A question for sports shooters

[Blurmore]

A little background. I have been shooting weddings and assisting for 3 years. I have been squirreling money away and finally have a 20D, 17-85 EF-s, 28 f2.8, and an 85 f1.8, and a pro lighting system. I have been supplementing my income by waiting tables for the last year, but I just put in my 2 weeks. My plan is to sell a car, buy a lens, and try my hand at sports shooting for local papers. This time of year they get hard up for decent shots of high school sports. My question to people who derive some income by photographing sporting events (it doesn't have to be your only gig) is this. Do I REALLY need at 70-200 f2.8, or can I make do with a f4 or even a consumer grade 70-300? Now I have been spoiled at work by using L glass owned by the studio. I particularly like the 70-200 f4L for its excellent image quality, and packability. These are the lenses I have considered,

70-200 f4L
Sigma EX DG HSM 70-200 f2.8
Tokina ATX-pro 70-200 f2.8
and various 70-300 f4-5.6 consumer jobbers

I figure for outdoor day sports any of these lenses can produce useable results.

At 1600 ISO I figure the top 3 can do nicely for indoor sports.

But the big fish is outdoor lighted night sports like football.

This is where I see NEED for a f2.8 lens.

I'd like to spend under 800 bucks, but I will spend 800 if it means I will have what I need right off without needing to upgrade later. I have never really been impressed with the sharpness of most after market lenses (the 70-200 f2.8 sigma being the exception) So I guess what I am looking for are examples of consumer lenses pushed to the limit in outdoor lighted night sports. ANy guidance will be greatly appreciated.

[luckyrwe]

I have had front page pictures from a point 'n' shoot. The lenses are your tools, they assist you. They will never do the work for you. I think you know this however.

If I were you and only had $800 I would get the 70-200/4 Canon. It is an L lens and has a flourite element. The big big BIG thing papers care about is FOCUS. the f/4 will give you a little great depth of field, forgiving a small margin of error in focusing.

[Red Baron]

Personally, I would go for the 2.8. Lighting in high school gyms is often poor and for shooting at night you'll find the 2.8 indispensible. In addition to the lenses you've listed, you could look at a 70-200 2.8L in the used market. I bought mine used and it's worked flawlessly - in fact, it's the last lens I would give up in my collection. People who shell out the money to buy L glass tend to be the same type of people who take care of their equipment, at least that has been my experience.

[mercphoto]

My question to people who derive some income by photographing sporting events (it doesn't have to be your only gig) is this. Do I REALLY need at 70-200 f2.8, or can I make do with a f4 or even a consumer grade 70-300?
I don't make much off sports photography but I can offer my advice. The biggest problem with the Canon 70-300 is its patheticly slow auto-focus. I would not waste my money on it.

As per whether you need f/2.8 or can get by with f/4, if you do only stuff in daylight then the f/4 is fine. As soon as light starts to fade or get weak you will need 2.8. You don't, however, need image stabilization, so save that money.

Next question: do you need a zoom? A prime 200/2.8 will save you a ton of money over a 70-200/2.8. For many sports you don't need zooms (think football, baseball, soccer... they are all shot with primes).

[StevenV]

Lighting in high school gyms is often poor and for shooting at night you'll find the 2.8 indispensible.
you can take that quote to the bank; even in a brand new stadium the lights are less than stellar.

http://miltonsports.smugmug.com/gallery/725850/1/31863010
Sigma 70-200/2.8 on a Canon EOS 10D
Focal length [mm]: 175
ISO value: 800
Shutter speed [s]: 1/500
Aperture: F2.8

[StevenV]

... and try my hand at sports shooting for local papers. This time of year they get hard up for decent shots of high school sports.
btw, you might want to check with those local papers to find out just how (much/little) they pay before dropping much coin, the answer may be shockingly low... :huh ...you may have made more in tips. otoh you're likely to have more fun shooting sports.