Best EF lens options for night time sports photography?? Please help!!

[Mfm778]

Hey all! I am very new to photography and I have a Canon EOS rebel t7. I currently have the 2 kit lenses for this camera (EFS 18-55 mm and EF 75-300 mm zoom lens) and I am looking into getting a better lens for night time sports photography. I have been photographing rodeos specifically and they are mainly at night under yellow/ fluorescent lighting. Rodeos are very fast paced and I have tried many things to try and capture sharper images but they don’t seem to always work. I am shooting with a high ISO and low aperture with about a 1/500 shutter speed most of the time. My images come out very inconsistent with some being super dark or some being super blurry. I lower my ISO and shutter speed to try and get them to balance out, but that leaves me with blurry images. I know I need a lens that lets better light in to get my aperture lower. Right now the lowest I can go with my aperture is a 4.5. Any and all suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!!! Or any tips and tricks that I may not have tried!!! I try to stay away from shooting on sports mode because my images come out super over exposed or extremely shaky. I have been shooting strictly manual. I would also love to not break the bank as I am still very new to this and I’m just trying to figure out what works for me until I get some real experience with it. Thank you!

[Tronhard]

You don't mention what sports you will be photographing, and that can be significant as the size of plays areas can vary wildly.   However, because is it nght and likely not that well lit, as you correctly say, you want fast lenses.  The problem is that very long fast lenses are very, very expensive.   For a more economical budget you are more likely to get a variant ot the EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM.   This is one of the fastest lenses, has great optics and if you get one with IS - image stabilization, it will help with your image sharpness.  You might be able to pick up the MkII version for a good price and having had one for years, I can attest to its quality - they are classic.  If that is not possible go for the f/4 variant - they are a stop slower but again fantastic optics and have a constant aperture throughout.  Almost anything is going to be better than the 75-300, which has no IS and pretty mediocre optics.

[Tintype_18]

I have both lenses but rely on the proper settings for photos in sunlight or sundown or under lights. Trevor recommends the EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM. I trust his judgement and buy it if it fits your budget.

[wq9nsc]

As Trevor notes, the 70-200 f2.8 is the most popular and it is the lens I use to capture most images for sports.  Because of the shutter speed you will be using, if cost is a major concern then an older non-IS version will work also.  With your T7, the long end of the 70-200 is equivalent to a 320mm on full frame so it should be long enough.

When shooting sports, I have the 70-200 f2.8 on one body and either a 300 or 400 f2.8 on the other body depending upon the sport.  I doubt if you will be close enough but another Canon choice is the EF 85 f1.8 which is fairly low cost and focuses very quickly, I used it a lot for indoor sports with earlier digital bodies that didn't handle high ISO as well as my current 1DX II and III bodies.  It is far less expensive than the zoom and gets you another full stop of aperture but gives up the versatility and reach of the 70-200 f2.8 zoom.

Whatever lens you choose, shoot in RAW so that you can properly adjust white balance/color temp in post.  RAW also allows much better noise reduction in post than capturing in jpg.

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

I got asked to do some photos of a barrel race for a friend whose daughter was big into that sport. I found my Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sports Lens worked perfectly. We did several arenas and with good success but not knowing your specific arena and available light I can't suggest settings. But I would absolutely not use auto sports or manual.

I would think Av mode would be best and I have come to like very much Auto ISO. I don't know if a T7 has that but if it does use it. Your lenses are letting you down there is no getting around that,0 so a faster lens is mandatory for consistent good quality images.

However, try these settings next time. Av mode. One shot AF. Auto ISO and set a low limit of 100 and a high limit at 3200. If no Auto ISO set ISO to 1600 or 3200 (grain is better than nothing!) Now the single main most important thing. And that is raw, you must shoot raw not jpg, never use jpg. Second d/l the free from Canon DPP4 to edit your raw photos. You can gain several stops using raw and do way more editing than any jpg allows. In other words if you have a way underexposed shot but still pretty sharp raw and DPP4 just might  be able to recover it. DPP4+raw has saved a lot of otherwise throw-aways. BTW, don't be concerned with any of the other settings as they will be set by you in post edit using DPP4. But just to be safe reset your camera back to default setting before you do as I suggest.

[stevet1]

Mfm778,

You wrote "I  have been photographing rodeos specifically and they are mainly at night under yellow/ fluorescent lighting."

The Kelvin temperature of flourescent lighting is in the 3,000 - 4,000K range, with 3,000 being more yellowish and 4,000 being more whiteish.  The next time you go out, instead of choosing a Preset for your White Balance, go to the Kelvin setting and pick a setting of 3,500 or so. Take a couple of shots and see what you think. You can adjust this up or down to get the coloring the way you want.

In addition, if you shoot RAW and use the DPP4 software that Roger and EB suggested, you can adjust your White Balance any way you want.

For some shots, you could pick some scenes where the action is not so fast and you can  lower your shutter speed, like just before the bull rider explodes out of the gate.

Steve Thomas