Email to Park Cameras
Hi,
I wonder if you could recommend a lens for me?
I have a canon 50D and am looking for a reasonably fast telephoto lens to take images of a rugby tournament but have a limited budget of upto £500. What could you recommend?
Actual Response
Thank you for your email,
For sports I would recommend a range up to about 400mm but importantly with a fast aperture to help give a fast shutter speed to freeze the action.
Ideally aim for a shutter speed of 1/500 and although a useful feature otherwise ignore any image stabilisation as it wont be of any benefit at these shutter speeds. This may mean that you have to use high ISO setting to get this but with the decent low light performance of the EOS 50D this shouldn't be an issue.
Although not as long the 70-200mm F4L from Canon would offer a good option, as its a fast short zoom with very high image quality.
The 70-300mm IS would be a decent compromise though not ideal due to its slow(ish) aperture otherwise anything longer will be beyond your £500 budget.
If money wasn't an issue the Canon 100-400mm is a popular option or the 70-200mm 2.8 IS with a tele-converter which offers more flexibility with the option of either a fast aperture or a longer zoom.
Kind Regards