Mar

Choosing a lens to suit indoor sports and wildlife photography.

I use to use a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens for my indoor sports photography and had a lot of problems even with a Canon Speedlite 430EX flash. I eventually figured out that the optics and lens construction were really not up to standards for this and most other kind of photography. It’s an entry level lens with no features to speak of and is the cheapest Canon lens available. So the question is what will I replace it with?

Because I have a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, see previous entry “Choosing a lens to suit wildlife photography”, I was exposed to the L series lens which spoiled me. The lenses I looked at were the Sigma AF 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC, the Sigma AF 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG macro, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS and the Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L. I quickly opted to stay with Canon L Series Lenses, the price is worth it. So the debate was the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS or the Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L.

First I would like to state my requirements for this lens:

It must be able to catch (freeze if needs be) motion is low light with or without a flash, depending on the situation.
It needs a fair range for indoor sports but also for outdoor wildlife and optionally wide angle.
It will become the permanent replacement for my Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens.

In truth, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS is the best replacement lens for the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens, it complements the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM perfectly and would be the obvious choice, it is the lightest, cheapest and most versatile . But it has two problems, it does not fulfil two of my requirements, the first two to be exact. I need a fast lens to be able to take action shots like those here below in low light conditions. The Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS has 2 problems, firstly an f-stop at f/4 is just no low enough, the first photo below was shot at 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO800 with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens and you can see the issues, motion blur and grain. The second shot was far better with the same settings. I am looking for a lens I can do these kind of shots without the motion blur.

Do not believe that Image Stabilisation will help with motion, it does not! As seen with this Hippopotamus .

With the Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L I have the edge. I may not have Image Stabilisation but I gain by having twice the amount of light going trough the lens at f/2.8 and with no Image Stabilisation it means that if I get motion blur I can only blame myself. With the added advantage of fluorite lenses and an effective range from 45 to 112mm it’s a clear winner. The problem is going to be with the wide angle shots, something it is no well suited for on an APS-C DSLR camera. I will have to investigate a wide angle lens for an APS-C DSLR camera soon. What about the Sigma AF 10-20mm f/4-5.6 HSM EX DC or the more epensive Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, but I am getting ahead of myself, I will do an entry about that in the future.

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1 Comment on Choosing a lens to suit indoor sports and wildlife photography.

Pascal Parent says:

25 March 2009 at 09:41

Note: I have still not received my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS, I wrote this article 2 weeks ago. I will write about it as soon as I get it. Next photography entry will be on tele-convertors.

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