70-200mm f4 and 7D - enough?

[bobiscuit]

I am looking at upgrading to a Canon 7D, and have been thinking about starting off with one pro-range 70-200mm lens rather than my current collection of "average" lenses.

My question is - will the 70-200mm f4L IS USM and a 7D be a good enough combination for the likes of indoor showjumping, or any wedding photography I may want to do in future?

For a similar price I could get the 70-200mm f/2.8, but without IS. I get a feeling IS is more useful, and hopefully the 1-stop difference between the f/2.8 and f/4 lenses can be squeezed out of the ISO performance of the 7D if really needed.

 

[alastairb]

for indoor showjumping you need f/2.8 or faster glass, for two reasons you will often find your self at iso 3200-6400 with f/2.8 and at f/4 in that light you will struggle to AF

 

[hashcake]

I own a 70-200mm f4L IS USM but for indoor shots, even more so with action, I would go for the f/2.8 version.

 

[alastairb]

also if you can afford a second hand 70-200 f/2.8 get it for now and upgrade to the IS version when you can afford it as the 70-200 wont drop in value much. and for action such as indoor SJ IS won't help you providing you have a decent hand holding technique as you need fast shutter speeds to freeze the action anyway

 

[bobiscuit]

Hmm, having come from a Sony DSLR and having in-body IS, I think it would be hard to give it up.

But that's a fair point about autofocus - I didn't really consider that.

Maybe a 2.8 and a monopod then

 

[Slimbert]

Wider aperture every time....an extra stop of light will give you the quicker shutter speeds you'll need. My f4 is perfect when I'm outdoors in decent light, but indoors it struggles sometimes

 

[J4MIE_P]

Definately the F2.8
For things like show jumping, you dont necessarily need the IS, you want faster shutter speed to freeze the action.

Always chose the wider aperture, as like it was previously mentioned the price of it wont drop so upgrade later