Hi all. I've been a bit quiet on here lately. I hope you've all managed to struggle on by in my absence
Long, waffly post incoming....
I'm going to the Le Mans 24 hour race in June. I've been a few times before but not since 2013 and my kit and photography aspirations have moved on a lot since then. Last time I was there I was shooting with a Nikon D300, a 70-200 2.8 and a Sigma 150-500mm. Nowadays, of relevance to shooting motorsport, I have a Fuji X-T4 and a 50-140 2.8 (and 1.4x TC) but that is about it. I know I would get by just fine with that kit but I can't help wanting to absolutely maximise the photographic opportunity. I'm considering buying something or hiring something specifically for LM24. If I buy something it will either need to be something I want to keep afterwards or something that I could easily sell on again for minimal loss.
Absolutely top of my wish list is a 200mm f/2. Realistically I wouldn't buy one of these. Privately owned used ones are thin on the ground and if I bought from
MPB etc I could almost certainly guarantee that I would lose several hundred £'s when I come to sell on again afterwards. Too much exposure for me, but it does look like I could hire one for approximately £200. That is really tempting but of course it's money that I'd never see again and I am a bit tight!
Back on planet earth, if I wanted to buy a lens there are four or five on my radar.
Option 1: 150-600mm or the Tamron 150-500. These could be pretty useful in daylight where the unimpressive max apertures would probably be okay and the reach could be really handy. Realistically I'd not have a use for a lens like this after LM24 and they're both well into the £1-1.5k bracket so a lot of money to tie up, even temporarily.
Option 2: 100-400mm. A little cheaper than those above but I've owned one before and I wasn't convinced by the AF performance when I was trying to capture local owls but maybe it would be fine in good light?
Option 3: 70-300mm. This one appeals to me because I actually think I'd like to own one of these full stop for general tele stuff but also because they do a half reasonable impression of a macro lens which might be useful on occasion. I'm just a little worried that it won't really offer me huge amount extra over my 50-140 and TC at LM. I realise the 1.4 can be used with the 70-300 as well which is a consideration but only F/8...
Option 4: A little left field this but I really like the idea of a Viltrox 75mm f1.2. Not for LM specifically just for me, just because. I love their 27mm that I recently bought. The 1.2 aperture could be great at night for certain shots at LM. But I'm not sure it would be long enough to be useful in a lot of situations.
Anyway, these are my musings. I'd love some thoughts from you guys.
Oh and one last option that I almost dare not mention in these circles. But I could buy a used FF DSLR and used 300mm 2.8 lens for about £1500 and if I bought carefully I'd assume I could get my money back later on. I'm probably not a huge fan of this idea as I'm so used to Fuji mirrorless now but it's a thought.