Motorsport lens help

S

spudnuts

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Name
Craig
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Got hold of a 40D, now need a decent motorsport lens

I notice a Canon 70-200 F4L for sale, any good or would the lack of range and IS hinder my results

Other option would be a 70-300 USM IS

:help:
 
Forgot to mention this be for shooting bikes at various UK tracks so not as close to the action as I'd like. hence the range query
 
I would be looking at something a little longer to be fair, bikes are small at any track.

Some people use primes others use zooms, I have the 100-400 and it is a cracking lens for motorsport, well it is for me anyways.
if that is slightly too expensive look at the sigme 150-500 gives decent results for less money

spike
 
Thanks for the reply, still out of my price range unfortunately :(
 
Something ive discovered also. The Easiest way being a nice big long lens, I have a 70-200 2.8 and find at some points of tracks ive visted its fine, some require cropping. As for now i use a tele convertor to get more range from my gear i do want to upgrade but dont own a bottomless pit either, should the need arise or came into a cash injection im sure i could make it..

100-400L is fantastic lens ,i dont own one out of my budget for now, tho i do here good about he 150 -500 too and no TC is required at all, besides you would on manual focus if you did.

i agree IS is no use at motorsport, it fdoesnt work well for moving subjects or panning.

i went for the 70-200 1st knowing is was a good lens and i get some good use out of it, they are fairly prices 2nd hand also and can have a variety of uses

hope some of that waffle helps

best thing is to go for what you can afford with less range you will have to work harder, if it helps i have
 
I'm confused about the IS being of no use, i thought that mode 2 was for panning?
 
Theres a sigma 150-500 in the classifieds for £500 at the moment.

Failing that I think I'd go 70-300 USM, the reach is going to be important.
Or if you can't go that far get a 55-250 as a budget lens whilst you figure out what you want to get.
 
OK i get it, IS is not that important. Still a nice feature to have though. It can be switched of right?

Noticed the 150-500, still a little above my budget and probably experience at the moment. Think I'm gonna hunt for a 70-300 USM IS, seems to get a few good recommendations from those that know.
 
spudnuts said:
OK i get it, IS is not that important. Still a nice feature to have though. It can be switched of right?

Noticed the 150-500, still a little above my budget and probably experience at the moment. Think I'm gonna hunt for a 70-300 USM IS, seems to get a few good recommendations from those that know.
Click to expand...

Theres a switch on the side that say is on or off or os if its a sigma, i dont what track you mainly go to but i would have a look at the exif on your photos to see what focal distance you mainly used. I was about to get a sigma 120-400 when the track tog at my local circuit sugested a 70-200 as the perfect focal range and looking through my images it proved that i never used over 200mm.
 
I use a 28-300 around the pit area on my 1dmk2 but for super bikes etc on most Uk circuits I use a 400 2.8 prime lens. Great for panning and controlling depth of field. The sigma is also a great lens with a wide coverage. Girl friend and I both have one Very light when compared to the prime canon. You can always crop the image to get good image the advantage of the 70 to 200 is you can many a time get something going wrong in the pack of riders in the back ground where as with long lens you tend to isolate a single rider unless you are far away.
 
I'd always go for the 2.8 and not 4 for motorsport.

Shutter speed takes priority for most motorsport photographers and so the 2.8 allows lower apertures :)
 
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The Sigma 150-500 does not exactly get rave reviews for it's auto-focus speed, which I something that I find to be vital in Motor-Sports. It also seems to eat up batteries. I think it would probably be superb for something like wildlife photography.
I have no experience of this unit personally but usually the folks who write the reviews can be relied upon.
Unfortunately I can offer no advice on Canon lenses either, being a Nikon man. However, my personal experience over 40 years of shooting sports images is that no third-party lens ever seems to perform as well as equivalent tools from the manufacturer of the camera body.

Cheers,
Pete.

www.petetaylor.org
 
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