What's A Good Lens For Sports Photography?

I'm really getting into sports photography, but I was needing a better telephoto lens. I use a 70-300mm f4-5.6 Tamron, but was wanting something with more optical quality, an internal motor, and a faster f-stop. Anyway, I cannot spend $1,500 on a 70-200mm f2.8, so are there any other suggestions? I was looking into the 70-300mm VR, but Thom Hogan said to skip it and get the 80-200mm f2.8. I looked at both lenses, and the 70-300mm is more in my price range, but is it a good lens? The f4.5-5.6 doesn't help at all, so would it be worth spending around $600 for this? The 80-200mm looks great, but the $900 price tag is really pushing it for me. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Thanks Mere_Mortal. I haven't seen the 300mm f4 Nikkor anywhere online, so do you have a link. I've seen the 300mm f2.8, but it's damn near $5,000.

I use Sigma's 70-200 f2.8 HSM and I love it.

Here are some shots (these are actually Palm Pilot resized ...the big ones are even nicer):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2260/2244...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2244...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/2244...

I also use Nikon's 300 f4 IF-ED:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/2244...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/2244...

But beware, the AF is slowwwwer than a vintage bike!

HTH
V2K1

No Zooms. Primes if you are serious about image quality.

400 F/2.8 by Canon is a good choice. Or the 300 F/4 by Nikon is in the ball park for your price.

80 to 200mm just seems a bit short for what you are looking to do. The 80-200mm F/2.8 is a great lens but you might get a little frustrated by it inability to fill the frame as often as you like.

If you have to get a zoom make sure it is a ultra-high quality lens with a non-variable f/2.8 aperture. Remember VR/IS does not help with moving subjects.

I have one of these lenses and they are superb and affordable:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKON-Nikkor-300-mm-...

Yes the 80-200mm f2.8 looks like the one you may want, so start saving your pennies until you can afford it ... or buy a used one, if you can find one.

Thom Hogan and Ken Rockwell seem to agree.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/80200.h...

Generally the lowest F stop you can get and maybe an ED (flourite) very low light lens. A zoom is good for things like football, ice skating, and any other sport where the distance between you and the subject can change rapidly.
You did not say if you were using film or a digital and this would make a difference in what you are looking for.
In film, older Nikon lenses are to be had for a good low price at E-Bay sometimes, but as the get longer and lower F-stop ratings they get rarer and more expensive.
For digital, Fujifilm's S2,S3, and S5 pro's take older Nikon lenses too.
Because everyone is going Digital, older film style lenses are sometimes plentiful at pawn shops, camera stores and on E-Bay, and sometimes CHEAP!
For sports like football, you may have to use techniques like pushing the films ASA (ISO) ratings,
ie: 400 ASA B&W Pushed to 1600 ASA rating w/ extended processing. You will either have to develop it yourself, or find a lab that does custom processes.As the speed goes up the quality goes down!
And a tripod is almost mandatory to get crisp exposures.
I would buy a Fujifilm S3 pro,
so it could use Nikon lenses and get the
lowest F-Stop (Shoot for an ED if you find one you can afford)
in about a 70mm - 200mm to 300mm zoom.
I've seen used Fuji S3 Pro's with 1 or 2 lenses on E-Bay for less than $900.00.
With this cameras 12 Mega-pixels resolution and CCD's you can crop a distant football player to look like a close-up and still have high enough quality to publish in a newspaper or make acceptable prints.
The electronic aspect of the camera will allow you to manipulate the exposure so a too dark shot can be salvaged by raising the EV by several F-Stop ratings to give you an acceptable shot instead of dropping a frame of film (and perhaps YOUR JOB) in the trash can by coming up short and missing a deadline.
E-Bay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

If you can't spend $5000, just do the best you can with what you have. Minimum specs for a sports lens is 2.8 at either 300mm or 400mm. Any slower eg 4.5 will lose you too many shots and you simply will not be credible.