Best camera for outdoor and indoor (can be low lighting) for sports? New to Canon.

[tjay]

I am new to Canon and want to purchase a Canon camera that can be used for everyday pictures as well as sporting events (rodeos) that are indoor (can have low lighting) and outdoor, during the day and evening. Thanks.

[cicopo]

7D mark 2 but you will also need at least one fast lens (f 2.8 or better) for the indoor rodeo stuff.

[ScottyP]

More important than the camera is the lens.

Sports have fast action so you need a fast (short duration) shutter speed to freeze the action, so there is not motion blur.

But a shutter that only stays open for a very brief fraction of a second (like 1/800th or 1/1000th of a second or even faster) needs a lot of light for enough light to get into the camera to expose the image properly in so short an amount of time. This is easy outside in the middle of the day but very tricky indoors. Even if it looks fairly bright to your eyes, your camera doesn't think so.

The best way to compensate for that short sports shutter when you aren't out in the sun is to buy a lens that opens wider than inexpensive kit lenses can. They call this a wide aperture lens. Aperture is expressed as an f/number, and a lower number is a wider aperture. A lens wide enough for indoor sports will be f/2.8 or wider. F/4 will really not cut it.

Those lenses are expensive though, so don't blow your whole budget on an expensive body and have to put lower quality lenses on it. If a 7d2 would eat your budget up, look at a 70d or even a T6i.

[tjay]

I ended up purchasing a Canon 7D camera body with a 17-50 f/2.8 lens for now. I'm searching for at least a 70-200 f/2.8 lens for action shots.

[ScottyP]

On the other hand, if you have a very large budget, like $5,000.00 or $7,000.00 or more, you might buy a full frame camera body like 5d3, and good lenses to match instead of a crop sensor camera like 7d2 and the others. A full frame camera does better in low light because you can boost the ISO by one or two stops and still get equivalent image quality compared to the crop cameras.

[ScottyP]

I was typing my last response when your post hit. The 7d is a good sports camera and the 2.8 lens you bought will serve you well, but it is a bit short for sports. The 70-200 f/2.8 Mk 2 is a fantastic lens, though expensive. It is worth it.

[tjay]

Thank you for your input. Fingers crossed I can find a good used one.

[cicopo]

I shot a 7D for almost 3 years & it was a very good camera which got replaced by a 1D mark 4, which is a much better action camera BUT i'm now also shooting a 7D2 which after 2 events has really impressed me. It can AF in lower light than my 1D4 can EVEN if I try to help it by manually focusing the lens as close to correct as my eye allows & then letting the AF fine tune my work. That said the 70-200 f2.8 lens will be a better upgrade for you right now.

[ebiggs1]

"Thank you for your input. Fingers crossed I can find a good used one."

There is no doubt in my mind, anyway, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens is the best lesn on the planet.  I certainly love mine.

That said there are two options that are very good.  Close but not in the same league as the Canon.

Tamron make a 70-200mm f2.8.  Make sure it is the A9 version.  Do not buy one used!  ....

Sigma also make a 70-200mm f2.8.  Not quite up to the Tamron in IQ but very nice. Do not buy one used!

Both of these are about half the price of the Canon and that is one reason I say do not buy one used!  Secondly, unless you can check it out throughly, a used third party lens can be a risk.  Why is the owner selling it?  Because it doesn't work?  Who knows, be wise.

I have all three of the above mentioned lenses and can testify there are all very good.