OK I'm going to buy a Nikon D80 camera and want to get a good lens for sports purposes. I have researched the camera but am confused about the lens. I want something I can stand on the sidelines of a football field and zoom in to the center of the field and get some good moving shots. I want clear pictures not blurr masters. I want to freeze the players in motion without blurr. Also, I am mostly taking these pictures towards evening in low light situations. Or under stadium lights at the most. what would you recomend for a high quality lens somewere in the 1000.00 area or under for price.?
Thank You
Purity You may not realize how demanding this job is - both for you and your equipment. As soon as you say, "under the lights," you may as well say, "$2,000 required."
Actually, since you will be on the sidelines, you might not need a super telephoto lens, but you will definitely want a fast focusing, wide aperture lens. The one that comes to mind for me is the Nikon Zoom Telephoto AF VR Zoom Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8D G-AFS ED-IF Autofocus Lens (Vibration Reduction), but it costs over $1,600. I have the 70-300 VR lens, but I really don't think this will cut it under the lights, as the maximum aperture at full zoom is f/5.6. Even at high ISO's, you will not be satisfied with that aperture.
You might try the Sigma Zoom Telephoto 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO Macro HSM Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF for under $1,000. Go to B&H Photo and read the two customer reviews where it rated 4.9 out of 5.0. You will want to find other on-line reviews of this lens before you but it, though. Note that it does not have image stabilization as the others I mentioned do.
This page is for CANON lenses, but you might find the general discussion of value in selecting your lens.
ADDITIONAL
F-stop mentioned the Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 lens and I admit that I did not think of that. It looks like a decent choice, although it does not have "VR," which you might miss under real world shooting conditions as you get out towards the long end of the focal range. It's a good lens and you certainnly can't argue with the price. The Sigma Zoom Normal-Telephoto 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM Autofocus lens would be the ideal lens for it's focal length. It's $1000 even, but only has a maximum aperture of F4 which will not do you too well in low light situations. Try out your kit lens at F4 and see how well it performs and you'll have an idea as to whether or not this will work for you.
As far as getting the best telephoto length and aperture combination, I'd get the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom-Nikkor Lens with Bracket & Case for about $850. 200 mm is not much for shooting football, but if you get a monopod and don't mind running up and down the sidelines with the action you'd get better exposed pictures with this lens.
Raise your budget to $2700 and you can get the Sigma Zoom Telephoto 120-300mm f/2.8 EX APO DG IF HSM lens which would be the best option for a zoom in my opinion.
Primes are there too, but they require you to change lenses too often to make catching much action a real challenge.
F-stop I'd say you want the Nikon 70-300mm VR. The 70-200mm f/2.8 might be a recommendation, but for football, the action always seems to happen on the other end of the field!
http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat...
The VR (vibration reduction) feature will virtually eliminate camera shake, and allows you to shoot at lower shutterspeeds and without a tripod.
I have the Nikon 18-200mm VR and use it for my NBA & WNBA shots, but a basketball court is much smaller than a football field. For my football shots, I currently use an older Nikon 75-300mm lens and often still have to crop to get the image I want.
Here's some I took from the 56th row of the stands. ISO's ranged from 400 to 1600, as the sun lowered. I cropped and resized the photos before uploading.
http://www.spmsportspage.com/images/coll...
Another consideration (at $1700!) is the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/70200vr...
Or the 80-200mm f/2.8D.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/80200.h...
There are other long zooms and primes, but my budget doesn't match their pricetags.
http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat...
I hope this helps. |
