What would be a good lens for shooting sports action and wildlife photo

[Paddy7466]

 What would be a good len for shooting sport action and wildlife photo.

[cicopo]

You'll need to be more specific re what sports, day or night, well lit or not, distance from subjects & what camera PLUS budget.

[ScottyP]

Hi Paddy.  What model camera do you have?  What lenses do you already have?

If  you are new to this, I assume you may have a Rebel, or possibly a 60D or 70D?  That means you can use EF mount lenses and also EF-S mount lenses. 

What is your budget?  Good telephoto lenses are not cheap.  You might be happy with the EF-S 55-250 lens ($250.00) which is offered as a "kit" lens with some Rebel cameras.  You might try the similar EF 75-300 ($200.00).  Both are approximately the same image quality, which is to say not bad but not good.  These lenses may work for you in bright daylight, but neither will make you happy shooting indoor sports, or night sports.

What sports do  you want to shoot?  Big field games or small?  Day, night, or both? 

What kind of wildlife?  Birds in particular, being small, are challenging to budget lenses (and to one's budget if one buys better lenses). 

[Paddy7466]

i have a canon camera  eos 70d and 18-135 is stm len.

[ScottyP]

What sports? Night or day or both? Indoors or outdoors or both?

How important is the wildlife? Big critters or little birds? Up close or from far away?

Budget? Good lenses for this will probably be more than $1,000.00 USD. If you only shoot daytime and outside, and you are ok shooting birds you can lure onto your porch, you can save some money.

[Paddy7466]

A camera lens for sport action indoor and outdoor and wildlife photo at early morning or late afternoon.  I have canon eos 70d  and ef-s 18-135 is stm len. shooting picture from the stands. 

[Paddy7466]

Little league baseball daytime and night time, basketball indoor. Picture of deer, ducks and doves.

[TCampbell]

"night" games and "indoor" games are a special category because action photography typically wants fast shutter speeds (1/500th or faster) and flash is either impractical or not permitted.  To capture these shots, you want lenses that can collect a lot of light when the shutter is open -- typically an f/2.8 zoom lens such as a 70-200mm f/2.8.  Although players that are far away on a field will still seem pretty small even at 200mm.  

Sports photographers tend to like 300 and 400mm focal lengths ... but f/2.8 verisons of those lenses are VERY expensive.

For indoor games, a 70-200mm f/2.8 is usually ideal.

For daytime outdoor games you'll typically have plenty of light -- so the low focal ratio wont be so important.

f/2.8 zoom lenses are expensive.  They are physically larger and heavier than most other lenses (they need to be -- to collect more light).  

[Paddy7466]

wHAT BE A GOOD LENS FOR NIGHT TIME BASEBALL GAMES?

[cicopo]

a 300 or 400 f2.8 L IS