Acceptable set up for sports (primarily football) shooting?

CarlukeDave

CarlukeDave

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I am looking at covering more football games, with a view to getting work from an agency or paper, I have a few contacts and need to get a portfolio together.

I currently have 5DmkII and 40D bodies.

I have a 70-200mm f2.8L and was looking at a 300mm f4L (obvioulsy would prefer a 2.8, but as I'm not making money from this yet, I can't justify it).

I would also plan on upgrading the 40D to a 1d mkIII in the future.

Is this enough equipment to start with. I done quite a bit of footy last year and was happy with the results from the 70-200mm but obviously restricted to how much of the park I can cover with it.

Cheers

Dave
 
certainly is. I've done spl games for news agencys with a d300 and a 70-200mm f2.8.
Newspaper is a very low dpi medium so although it's not ideal you can crop fairly heavily and still fill a page.

70-200mm on the 40d is 106-320mm equiv so if you were using 2 bodies I'd have the 300mm on the 40d and the 70-200mm on the 5d otherwise there's no point having the 300mm at all.

Bob
 
The 40d will be ok for this time of the year. However its flood lights etc... which cause the issue. The 40d can just cope with these but its at the outside of its capabilities.

You defiantly want f2.8, both for the low light performance and the subject separation (lots of messy backgrounds at low level football stadiums).

The 5d2 would suit best for the low light work, however 200mm is too short unless your going to let the action come to you.

If you could get a 300 2.8 (sigma, canon non IS or IS) plus a 1.4 tc then you would probably be sorted.

Naturally a 1 series body will be preferable to an XXd body, especially in low light, but like you say, its all money.
 
id keep the glass you have and invest in a body thats going to be decent in low light ( winter will be creeping in) and is quick enough for the action. theres plenty of mk3's around second hand
 
photobeef said:
id keep the glass you have and invest in a body thats going to be decent in low light ( winter will be creeping in) and is quick enough for the action. theres plenty of mk3's around second hand
Click to expand...

Slightly off topic but are you saying that a full frame semi pro body (5Dmk2) is rubbish at high ISO
 
Have you thought of a 2nd hand 300 2.8 non-IS. Can be had for £1300-£1500 and will give you much better image quality as the light fades and the floodlights come on.

Otherwise, you should be able to get some very decent stuff. More often than not, its about timing and anticipation. A noisy pic of a key moment is better than no pic at all.
 
Thanks for all the info people, I will definitely have a look out for a 2nd hand 300mm f2.8.

Is the Sigma 300mm f2.8 worth considering, or is it not in the same league as the Canon L glass?

Dave
 
Don't see many Sigmas on the touchline which tells you a lot.
 
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