What motorsport lens for me??

willbaroo

willbaroo

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William
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I'm currently using a Canon 400D with a 75-300mm Canon USM III Lens.

I'll be honest, my pictures are ***** - (soft, out of focus and lacking in colour).

I'm convinced its a lens issue and hence my asking of the next question.

I have £500-£600 to spend on a lens...and I have been looking at the following.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM (none IS)

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II Macro Zoom

Am I looking at the right lens's? Is there anybody in here with that same setup? Would they be OK for m/sport?:shrug:

Thanks in advance!!
 
I use the Sigma 70-200 F2.8 in Nikon fit for motosport and its pretty good! I just need to learn to take panning shots better :LOL:
 
Yes, click the next page button, its at the bottom of p3 :D
 
100% definitely it was just that - I had taken absolutely zero photos between the two.

The rest of the set from my first outing with the 70-300 IS were also an amazing improvement too - I just posted those two to show like for like.

And both of those were taken with a 350D!

So when people wheel out "its not the kit, its the guy behind the lens" I can tell you for sure these days its at least a very large portion the kit!
 
willbaroo said:
I'm currently using a Canon 400D with a 75-300mm Canon USM III Lens.

I'll be honest, my pictures are ***** - (soft, out of focus and lacking in colour).

I'm convinced its a lens issue and hence my asking of the next question.

I have £500-£600 to spend on a lens...and I have been looking at the following.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM (none IS)

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II Macro Zoom

Am I looking at the right lens's? Is there anybody in here with that same setup? Would they be OK for m/sport?:shrug:

Thanks in advance!!
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I recognise that username! ;)

I'd say you are looking at the right lenses. No doubt the 70-300 lens is very good, but you can't have a constant F stop throughout the focal range. I have the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR (IS in Canon speak) but the Canon version would also be an f2.8 IS and no doubt in the £1k mark!

I trialled the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and I just wasn't impressed. Maybe it was a bad copy (Sigma have been known to have QC issues) but I definitely decided it was worth paying nearly double for the Nikon lens.

Out of your choice, I'd go for the 70-200 f4. :)
 
what kind of motorsport are you looking at?

the 70-200 f/4 is one of the sharpest zoom's available, awesome lens, and tbh in rallying terms, 200mm is all you need. i'm shooting at the moment with 135mm and getting on fine reach wise.

i'd say something wiiiiide is as important as something long for rallying, hence why iv'e just bought a siggy 15-30.

70-200 f/4 is next to be bought for me, just need to sell some more pics
 
Before you lash out on a new lens you might want to review your phgotographic and post processing techniques because i have seen many fine shots using kit similar to yours,have a look at the Shelsley Walsh shots on my Flickr page which were taken with 350D and Sigma 70-300 DL lens a very similar setup to yours
 
I'm into trackside photography but have no issues with a 200mm reach. It will encourage me to be a little more adventerous I think! Thanks for the feedback so far guys!

Hi ShaK!!:)
 
I used the Canon 75-300 USM for a while but upgraded to the Canon 70-200 f2.8. Before I bought it I tried both the f2.8 and f4 Canon (non-IS) versions and both produced sharper images with better colour. I can't comment on the Sigma version though.

Even though I eventually went for the f2.8 version, some of my favourite shots were taken on the f4 version.
 
Sigma 70-200 is a good lens for the price

why not consider a 100-300 aswell, they are good for the money
 
Unless you want to do a lot of cropping, or you can get your hands on a media pass - 200mm is going to be very restrictive in terms of where you can get close enough at a lot of circuits.

100-300 would get my vote.
 
i use the sigma 70-200 (1st gen macro) for motorsport and its nice and sharp. only thing you may struggle with is range. you dont say what sort of motorsport you want it for but circuits can be a bit of a stretch, for rallys and hillclimbs its spot on as you can get closer to the action.

venues ive used the 70-200 at:

combe - 90% places good for range
snetterton - only a few spots
thruxton - most places okay
lydden hill - most places okay
sunseeker rally - no problem
gurston down hillclimb - no problem

im hoping itll be okay for my trip to goodwood circuit in sept.. otherwise things might get expensive for me.
 
:agree:
 
willbaroo said:
I'm currently using a Canon 400D with a 75-300mm Canon USM III Lens.

