Lens advice for Indoor use

[Spoolio]

I'm after a lens for my EOS 40D to use indoors primarily for RC shots, so sports halls will be the norm. Light conditions will vary from passable (Worksop) to dim yellow tungsten. The other problem is I have a mortgage to pay so mega-money stuff is out of the question. Any recommendations would be appreciated. I've got a kit 17-85 EF-S IS USM lens and it's OK generally but it did really struggle at Worksop. My other lens (Canon 70-300 IS USM) is OK outside on a good day but it's total pap indoors.

[josh_smaxx]

How close do you want to be? for decent money the Tamron 17-50 F2.8 is a fast lens and would be good, but 50mm (80 in 35mm terms) isnt particularly close.

You can get the 70-200 F4L for around £440 but its the none IS version and may not be fast enough indoors, especially if not using flash. (IS version would be good but thats more like £700 odd).

[mark christopher]

jimmy put me onto the Canon EF 50mm F1.8 Mark II 50 mm F 1.8 Lens ot mine under £50
im still learning cameras but check the pics i took with it in the worksop thread.

i also just bought http://www.jessops.com/Store/s67557/1-132-182-183/Home/Accessories/Flash/Flashguns/Jessops/360AFD-Digital-Flashgun-for-Canon-/details.aspx found a voucher for 25% off posted it in oople, but it may not work on ours as i have the 400d

[P_B]

Realistically, unless your camera outputs a very clean high ISO image you're always going to be struggling. A 50/1.8 might just let enough light in to get useful shutter speeds but then you'll have no depth of field so all but a thin band of the shots will be out of focus anyway.

I tried a few snaps at the new Bury venue on Sunday, ISO2200, f3.5, shutter speeds 1/60 to 1/90 - a tad overexposed so could possibly have gone to 1/125 in hindsight - not an easy task on something as nimble as R/C cars and they don't really stand up to viewing at anything other than web sizes.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind1.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind3.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind4.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind2.jpg

It's a damned difficult thing to do properly, pick the right spot for a panning shot or a hairpin so the cars are relatively static and good luck!

[Danosborne6661]

Good advise here! I currently have a D70 with the stock 18-70mm lens, for the micro nationals the light is pretty poor and I've found it hard getting results. After reading this though I've just bought myself a 50mm 1.8D lens! Quite looking forward to getting this, I imagine it will make quite a difference compared to my 18-70mm f3.5/4.5 lens?

[c0sie]

Hope so......lol

[mark christopher]

Realistically, unless your camera outputs a very clean high ISO image you're always going to be struggling. A 50/1.8 might just let enough light in to get useful shutter speeds but then you'll have no depth of field so all but a thin band of the shots will be out of focus anyway.

I tried a few snaps at the new Bury venue on Sunday, ISO2200, f3.5, shutter speeds 1/60 to 1/90 - a tad overexposed so could possibly have gone to 1/125 in hindsight - not an easy task on something as nimble as R/C cars and they don't really stand up to viewing at anything other than web sizes.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind1.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind3.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind4.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa41/perapi/bind2.jpg

It's a damned difficult thing to do properly, pick the right spot for a panning shot or a hairpin so the cars are relatively static and good luck!
i can only get 1600 iso and struggle to get them focused as yours how you do it?

[P_B]

i can only get 1600 iso and struggle to get them focused as yours how you do it?

Lots of practice and lots of 'wasted' shots over the last two years! Seriously, it'll take a fair bit of time to start getting a decent proportion of 'keepers'. Also, I'd steer clear of using a flash unless I had the express permission of everyone on the rostrum at the time...

[mole2k]

I never use the flash for shots as I don't like the fallout you get with the light with the subject being nicely exposed and the background black/underexposed, also I'm not a fan of racing with people using the flash.

I find basically to take indoor shots it will take a lot of practice to start getting a high keeper rate and you cant expect to get any noise free images unless you are using one of the very latest batch of camera's and even then I wouldn't expect miracles.

I think accepting what limitations there is and knowing that it's very unlikely you are going to get something that will stand up for more than web use or a small print. There isn't really much point expecting to get clear noise free images that are perfectly sharp at 100%, It's just not gonna happen with most indoor lights.

Focusing I generally pre-focus then take the shot when the car is in the plane of focus as the AF indoors generally isn't quick enough to keep up with the cars if they are coming towards you or going away. Panning shots you can often use the AF if they aren't changing much distance wise. With my 20D and 70-200 f4L I find I can AF as long as they aren't within about 3-4m of me, any closer than that and the lens cant physically move the glass quick enough to keep them in focus so if you're looking frame filling shots then it's manual focus.

[Hairy Spider]

Have to agree with Mole, P_B and co 100% I think.

I started taking RC photos back around March or April as a DSLR virgin. Picked up a Used (700 shots!) Nikon D70S 18-70 Kit and started shooting at my indoor club. Shocking off-white flouescent lighting. Took about 1000 shots on the first night and probably had 50 that were acceptable (I wouldn't be so bold as to use the word good!). Over the coming weeks I would try different things and gradually work out how to get more out of the equipment. What shots worked and what didn't. I borrowed a lens or 2 and bought myself a 50mm 1.8 which did clean up the shots quite a bit but I found the lack of zoom quite restricting.

Once the outdoor season started things became a whole lot easier. Again I took about 1000 shots at the first meeting and probably had 400 acceptable with 200 good or better (at least in my amature eyes).

Stick with it, it's rewarding when you find the few gems you took amongst all the dross.

Regards,
Jon.

[migsy]

you can get a 300mm lens for you'r camera on ebay. mine only cost me £95, it went srtaight on my canon.

cheers mate..migsy :thumbsup:

[Cooper]

-if you have alot of money, go for a 70-200 L f2.8 (+- 1000 - 1500euro)
-if you have money but mostly take pictures outdoors, go for a 70-200 L f4 (no image stabiliser) (+- 500euro)

-if you don't have alot of money, for indoor, go with the 50mm f1.8 (+- 80euro)
-if you have a bit more money, go for a tamron 28-75 f2.8 (or the 17-50 but you don't need the wide angle for RC shots so go with the extra 25mm on the zoom) (+- 320-350 euro)


I have 70-200 f4 ; 50 f1.8 and tamron 28-75 f2.8


Hope this helps !!




edit: extra tips:


Iso 1600
AI focus
spot light measuring
spot focus (center focus point)
aperture wide open (2.8->4)
panning
practice

[Danosborne6661]

Yup, if your doing indoor shots it ain't gunna be easy if your on a budget!
As above a 50mm 1.8 is what's great on a budget! If you got slightly more you can get a 50mm f1.4 for about £150.

Getting a zoom lens that works well indoors on a budget is never going to be easy, so the 50mm is the best bet, just sit a little closer ;)

As for outdoors, your choices broaden out a lot more due to the good light, but as this topic is about indoor use we will leave that out ;)

[josh_smaxx]

Sigma 70mm F2.8 ;) meant to be an awesome lens.