trying to figure out shooting pictures that go from the light and into the shade as there are many trees surrounding the field."

Welcome to lighting problems in sports.

Subject going from sunlight to shade can be/is a pain to deal with. Some/many cameras cannot cope with that.
If it is a sunny day, and the dog runs into the thin shade of one tree (like your #2), most of the scene is full sun, and the camera will expose for full sun, and underexpose the dog in the shade. While evaluative meter mode claims it can handle back-lighting, in my experience, it does not reliably do that.
The only way that I know of, to deal with that, is to use the camera in SPOT meter mode. BUT, then YOU have to hold the center autofocus point on the subject, as that is where the spot meter is. This places a premium on your tracking skills.

But there is no free lunch. I lightened your picture so that the dog was more correctly exposed, to simulate a spot meter on the dog (or the handler). But notice how bright the background is, where the grass is in full sunlight.

To avoid this bright background, you would have to study and plan where to shoot and where to not shoot.
Maybe you have to limit yourself to shooting the dogs when they are in the sunlight.

 

[Bella99]

well thank you all for the advice! With club coming up again Sunday I'll practice some more playing around with the different functions rather than lazily sticking to the one function I have been using. Hopefully I come back with some sort of improvement and suck a little less.

 

[ac12]

well thank you all for the advice! With club coming up again Sunday I'll practice some more playing around with the different functions rather than lazily sticking to the one function I have been using. Hopefully I come back with some sort of improvement and suck a little less.

Take notes on what you try, so you have something to work from and don't work blind.
Each time you practice, you improve. Find what works and what doesn't.

But don't do too many things different, or you will get confused.