I'll be honest, my pictures are ***** - (soft, out of focus and lacking in colour).

I'm convinced its a lens issue and hence my asking of the next question.

I have £500-£600 to spend on a lens...and I have been looking at the following.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM (none IS)

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II Macro Zoom

Am I looking at the right lens's? Is there anybody in here with that same setup? Would they be OK for m/sport?:shrug:

Thanks in advance!!
Click to expand...
What about the Sigma 150-500mm os would they be any good for Motorsports? I tend to use my Bigma (50-500mm) but it doesn't have IS although its fine when used with monopod.
Cheers
Brian
 
andrewc said:
I would recommend you look at the Sigma 100-300 f4 EX. Constant F4 and good image quality but the range is more useful for UK circuit racing.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%

used mine loads last year then sold it

Thinking of going back to one now as it is better for most Circuits
 
neil_g said:
i use the sigma 70-200 (1st gen macro) for motorsport and its nice and sharp. only thing you may struggle with is range. you dont say what sort of motorsport you want it for but circuits can be a bit of a stretch, for rallys and hillclimbs its spot on as you can get closer to the action.

venues ive used the 70-200 at:

combe - 90% places good for range
snetterton - only a few spots
thruxton - most places okay
lydden hill - most places okay
sunseeker rally - no problem
gurston down hillclimb - no problem

im hoping itll be okay for my trip to goodwood circuit in sept.. otherwise things might get expensive for me.
Click to expand...

Thats awesome because my only two are Combe and Thruxton.:naughty:

I would be looking at trackside photography and landscapes...

Hope this helps.

Example of my 400D and my 75-300mm USM III

Image_136.jpg
 
Will, as mentioned, I have a 70-200 for motorsport, and as you know, a lot of my motorpsort photography is at the 'Ring. Goodwood is my other main circuit, seeing as I live next to it!

I've never struggled with maxing out at 200mm, and IMO the image quality doesn't suffer. I use max resolution so even some post-processing cropping does not hurt, at all.
 
andrewc said:
I would recommend you look at the Sigma 100-300 f4 EX. Constant F4 and good image quality but the range is more useful for UK circuit racing.
Click to expand...

Well, from what I have seen of it, its a step up from the Canon 70-300 IS (well, minus the IS) and pretty good... but its also a price step up too!
 
willbaroo said:
Thats awesome because my only two are Combe and Thruxton.:naughty:

I would be looking at trackside photography and landscapes...

Hope this helps.

Example of my 400D and my 75-300mm USM III
<snip>
Click to expand...

You must be able to give a better example than that though? I have the same lens (and the same camera!) and while I find I throw away alot of shots when pushing 300mm, I get a fair amount of good shots.

Have you experimented with faster shutter speeds with increased ISO to compensate? Are you using AI-Servo?

I have the same setup as that...some examples (no processing) from the Jim Clark here if you're interested http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=137598
 
70-200L every single time. It goes in this order (IMO):

f/4 to f/2.8 to f/4 IS to f/2.8 IS

Get the best you can afford, but the IS makes the world of difference. When I turn IS off my pictures go down hill big time.
 
Well thats that then, just walked into Jessops and ordered a 70-200L f/4.

I can't actually wait, problem is i'm on a training course in London on Thursday so won't be able to pick it up... :(
 
willbaroo said:
Well thats that then, just walked into Jessops and ordered a 70-200L f/4.

I can't actually wait, problem is i'm on a training course in London on Thursday so won't be able to pick it up... :(
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You could have got it a LOT cheaper than what Jessops will sell it for dude. :(
 
£549 in the end after a cheeky bit of price match with a local camera shop.

Could have been £539 but the local didn't have it in stock (2-4 week lead time) so jessops could only meet me half way :(

Thought I would also add that as there is a race meet on at Combe this weekend there was also a little urgency in the lead time.
 
willbaroo said:
£549 in the end after a cheeky bit of price match with a local camera shop.

Could have been £539 but the local didn't have it in stock (2-4 week lead time) so jessops could only meet me half way :(

Thought I would also add that as there is a race meet on at Combe this weekend there was also a little urgency in the lead time.
Click to expand...
PM 'Kerso' (Ian). He's normally by far the cheapest around.
 
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