topic Re: Need Help with a lens question in EF & RF Lenses

Lens Recommendation for Both Sports and Wildlife

miketerndrup — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 13:49:53 GMT

So I have a 70-200 f /2.8 and I have been told that not good for wildlife I look at the RF800 but I'm told that not good for Baseball and I want a lens that uses for more than one subject. Any help for a lens that good for both sports and wildlife would be nice

Re: Need Help with a lens question

jrhoffman75 — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 00:41:07 GMT

@miketerndrupwrote:
So I have a 70-200 f /2.8 and I have been told that not good for wildlife I look at the RF800 but I'm told that not good for Baseball and I want a lens that uses for more than one subject. Any help for a lens that good for both sports and wildlife would be nice

I think the advice you are getting is correct in context. For wildlife you generally never have enough focal length, so 200mm max is on the low side. But there are going to be situations where it is adequate.

Similarly, for baseball, 800mm is much too long.

A good choice for one lens in those situations would be the RF 100-500mm.

RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM (canon.com)

Re: Need Help with a lens question

kvbarkley — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 16:10:34 GMT

You do have an R series camera, right?

For sports you really need a zoom.

Re: Need Help with a lens question

ebiggs1 — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 20:58:09 GMT

" I want a lens that uses for more than one subject."

So does every photographer on the planet. It doesn't exist. For wildlife it depends on how close you can get to your subject which will determine what FL lens will work. There will be times when 200mm is just fine and times where 800mm isn't enough.

I have never personally used the RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM so I can't really can't comment on its suitability. From the surface it looks pretty good as a compromise for both baseball and wildlife or at least as good as it gets. It's not cheap! But then again the best usually isn't.

Re: Need Help with a lens question

miketerndrup — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 20:59:33 GMT

I am not a pro wildlife person I shoot mostly from my kitchen window but every time I share what lens I use they say why not get a bigger lens

Re: Need Help with a lens question

miketerndrup — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 21:00:22 GMT

That why I have a 70-200

Re: Need Help with a lens question

wq9nsc — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 21:35:54 GMT

The RF 100-500 will work pretty well for both wildlife and sports depending upon the amount of light available but the fairly small aperture of this glass at the long end will be limiting for baseball for night games if the lighting isn't good.

I have taken a few photos with an EF 800 f5.6 (first two photos) from the outfield fence line during daylight to get some special angles but an EF 400 f2.8 is a great focal length for baseball (second 2 photos); that lens and 70-200 f2.8 are what I use for baseball. The RF 100-500 will cover that entire range for you as a 1 lens solution as long as there is enough light and you are happy with the amount of background blur. I use my 800 primarily for wildlife which is the main use for a lens when you get into that focal length range.

Rodger

Re: Need Help with a lens question

miketerndrup — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 21:50:00 GMT

Thank you the League I work for some field have good lights some don't and I do these as a freelance so I don't make a lot of money

Re: Need Help with a lens question

jrhoffman75 — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 21:56:29 GMT

Then use the 70-200, crop as you want the image to look, and try the free trial of Topaz Gigapixel to upscale your image. It may be good enough if you can't afford a longer lens.

Re: Need Help with a lens question

wq9nsc — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 22:48:37 GMT

Bad field lighting can really make it tough. Don't overlook well treated used camera lenses, I suspect a lot more good EF series glass is going to show up on the used market as more people switch to mirrorless bodies. I much prefer a DSLR for sports and I am very happy with the EF series glass I own.

Rodger

Re: Need Help with a lens question

miketerndrup — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 23:41:33 GMT

The issue with that is a lot of EF lens I want Canon no longer fixes

Re: Need Help with a lens question

wq9nsc — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 00:00:55 GMT

There are aftermarket repair shops that will still fix most of the EF series lenses. Canon doesn't really support the professional market in the manner of the past thus the rapid planned obsolescence and I would count on them getting worse instead of better in the future as they flail about in the camera market.

I own professional products of other types and those have much better long-term parts and service support; unfortunately there is a bias in Japanese industry going back to the early post-war era towards buying new instead of providing long-term repair service that made sense when trying to rapidly grow a post-war economy but that has become ingrained in corporate culture. I have U.S. produced machine tools decades old that have very good parts/service support as you will find with industrial products from firms like Cat and Deere but unfortunately those guys don't make cameras.

And I have zero interest in owning narrow aperture telephoto lenses; unfortunately the laws of physics can be ignored so light, inexpensive, and fast aren't an available combination in long focal length glass.

Rodger

Re: Need Help with a lens question

ebiggs1 — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:05:23 GMT

"Bad field lighting can really make it tough."

It sure can doesn't matter if you are shooting a BB game or an animal in the wild. Most if not all big teles are going to be on the slow side. It is possible to make a big tele with a fast aperture but it would be too big and too heavy to the point of making it impossible to even use. Not to mention the price tag which on the very few that have been made exceeds 100 grand.

Canon EF 1200mm f5.6L