CANON EOS 400D Help!

[luke_1983uk]

Canon Eos 400D with 18-55 lens kit
from jessops

right im all set to buy this camera cheers jonandjen, my main interest will be taking tennis photos at wimbledon, french open etc, from the stands,
the lens im looking at is Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro Lens
do you think this will be ok for the sort of photos i will be taking or is there a better lens i should be looking at?
ive also heard that this lens is quite loud, is it true because i dont want to make myself a noucence to other spectators and the players?
please help

i think the kit lens will be ok for me as it will mainly be used for holiday snaps and day to day pictures out on trips and at football, if anyone can help with finding me a lens similar to the kit lens but better i would be really grateful too!

thanks alot

luke

[dudeonline]

My initial thoughts are that since you want to use this for sports photography and action shots that you want a fast lens, something that shoots at f2.8 maybe. If you are shooting from the stands you won't be able to use flash and will need to freeze the action (for most shots), you might find this lens especially when the light drops off or on a cloudy day, just not quick enough.

[PaulBoy]

like dude says really & as long as you aren't expecting too much from the lens at the tennis it will be fine though unless you are in the front seats you wont get too close even with 300mm - as to the noise it is audible to the user as it is quite close to your face but it isnt noisy enough to disturb people around you IME
Depending on your budget it might be worth considering an alternative to the kit lens - If you are set on the 70-300mm then a zoom up to around 100mm would be ideal - a lens with IS (image stabilisation) would cost as much (if not more) than the 400D so you could look at these alternatives:
Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 USM @ £195
Sigma 28-105mm f/2.8-4 DG ASPHERICAL @ £159
Plenty of Canon users here who'll chip in with advice in this matter hopefully ... Paul

[luke_1983uk]

wow thanks for the great replys, im currently using fuji finepix s7000
and using the kit lens i got these photos
click here
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=108527


by getting the 400d will there be any improvement on the s7000
i should think so but am not sure, probably better off buying the 400d first but not sure if i should get it with the kit lens now, the lenses PaulBoy suggested sound very nice, all i want to see though is an improvement on my tennis photos,

[PaulBoy]

Originally Posted by luke_1983uk

wow thanks for the great replys, im currently using fuji finepix s7000
and using the kit lens i got these photos
click here
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=108527

by getting the 400d will there be any improvement on the s7000
i should think so but am not sure, probably better off buying the 400d first but not sure if i should get it with the kit lens now, the lenses PaulBoy suggested sound very nice, all i want to see though is an improvement on my tennis photos,

Well from what I can find your S7000 zooms to 210mm so the Sigma should reach a bit further indeed with the "crop factor" of the 400D you will be over 400mm - If the tennis is your main photo target I'd be tempted to stick with the kit lens & buy the best long zoom you can afford - without knowing your budget you could get the Sigma you first mentioned or spend considerably more & get a Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM which is £362 but does have IS - A 70-200mm f4L will set you back a further £100 and is a much bigger (& presumably heavier) piece of kit ...
Paul
PS - Nice tennis shots btw though more of Maria S would have been nice

[luke_1983uk]

thanks alot paulboy, the Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens you were talking about, sounds very nice is it alot better then the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro Lens, would it be better for action tennis shots, and were did you find it for that price


thanks for helping though, well appriciated!

[iGiDK]

My two cents:

From www.camerapricebuster.co.uk (bookmark this by the way )

- EOS 400D Body Only £437
- EOS 400D Lens Kit (EF-S 18-55mm) £479

A difference of £42 between the two

I sold my kit lens on ebay for £45 and I've seen them go for as much as £60 in the past so I think there's definitely no harm in having the kit lens in your bag as you can just punt it for minimal loss/maybe even make a profit if you decide it's not for you.

