I need a lens for soccer games, this is the one?
1242032
Depends. It's a little slow if you want to use autofocus on action shots but amazing depth of field and sharp images. But if it's bright light and you have some experience tracking moving objects, I'd say it's a great choice.
1242033
it will work yes, but it is a rather heavy lens if you don't mind lugging it around you will get great photos - i use it for live music - great in low light situations
1242034
Different people have different expectations. As for me I would not use it for that purpose. It's not good enough.
1260706
This lens is only to be used with tripod (a very stable one) this is the only use for indoor sports I recommend to use a lens with stabilization or you will seriously struggle unless you can deal with cranking up the ISO and the shutter speed above 1/500 or even more and see how lucky you get you will seriously struggle for that kind of activity. as much as you can try to use a 70G200 or a 18 to 200 mm if you use Sony or above they will not be as cheap option as this one but to be honest this kind of lens is kind of going back to the 70`s and the definition you will get will not be as good and you will have to manually fine tune for each shot. I got it to experiment a bit though I feel like a paparazzi when I used it :-S I will only use this on daylight, outdoors, on a tripod and to a fix distance otherwise will do my head in. I hope you find it useful. P.S. This Opteka is the same cheap lens and Samyan, Rokinon, etc....so to me it is like a white label product cheaply manufactured in China with very simple design, not bat quality build but not a proper lens. Put your money on a piggy bank and get a proper lens for the desired activity. Cheers!
1705909
I think this is a wonderful lens for sports. Same as Nikon only better build quality and smaller body.
2064344
Thanks for your reply. I need a good lens to photograph swim meets and football, both for children. Maybe I should consider the 70-300. I want sharp pictures.
1028371
This is a great lens, but sports is not really it's thing. Out it might do alright. Sigma has always been the winner for sports, either the 50-150 2.8 or the 70-200 2.8. Don't just take my word for it. Look at the Pentax forums website under the tab lens database. Real helpful reviews.
941929
They make a Nikon version..a number of people have commented on low speed for sports. Most. Lens of this focal length have similar F-stop range
372350
Absolutely! There is nothing sharper at 300mm under $5000. I use this all the time to photograph my daughter's soccer games and get amazing results. It is very light weight and easy to hand hold for the entire game. I also have taken it bird watching in the local wetlands for 2 hour walks and have not had problems hand holding the entire time. I use a high shutter speed to ensure that my shots are sharp. Kids and birds move so fast that 1/2000 or faster is necessary.
1418521
Not a good lens for sports or any other events because auto focus is very slow.
137017
Honestly, there are some available on ebay with buyer protection (but I understand why you would want to get it from the above places instead). The 70-200mm is a great lens, but if you have your heart set on this particular lens you should wait to get this one :)I just ordered one from ebay but I did my research on the seller first.
1825170
I agree with the previous comment. The Tamron lens is a good 'general' lens for your bag. The kit lens is worthless in my opinion and should be avoided at all cost. Your 50mm 1.4 is my recommendation.
1270621
This is enough zoom if you are on the bleachers watching your child play. Not enough zoom if you are on the stands at a big stadium. This lens is higher quality than either 18-55 or 55-200.
1681730
This is a fantastic lens for sports photography in its focal length range. I use it to take pictures of tennis players, both during the day when the light is very good and at night when it isn't. There is a faster (f2.0) 200mm fixed focal length lens that could be useful if the light is really poor, but it is much more expensive. The real question is whether you will be so far away that 200mm isn't enough; I have not used any of the tele-converters.
1270623
Hi, before buying this 55-200 I would rent the lens and try. After checking if this is enough for softball games, I would decide what to buy.You might be able to find similar prices for the 100-300mm as well.
858187
For the money it's a decent lens. For a little more money you can get a Tamron 17-50 2.8, which I think is a much better lens. Also look at the nikon 35mm 1.8 dx lens.
1882833
Just make sure you get the 1 w/ the Nikon mount. It will say if you want a Nikon or Canon? It's a cool lens!
2045359
I can't recommend this lens enough. The thing about the dog, it sounds like you had a lot of experience shooting that scene, so this prime may work for you; my number one caveat when recommending this lens to someone is obviously the fact that you have to find you spot when shooting sports and know how to handle the focal length. I shoot baseball, soccer, basketball, etc on a 5D2 and this lens is my bar-none first choice for almost any situation. I never get more sharp, in focus, perfectly framed keepers than I do with this lens. So, back on track, what you could try is go shoot in that field with your dog and use you 300 zoom and tape it at 200mm so it doesn't move for the day and see if your happy with the distance, if you can live with it there are 0 negatives to this lens. I just can't stand the distortion and color artifacts from the zooms.
496027
I understand your situation, but for shooting indoor sports the wider aperture is the way to go. Save up for the 200mm telephoto. It's a great lens and considerably less expensive than something like a 70-200 IS ii.