New camera advice (Page 2): A 58mm lens for night football?!? Er... No. You will have to crop so much there won't be anything left to reveal details! It would work well for sideline...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

radiojohn wrote:

While a camera body, higher ISO, stabilization are all body factors, think about the LENS.

Most zooms can start out at 2.8 or whatever,but quickly drop to 5.6 or smaller as they zoom. AF also does not work as well.

Assuming you do not have a full frame body, would a 58( mm film equiv) f/1.4 do the job better? It would provide a fast slight telephoto.

A 58mm lens for night football?!? Er... No. You will have to crop so much there won't be anything left to reveal details! It would work well for sideline scenes, however.

Now, if you have a 135mm f/1.8 Sigma Art lens, that works on the near side of the field. About $1100 to $1400.

A 70-200 f/2.8 fixed aperture image stabilized zoom is a standard fixture on friday night football fields (About $1200 to $2400 depending on brand).

For the far side of the field, a 300mm f/2.8 is about as wide as you can go ($6100 though!). Longer would be better.

radiojohn

I wonder if his person knows how much it costs to do what they want to do. When I was teaching beginners, I explained to them that if sports photographers could get the shot with a little AA battery point and shoot they wouldn't buy and carry those big gray lenses. Some people equated "digital" camera with "miracle" camera.

betsyhumphrey

I know I will not be buying a little Brownie instamatic. And with that reference, you can probably guess my age! Seriously, my Sony does just fine for African Safari opportunities, Alaskan shots and outdoor sports. Unfortunately it cannot get the good sport shots indoors. I would like to stay under $3000 if I can.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

You could look at a used or referb Canon 5D4 FF or 7D2 and a Canon 70-200 f/4 or a 135 prime. And stay within your budget. The 7D2 and a 70-200 f/2.8 would be another good option. Flicker control is a good feature to have for shooting under artificial lights too.

I saw an excellent condition 5D4 locally today for about $2,000. You are trying to do challenging shooting.

I’m sure the Nikon D500 and a couple of possible Nikon FF with similar lenses would be an option too. I’m not a Nikon shooter so I will leave that to them...

betsyhumphrey wrote:

I know I will not be buying a little Brownie instamatic. And with that reference, you can probably guess my age! Seriously, my Sony does just fine for African Safari opportunities, Alaskan shots and outdoor sports. Unfortunately it cannot get the good sport shots indoors. I would like to stay under $3000 if I can.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

betsyhumphrey wrote:

I know I will not be buying a little Brownie instamatic. And with that reference, you can probably guess my age! Seriously, my Sony does just fine for African Safari opportunities, Alaskan shots and outdoor sports. Unfortunately it cannot get the good sport shots indoors. I would like to stay under $3000 if I can.

In that price range I suggest a reconditioned Canon 5D3 and 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM lens.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

betsyhumphrey wrote:

I am a relatively new photographer and currently use a Sony RX10iii. It has been great but now I am looking for a camera that can take indoor sports action shots. I will be either in a barn (horse shows) or ice rink (hockey games); both places do not have great lighting! Any advice?

Money?
The current best available and the choice of nearly every pro who does sports for a living is the Canon 1DX MII. Nothing better.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

But that falls at the $7,000 to $12,000 portion of my $1,000 - $12,000 budget. Now if money was not an issue...but it virtually always is...😎

A 1Dx2 and a 300mm f/2.8 and maybe a 2x Extender III to get to 600mm. And it would be shooting time.

Architect1776 wrote:

Money?
The current best available and the choice of nearly every pro who does sports for a living is the Canon 1DX MII. Nothing better.

radiojohn

Sony has a new $999 (list price) bridge camera with some insane zoom range, like 60x. With all the in camera corrections, etc. it might be worth a look.

John Matthews Loc: Wasilla, Alaska

For indoor soccer and an indoor horse arena both with very poor lighting conditions I use a variable telephoto (50-200m or 24-70mm)lens that is capable of maintaining a fixed 2.8 aperture. I use the older canon full frame 6D often at ISO 6400-12800 and usually get very acceptable prints w/o post processing at 8.5x11 inches. This camera only has 4 FPS capability. The center auto focus point is fast but there are only 9 focus point available. I do not need continuous tracking for the horse events. It would be a nice feature for soccer.

The canon 5DIV will give you about the same low light capability and many more focus points and better continuous tracking.

I have not used the Nikon D500 but if it equals the canon low light capability mentioned it would likely be the ideal choice.

edward strohmeier

I did a horse show indoors once! When I finished, my equipment was covered with dust from the tanbark used in the arena. Don't think I'll do that again.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Try outdoor Motocross sometime. Dust in the air can be 50-60 feet high and you don’t always even realize it until you get back enough from the track to see it. And they race rain or shine, hot or cold. About the only thing I have see stop them is lighting in the area.

edward strohmeier wrote:

I did a horse show indoors once! When I finished, my equipment was covered with dust from the tanbark used in the arena. Don't think I'll do that again.

Hip Coyote

In disagree with the notion of getting another bridge camera. If you want indoor fast action photography then full frame is the way to go with a fast high quality lens. This from an Oly 4/3 sensor user. If and when I start shooting in that environment (grandkids sports inside) I will change systems.

radiojohn

Starting with the lens has always been good advice. The camera body is basically a box. However, I must add that bridge cameras have evolved dramatically from the early years and even film days when they seemed like they were too much for casual users and too little for advanced users Available light? Perhaps not the best choice...right now. But as ISOs keep increasing, the need for a f/1.4 lens decreases.