What kind of camera lens works best when trying to photograph kids playing sports?(digital Canon XT Rebel)?

I use the same camera, put your film speed on 400 or faster. Use the regular lense unless you are far away, I use a canon 80-300 Zoom and I get little johnny starin at daisies in the centerfield.
Experiment off of the auto mode and use the manual mode. you will be suprised on the effects you get such as stop motion when using the burst mode you can get Johnny sliding into home in 15 shots.
I love My rebel I just upgraded to an XTi. and make pictures for the families that are watching the teams play.

you will need a fast lens.
That means a lens that opens wide (small aperture number like 2.8)
a zoom will help as kids move a lot.
so a 70-210 /2.8 would probably do it in film camera.
As the sensor of your camera is smaller than film, you may find this lens to enlarge too much and prefer a 50-100 or something like that.

Put the hood on to avoid sun on lens.

Canon IS EF 28-135. This lens work for all situations. I have a bunch of lenses, but I use this lens all the time.

Hi Sports Mom,

It really depends on your budget. Sports pro's almost always use either the 70-200 f/2.8 IS or the 400 f/2.8 IS. The first one is $1,700 and the second one is close to $7,000.

Short of those two I would suggest you either get the 70-200 f/4 that's about $570 or the 70-300 f/3.5-5.6 IS that's about $500. The first is supposed to have better optics, but the second has a longer reach and has image stabilization.

If it's a really large field and you want to see their faces consider renting a 300 f/4 IS to see if you like it. It's a really wonderful lens but it's a little steep at $1,150.

Hope this helps!

Ignacio