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Posted by Doug Clifford on January 09, 19100 at 06:24:23:
In Reply to: Sigma 70-200/2.8 vs Canon 70-200/4L action lens posted by gary bares on January 09, 19100 at 02:01:23:
: I purchased an Elan IIE after much study and help from sites like this one and am wondering about a telephoto for sports and nature shooting. I have about $800 to spend which leaves me with the option of the new Canon 70-200/4.0L or a third party such as the Sigma 70-200/2.8 APO HSM EX. The Canon is about half the weight and the image quality and focusing speed are probably going to be a little better. My question not having done much sports photography (because of camera limitation) is, how much is the bigger aperature (2.8 vs 4.0) going to effect my ability to capture sporting events such as hockey, basketball as well as nature shots such as ducks taking off and landing from a nearby waterway (which happens to be one of the best locations in the world for getting close to geese and ducks i.e. a matter of a few feet). I don't mind the extra weight etc. if it allows me to capture these incredible action scenes. Is the extra aperature worth the tradeoffs? As usual, any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Hi Gary,
There are several elements to your question. First, because
both zooms max out at 200mm, the slowest handheld shutter speed
is going to be 1/250 of second (the rule is 1/focal length of
lens is slowest handheld shutter speed). For birds taking off and
action sports, 1/250 is probably not going to be fast enough to
freeze motion. So this means you are going to have to use 400
speed film much of the time, especially in less than ideal
lighting conditions. Although I am a Canon fan (with 5 bodies and
a dozen lenses) the extra f stop will definitely come in handy in
marginal lighting situations. I am also impressed with the
all-metal body construction of the Sigma lens, even though it
does add overall weight to the package. (I like metal!) There is
a balanced review of this lens (with some drawbacks to consider)
on Klaus Schroiff's Photo Zone. Check the User Lens Reviews.
(hyperlink below.) According to the reviewer, the Sigma lens does
not focus as fast as Canon's USM equivalent. I'm still not up to
speed on all the lens models with the same focal length being
produced by Canon, the L, the 2L, the 4L - it's all very
confusing - oh for the days when autofocus didn't exist. :-)
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