What Lens For Marathon?

[Snake Man]

Doing some shooting at the Bath half marathon next month and was wondering what the best lens choice would be. I will be pretty close the runners but want a shallow depth of field.

TIA

 

[cherryrig]

A mixture of wide angle and telephoto I think. Make sure that they are fast lenses as well so that you can pick out key people and blow out the background.

Well thats what I think...

 

[whiteflyer]

I have been doing a few fell races this year and have used the 70-200 and the 17-55 and as cherryrig says it's the speed you need, both of the lenses I use are f2.8.

PS get the shutter speed high, I was surprised at how much blur I got in the runners hands until I really up my shutter speeds

 

[CarlOgden]

When I did work for Marathon-Photos.Com the 70-200 was the norm to use!

Carl.

 

[KIPAX]

70-200 for sure.. I also did one recently (10k) and did the whole lot with a 24-70 and that gave me better pics for the starting lineup >> http://othersports.fotopic.net/c1432209.html

But if your really looking to isolate your runners then the 70-200

 

[sportysnaps]

What type of shots are you trying to get?
Where on the course will you be?
Will you be working for a company, if so what is their preference in terms of the type of shot that they want to sell?

The above should dictate your choice I have used 17-300mm f2.8-f8 depending on requirements, although in nearly all cases 1/500sec will be fast enough – for the rest 1/1000th.

 

[dakid]

When would 1/500 not be fast enough?

I'm doing Reading Half-Marathon this weekend with my 70-200, so hoping for some nice results from it for my first ever half-marathon.

 

[sportysnaps]

i only set +500th if i have enough light for 200iso and f8 - not often...

 

[Snake Man]

Thanks for all the replies. I have the 70-200 covered. But wide angle I only have the 18-70 kit lens - f/3.5-4.5 Hopefully it will be a bright day. Might look at hiring the 17-55 for the weekend if the weather isn't going to be good.

Not sure where on the course I'm going to be yet. It is quite a hilly course so I'm going to aim for somewhere above the runners to give the effect of a never ending sea of runners.