Now, I appreciate that if your budget is quite tight then maybe going down this route is not in your best interests as the extra £40odd quid could go nicely towards an alternative lens but I just thought I'd throw this option into the mix as you can definitely give the kit lens a trial without having to worry about losing ££ in the process

I think the Sigma (APO) would be ok for wimbledon. I saw some shots from a guy who was there last year using the canon 70-200 all at f4 and they were fine. They were all shot with a very low shutter speed (therefore minimal motion blur on the subject) and captured the action magnificently

If it's dull then you can just up the ISO a bit as D-SLRs give you plenty of leverage in this respect with minimal loss of image quality when you run the image through an appropriate noise reduction suite. Also perhaps shooting RAW would give you more options when post processing (but you'd then need to spend a few more ££ on additional CF cards )

[PaulBoy]

iGiDK has already answered that one - the Canon is a Canon so quality is another league from the Sigma - IS & USM are further improvements over the Sigma - Quality comes at a price though (as you can see)
Re the price you could also email a chap (Kerso) I have dealt with through another forum (& who I highly recommend) - He has an Ebay Shop called FLASH CAMERA & will deal with you off Ebay to save on costs / fees - The 70-300mm IS is priced to Buy Now at £369 but if you read the text he says if you email him he should be able to do a lower price (no probs mentioning my name btw - I have bought 2x lenses from him recently)
HTH - Paul

[luke_1983uk]

Originally Posted by PaulBoy

iGiDK has already answered that one - the Canon is a Canon so quality is another league from the Sigma - IS & USM are further improvements over the Sigma - Quality comes at a price though (as you can see)
Re the price you could also email a chap (Kerso) I have dealt with through another forum (& who I highly recommend) - He has an Ebay Shop called FLASH CAMERA & will deal with you off Ebay to save on costs / fees - The 70-300mm IS is priced to Buy Now at £369 but if you read the text he says if you email him he should be able to do a lower price (no probs mentioning my name btw - I have bought 2x lenses from him recently)
HTH - Paul

thanks alot paul, ive just checked the lens out on ebay and the one thing that worries me is this phrase
'This lens has just come back in to stock from Canon and is factory fresh. There should be no problems like there was from Canon last time.'
what does that mean?
do you know anywhere that reviews this lens been looking everywhere!

thanks for helping

[luke_1983uk]

thanks for your two cents worth iGiDK
very helpfull and thanks for that site

[PaulBoy]

Originally Posted by luke_1983uk

thanks alot paul, ive just checked the lens out on ebay and the one thing that worries me is this phrase
'This lens has just come back in to stock from Canon and is factory fresh. There should be no problems like there was from Canon last time.'
what does that mean?
do you know anywhere that reviews this lens been looking everywhere!

thanks for helping

There must have been some issues with some Canon lenses but as a Nikon user I have no idea what they were (?) Kerso is 100% genuine though - He was recommended to me on another Photography site where he is held in very high esteem but used to only deal in Canon gear - Recently he started doing Nikon & when the need arose I used him for a couple of lenses - He is based in the US but ships his UK orders to Scotland which is where my orders were shipped from via RMSD - I can understand if you are wary - Its your money - If you feel there's a risk look elsewhere - I will use him every time if his price is the best I can find ...

As far as reviews are concerned a quick search comes up with ...
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...56is/index.htm
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=27&page=2
http://www.photographyreview.com/sf-...eviewscrx.aspx
Paul

[luke_1983uk]

thanks paulboy for all your help, very grateful!


well i got the camera today and finally got a good price from your ebay man for the
Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM


last question before i bite the bullet and buy the lens, i know this lens has a great zoom, im just not sure if it will handle action shots great, can anyone give any advice please?
will it handle action shots as good as the fuji s7000 did? (As seen in my photos), if you reckon yes then that would be great!

[luke_1983uk]

so can anyone help, will the lens be as good as the fuji s7000 kit lens that i used for the photos in the link, as for the action shots, i just need to quickly know?
sorry to bother anyone

[PaulBoy]

The reviews I linked to are certainly positive about quality although build quality isn't quite up to that of their Professional "L" lenses - but not far off as per this comment in the Photozone Review "So in terms of optical quality the EF 70-300mm IS can be almost described as a hidden Canon L lens. As much as it may promise here its build quality remains in line to what you can expect from a consumer grade lens " - As to whether it will shoot sports well you'd need to research somewhere like Flickr (where you can search for pictures taken with the lens) or a Canon Forum like POTN (and see what threads you can find about this specific lens) ... Paul

[bowenjones]

With the type of shots that you like taking, I don't think you have to worry too much about freezing the action with the 70-300IS as long as the conditions are ok. Shooting indoors or on an overcast day will be a problem though as the lens isn't that fast. You'll need good light to get a fast shutter speed but you can always increase the ISO in less than good conditions as the 400D is pretty good at handling noise even at ISO 1600. I'm hoping to get this lens myself one day so it would be nice to see some of your shots if you don't mind posting them