topic Re: Canon rebel xs eos in EF & RF Lenses

EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

Krisyk — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 14:03:19 GMT

I have the Canon rebel xs and I want to find a lens that does well with sport pictures. Specifically football, which is difficult as I'm sooo far away from the field. I have no idea what type of lens would fit, or if there even is one as this camera is a bit older. I understand I need a telephoto lens but outside of that I'm totally lost. Anyone have any suggestions?

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

deebatman316 — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:10:45 GMT

Your camera requires EF or EF-S lenses. RF, RF-S & EF-M are not compatible with your camera these lenses are specifically designed for mirrorless cameras. How far are you sitting are you in low light conditions. IE indoor sports or are you outside with plenty of light.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

Krisyk — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:15:38 GMT

Outdoors. First half of game has sun light, second half has stadium lighting. Sanding about 35/40 yards away.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

deebatman316 — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:21:00 GMT

Do you use the camera in full auto. Also do you know what is called the exposure triangle. Do you have a budget to spend on a lens. Most if not all of Canon's telephoto lenses are designed for Full Frame/ 35mm Film cameras. Which measures 36x24. Your Digital Rebel has an APS-C size image sensor. Which measures 24x16 which is 1.6x smaller than 35mm film.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

Krisyk — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:35:46 GMT

I go back and forth between auto and manual depending on what I'm shooting. I do not know what the triangle is. I have a moderate budget. I understand these can get quite expensive, but I have time to save up between now and mid August to buy it.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

deebatman316 — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:58:36 GMT

Can you please list a dollar amount you can spend. What exactly do you mean by a "moderate" budget. Look into videos on YouTube. Teaching the relationship of the exposure triangle. Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed have a direct impact on your picture. Learning how these 3 settings impact your pictures is important. Most sporting arenas prohibit flash photography. I recommend looking into any of the Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 IS series lenses. Make sure it's the F/2.8 IS (Image Stabilized) version of the lens. Canon also makes an F/2.8 non-IS (non Image Stabilized) version too. IS reduces camera shake. A wide aperture allows more light to reach the image sensor. Thus reducing high ISO and slow shutter speeds.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

Krisyk — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 02:46:05 GMT

For me moderate means like 200/300 of spendable money right now, but if I budget and save I could go up to like 500/600. I thank you for your help. You've given me a TON of valuable information. I will definitely look into watching the videos you've suggested. Thank you. I appreciate your time.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

deebatman316 — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 10:24:35 GMT

Most variants of the 70-200mm F/2.8 IS lenses cost more than your stated budget. Used copies start off around $900. The newest version of the 70-200mm costs 2K brand new. So these lenses aren't cheap by any means.

Re: Canon rebel xs eos

rs-eos — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 11:46:26 GMT

Are you saying you're around 40 yards from an edge of the field itself? If so, even with 200mm, it may not be enough zoom.

e.g., say you are positioned at the side of the field (around the 50 yard line), but 40 yards away. If the players are right at the edge that you're closest to, this is around the size they will be in photos taken with your camera using a 200mm lens:

If the players are now near the other side of the field (still around the 50 yard line), they'd be quite small:

And if they are near end zones, they would be smaller.

Re: EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

ebiggs1 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 15:53:49 GMT

There is really only one option for you and that is one of the 150-600mm super zooms. Keep in mind they are big but not too difficult to handle and do require you to use good shooting technique. Forget any advice to get a 70-200mm as it will be way too short. However your very best option is to get on the side line where you can move about and follow the action.

"For me moderate means like 200/300 of spendable money right now, but if I budget and save I could go up to like 500/600."

This is probably not possible for an lens that can offer you anywhere near your goal. However, there is the used market and lots of Mom's and Dad's that have gone through this football stage and find they no longer need the big lens. Sometimes you can find them for a really good price. Try before you buy but they are pretty tough lenses and do well on the used market.

You might want to check out a monopod.

Re: EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

ebiggs1 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 16:15:31 GMT

"I go back and forth between auto and manual depending on what I'm shooting."

You are getting advice that is well beyond what you need to know as a beginner. So, let's start with some basics, the two worse modes you can use is "auto" and "manual". Almost all of the time you want to be using Av mode. Even P mode would be better than auto or manual. Using Av mode you will set the lens aperture to a wide setting like f5.6 in the case of one of the 150-600mm super zooms. This will let the camera select the fastest SS it can so you will not be concerned with exposure. Set the ISO to a high number say 800 or 1600. Set the WB to daylight even though you may be under lights. I do not remember if the XS has Auto ISO or not but if it does select it and set a low, 200 and a high 1600. Otherwise go with the fixed 800 or 1600 whichever seems to work better. Use One Shot and never Ai-servo. Select just the center focus point.

