[GreenKeys] off-topic: advice on photography and camera lenses

Tue Oct 28 16:52:12 EST 2008

Hi Gil:

In order to get a fast (small f number) lens fluorite glass is needed.  These 
are sometimes called Enhanced Definition (ED).  If you watch professional 
sports photographers you'll see these.  Be prepared for sticker shock.

It may not be good to stop all the action, in gymnastics having the feet or 
hands blurry from motion but the face in focus would make a good photo.

http://www.prc68.com/I/Photo.shtml

A way to stop action is to use a strobe.  Units that are external to the camera 
come in various watt-second ratings and the more powerful ones would work in a 
gym, but maybe not the center fielder in a baseball game.  If you are doing 
multi-frame then you may need a better strobe to support that.

Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
http://www.prc68.com/P/Prod.html  Products I make and sell
http://www.prc68.com/Alpha.shtml  All my web pages listed based on html name
http://www.PRC68.com
http://www.precisionclock.com
http://www.prc68.com/I/WebCam2.shtml 24/7 Sky-Weather-Astronomy Web Cam

gil smith wrote:
> Hi folks:
> 
> I am looking for some advice on photography and camera lenses -- if this 
> is not your thing please pardon the interruption.
> 
> After years of missing some good kids' sports shots for various reasons 
> (low-light, shutter-latency...), I finally decided to get a decent 
> camera.  Not that I am a great photographer, but I want to at least get 
> some decent pics of the kids, and the equipment has been the biggest 
> drawback.  I am hoping someone is able to answer a few questions for me.
> 
> My biggest challenge is photographing my daughter's gymnastics meets -- 
> sucky light and long distances.  My son's skateboarding is also in a 
> poorly-lit gym.  I also shoot outdoor sports (baseball, soccer...), so I 
> need low-light sensitivity, immediate shutter response, and multi-frame 
> shooting.
> 
> Aside from the standard snapshot family stuff, the only real photography 
> I did was in high school for the yearbook and paper, but I learned the 
> basics.  Had a decent SLR with a few lenses.  Only shot B&W as I had to 
> develop and print it all too.
> 
> So I recently got a Canon 50D, with the standard 28-135 zoom.  The zoom 
> is quick to use, though the focus ring could be bigger for manual work.  
> The 135mm end does not reach quite far enough in the gym or soccer 
> field, but it gets the job done.  The 50D has a x1.6 lens factor, so 
> this is equiv to a 45-216mm lens on a standard film 35mm.
> 
> The problem is that it is only f5.6 at the 135mm end which means that 
> not only can I not blur out distracting backgrounds, but I have to kick 
> the ISO to max to get the shots.  I'm not really complaining since I 
> have never even been able to stop the action in the gym before, so I am 
> really delighted with the shots.  But they could be better.  They have a 
> lot of color noise at max ISO (12800).  If I drop to 6400, it looks much 
> better, and at 3200 it looks great.  Unfortunately, the shutter is too 
> slow to stop motion at 6400 or 3200 since the lens is only 5.6.  I can 
> widen the zoom a bit and pick up an f-stop to get some shots at 6400, 
> but it is still not ideal.
> 
> So I really need to get a different lens, and I was wondering what 
> thoughts anyone has.  I'll never afford a fast enough zoom, so I need a 
> fixed telephoto that can get down to at least f2.8, so I can drop ISO 
> back to 3200 and get rid of most color noise.  This would also blur the 
> background a bit which will help get rid of distractions.  Getting a 
> lens down to f2 or 1.8 would be great but they get pricey, and I'd like 
> to keep the cost reasonable, with the economy in the toilet and all.
> 
>  From Canon, some fixed-length options are:
> EF 50mm f/1.8 II  ($90)  --  cheap and fast, but way too short
> EF 85mm f/1.8 USM   ($350)  -- not very long, but decent price -- 
> well-known
> EF 100mm f/2.0 USM  ($410) -- not very long, but decent price -- well-known
> EF 135mm f/2.0L USM  ($930)  --  pricey
> EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM  ($680)  -- starting to get pricey
> 
> The 100/2.0 or 200/2.8 are sounding like good choices.  Something like a 
> 135/2.8 at about $500 would be even better, but I haven't found one.
> 
> And some slower zoom lenses which would be good for non-gym stuff:
> EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM   ($1000)  --  pricey
> EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS  ($650)  --  pricey
> EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II  ($90 used)
> EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS   ($300)
> EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM   ($500)
> EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM   ($200)
> EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III   ($170)
> EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM ($300)
> 
> 
> So the first questions are about Canon's lenses:  what is the difference 
> between EF and EF-S?  I presume that IS means in-lens image 
> stabilization, but what is II?  What is III?  What is USM?  Does image 
> stabilization really help much for these types of shots (aperture wide 
> open, shutter 1/250 or faster)?
> 
> What about third-party lenses -- any recommended brands?  Are the optics 
> inferior?  Is the autofocus slower?  Reliability?
> 
> Any thoughts on lenses would be appreciated.  I am currently thinking 
> that anything from 85mm to 200mm would be good, as long as it is at 
> least f2.8.  This would let me drop ISO to 3200, and get some clean 
> shots with minimal color noise.  It would also blur the background with 
> the aperture wide open, which will result in much nicer pics.  The 50D 
> is 15Mpix, which helps when cropping a pic shot with a shorter lens.
> 
> Anyone have a used lens to sell?
> 
> Does anyone else have a 50D?  Have you seen Err-99?  I saw this twice at 
> the last gym meet, and I needed to R&R the battery to clear it.  Word on 
> the street says it may be related to the CF card.  The 50D shoots about 
> 6-frames a second, and both of the hangs were during burst shots.  I am 
> pretty sure that they both happened with a standard (133x = 20MB/s) card 
> -- camera's buffer overflowing and choking on the pipe to the card 
> maybe?  I have another UDMA-rated card (266x = 40 MB/s) and I don't 
> believe it happened when that one was in the camera.  Curious if anyone 
> else has seen something like this, on any brand camera for that matter.
> 
> thanks in advance,
> 
> gil
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Vaux Electronics, Inc.
> 480-354-5556
> (fax: 480-354-5558)
> www.vauxelectronics.com
> 
> 
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