Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Hello, open to your suggestions on buying a lens for Nikon d7100 to use at soccer games.Both during daylight and evening .

jak86094

Take a look at the Tamron SP 70-200 mm f/2.8 DI VC G2. On your D7100 it will have 300mm reach, and the f/2.8 is good indoors and applies throughout the zoom range. It's quite sharp, has 3 types of vibration control settings, and is substantially less expensive than the Nikon version of this lens. I also seems to be well made. At least take a look or maybe even rent it and give it a try. Good luck with your search.

Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Thank you

mleuck

2.8 is a must. Nikon 70-200, Nikon 300mm

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Sigma 120-300 f2.8 .....Sport if possible $$

..

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

My go to lenses are the Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8. Are very sharp and the minor CA and vignetting are easily taken care of in Lightroom. Excellent results for a reasonable price.

sergio

I am amazed to see 200 or 300mm recommended. 150-600 would be my minimum.

pbradin Loc: Florida

I shoot Canon, and use a 70-200 f2.8 L IS. I have used it for night time football games, rodeos in indoor arenas (and outdoors at night) and have taken, literally, thousands of shots of the rodeos with that lens. When I stopped shooting from the arena floor, with angry bulls chasing me around occasionally, I started using it with a 1.4TC and it did pretty well. I found that using the most powerful flash that Canon made at the time (GN 197), with a "Better Beamer" flash extender, upped the number of "keepers" and I could shoot from outside the fence. I had to set the camera to "high speed synch" which is available on most digital SLR's and set the camera up on ISO 800 and I could get shutter speeds of 1/800 of a second. This was over ten years ago and I still am amazed at the shots I got. If the action is moving towards the camera, you will get sharper shots than if it is moving across the frame. It is also better if you can shoot standing at ground level, ideally along the sidelines for a more natural looking shot. Just make sure you get out of the way when the action heads in your direction. I have gotten knocked down a couple of times when I was concentrating on "getting the shot" both at football games and at bull riding events, luckily with no injuries, although one camera got crushed under the foot of an angry bull. The 70-200 lens was just fine though. Those f2.8's are built like a tank. That is my ten cents.

Ray and JoJo Loc: Florida--Tenneessee

Yes !! f2.8 70-200 is the best, but please don't use flash of any kind at grown or floor level, Very distracting both players and animals. Wonder why Photogs get run over?

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

I concur. This lens is fantastically sharp. This summer I tried to go to as many Jackson Generals baseball games as I could. I managed to get incredible sharp images of outfielders catching the ball (about 400 ft away). On my D500, it worked great! I highly recommend this lens. No need to waste money on Nikon's lens.

If you would like to see images, PM me.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

What you want is a 70-200 2.8 lens. Now, it seems everyone makes that focal length and speed. So you have a lot of lenses to look at. For my money I would consider a Nikon 70-200 VRII lens. It is one generation removed from the newest Nikon 70-200 but has an excellent reputation for sharpness. And, you should be able to pick one up either refurbished or Mint in the box used off ebay or other sites at around a range of say $1100 to a high of $1500. All I can say is, you will be given all kinds of reasons to buy 3rd party glass here. But, if you talk to anyone who owns, or has owned this lens, like me, all I can tell you is you will really like the results of this lens.

ELNikkor

Don't get the 150-600, it will restrict you to daylight-only, it is too slow for the evening games. The 70-200 2.8 will be your best bet for night, day, and indoor...

ggab Loc: ?

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

I own a Tamron 70-200mm, and it is a great lens. I do have to say that I bought a Tamron 18-400mm a while back and I seldom take it off for sports that my 6 grandchildren play in, indoors and out.

wetreed

I agree. Having done sports photography for almost 20 years in the late 80s and 90s . The longer reach you have the better off you are. Scooter fields are big you can’t be everywhere. In daylight a 150-600 offer plenty of speed. I wish I had that as a option when I was shooting sports. Limiting yourself to a 200 or 300mm will really hurt you. Even thinking about a 200mm for on a field that big is crazy.At the absolute minimum you could try the Tamron 18-400. This is the one subject I actually know what I am talking about.