Next, and don't be scared or put off, but you need to be using raw file format and not jpeg. For this you will need to d/l from Canon their editing software DPP4. It is free and very good and fairly easy to use. You probably u/l to your computer anyway so DPP4 will fulfil that function for you also. You will need your camera serial number. With DPP4 you can adjust exposure, color balance, etc., and crop your photos to a very high degree.

I know for some of what I have suggested you will need to consult your manual to find out how to do the settings. This is the price for good football photos of the once in a lifetime period in yours and your son's life. You get this opportunity only once. Except the cost of the lens most of what I suggested is free.

Last suggestion and perhaps the most important make sure you understand the game. If you don't you will always be behind the action. Again that is free to do.

Re: EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

ebiggs1 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 16:20:19 GMT

If one of the 150-600mm super zooms is strictly out of the question, I would rather use the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Lens along with raw format and DPP4. The Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Lens brand new is $200 bucks.

The real key is raw format and DPP4. Besides knowing the game that is!

Re: EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

deebatman316 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 19:38:21 GMT

@ebiggs1 the Digital Rebel XS does have Auto ISO but its rather limited. The Auto ISO range is from ISO 100-800. Which is a limiting factor and may cause slow shutter speeds and camera shake. The max ISO is ISO 1600. So the OP will have to manually set the camera to ISO 1600 if there is camera shake visible.

Re: EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

wq9nsc — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 00:51:43 GMT

Unless you are fortunate to be shooting at an extremely well illuminated field, high quality night photos with your budget and shooting location are just not going to happen. For typical night time sports, you need a lens with decent reach and a wide aperture (f2.8 or better) But things are a lot more positive for the daylight portion however and if you can swing one of the 150-600 "super tele zoom" lenses like Ernie recommended then you have a decent chance of getting some good captures. Purchased new, those are beyond the budget you stated but you might find a good used lens via careful shopping.

I use 70-200 and 400mm f2.8 as my primary glass for field sports and I am shooting from the sidelines and just beyond the end zone, close enough that I often have to scramble out of the way for plays that go beyond the lines. Even with the 400mm prime lens, I have to predict and prepare for the action to be in the proper place because I don't want to be trying to get a high quality image that is 60 yards downfield and on the far sideline from me. From your location off field, the closest plays are equivalent to the far sideline so a big part of your strategy is positioning yourself to have the best opportunity to capture a specific area of the field if you want detailed images of the play instead of a broad overview of the part of the field where the play occurs.

Again, I would encourage you to concentrate and develop a strategy for capturing images that are within the capability of the gear you will be using. Trying to capture images that require much more sophisticated and expensive gear (i.e. fast moving images under night lighting conditions) is just going to be frustrating for you and "focusing" upon these will cause you to overlook the images you could capture. Even well illuminated fields will have dark areas, typically the end zones are the least well illuminated but there are likely other zones on the field that are a stop or more darker than the brightest spots. So pick and choose wisely where you try to capture the action. The photo below was captured at one of the better illuminated high school fields in the area but it was not in a great part of the field lighting wise and using a Canon EF 400 f2.8 lens wide open @ 1/1000, it still forced the ISO up to 20,000 for a standard exposure. Under those conditions, trying to use a narrow aperture lens with a camera body that doesn't provide very high ISO capability would force the shutter speed so low that you would capture nothing but blur.

Rodger

Re: EOS Rebel XS Sports Lens Recommendations

ebiggs1 — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 14:50:09 GMT

It is a fact you can not get the results Rodger us getting with out two things His gear and his talent.

This does not mean you can't get decent shots. If you do as I have planned it out, above, you will get the best photos that you can expect with what you have. I don't do a whole lot of sporting events unless specifically asked but I do a lot of the half time shows and have for some 35+ years now. Yes, dark fields present a problem. Yes confined to the stands presents a problem, Yes all the things photographers don't like presents a problem, But the real photographers over come those. You shoot with what you have and from where and under the conditions at hand. Will you get every shot? Probably not but you will get some.

From the stands. Standard lens. Dark field. Of course this sample is just a thumbnail but the 8x10 print was a treasure to the featured twirler's family.