Looking for a new lens for action sports, I currently have a sigma 70-200 f2.8 that i am very happy but looking for something that shoots a little wider. was think about a 24-70 f2.8. any suggestions?

Take my comments with a grain of salt - I have next-to-no experience shooting sport. However, I recently put myself through a short sharp learning curve to prepare to shoot an indoor taekwondo tournament.

What I learned was: relevant factors for shooting sport -

* indoor/night vs outdoor (day)

* speed of action

* your closeness to the action

* tripod or handheld

* your gear, including body, lens and lights, if allowed and practical

* technique of photog

So, obviously, what is good is complex and very situation specific.

Seems to me most sport togs shoot centre frame and crop a fair bit, so resolution is relevant, and edges not.

The faster the lens the better, applies generally, but critical for fast action indoor/night sports.

For long distance sport there's no way round a tele being necessary. Resolution, CA, IS/VR/stability, AF are key.

For up close sport, a 35mm on FF is close to ideal. As you know, wider lenses are more accommodating of DOF and camera shake.

In short, I don't think you could go far wrong to complement with the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8. Plus it's a rave lens, apparently. Personally I would prefer a faster lens, say f1.4 traded against zoom, and with IS/VR, if I were mainly shooting indoor/night, hand held, at a small area such as a taekwondo mat.

Neil

Wow, thanks for all that info!

Originally Posted by QuadRacer041 Wow, thanks for all that info!

You're welcome. Did you post your question in the Sports forum? You'd probably get some more specific advice about the 24-70mm there.

Neil

I rented the 24-70mm for a week just recently. It is a heavy lens and no VR. So, IMO if you use it for sports you need to hold it very still and use it for planned shots, which I think would be difficult to do. I have done outdoor sports - baseball and football - and I like a much longer lens

I think it depends a lot on what kind of sport and what kind of shot. I have shot a lot of little league baseball and softball, soccer and horse shows. I use my 70-200 most of the time and on occasion will use the 70-300 for the extra reach. I have never used the 24-70 at a sporting event. That being said, I shoot for the action on the field most of the time with the occasional shot to the dugout or crowd near me. For those, usually 70mm works ok. There have been a few times I wish that I could have gone wider, but not enough to warrant using the 24-70 as my main lens. As far as vr is concerned, I have my shutter speed set to stop action so vr will gain me nothing other than to slow down the reaction time of the camera as it's waiting for the vr to activate before releasing the shutter. With ss high to stop action, camera shake becomes a non issue hence vr not being a benefit. I leave it off.

What kind of sport? What kind of lighting? And just how close do you intend to get such that you need a standard zoom?

And with regards to image stabilization, sports almost NEVER requires image stabilization. In fact its almost never helpful under sporting conditions. In sports your subject is moving, and image stabilization does nothing to cure the problems of a moving subject. ONLY shutter speed can do that.

I would get a 50 1.8 over a 24-70 for sports.

I do mostly motocross and Tough Mudder type running events. I already have a 70-200, looking for some thing to get wider angles. With what I shot I am able to to get pretty close to the action so sometimes the 70-200 is too big. With the 24-70 I will also be able to use it for much more then just sports, landscapes, portraits, etc. I guess I'm pretty much answering my own question, lol. Am I totally off in my thinking or does it make sense. Are there big negatives to be using the 24-70 for sports?

These are daylight events, right? The interesting action can happen close to you or some distance away, and might not be particularly fast? So big aperture is not critical, but zoom is handy.

You have a crop body, so your 70-200mm is really 100-300mm FOV. Not very surprising that you are not feeling it is giving you what you are looking for. 24-70mm is 35-100mm FOV. Still not so wide as you would like, I'd say is likely.

I'd go wider.

See here:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=144105

Neil

Originally Posted by NeilL These are daylight events, right? The interesting action can happen close to you or some distance away, and might not be particularly fast? So big aperture is not critical, but zoom is handy. You have a crop body, so your 70-200mm is really 100-300mm FOV. Not very surprising that you are not feeling it is giving you what you are looking for. 24-70mm is 35-100mm FOV. Still not so wide as you would like, I'd say is likely. I'd go wider. See here: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=144105 Neil

I tend to agree, With the 70-200, you already have that covered. A 16-35 or a a wide angle zoom for DX in the 10-24 mm range will get you more interesting shots than a 24-70mm