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Received Canon 10 d for christmas and I have a 28-90 Quantaray that my husband purchased. I want to take pictures of soccer events and take pictures of my children at various events (mostly school functions).

I need some advice about what lens I could get to do the job. I have thought about a 100-400 Canon IS that I could get used for a great price and a 70-200 Canon IS and using an extender to get the length. This is all new to me and I don't want to make a mistake.
Thanks

Horses for courses. Depending on how finicky you are about end product, you could try to find something that does both jobs, but generally speaking, a portrait lens and a sports lens are not the same thing.

I've seen threads in this forum discussing both portrait lenses and sports photography, so probably worth having a look. The lenses you talk about are probably better for sports - but it's not just the focal range - look at the speed of the lens too!

The Canon 70-200 IS is an outstanding lens. I've found it to be my best lens and sharper than the 100-400 IS.

jperilloux wrote:The Canon 70-200 IS is an outstanding lens. I've found it to be my best lens and sharper than the 100-400 IS.

But of course the 100-400 is sharper past 200mm...

When shooting soccer matches there are a couple of things to consider:

What age are the children? Youngsters (5-10 yrs) play on smaller fields so you can get much closer to the action, and the 70-200 may give you the range (remember that w/10D you have 1.6x focal) effectively 112-320mm.

What time of day? If games are all daytime (mid-day) your lens speed is not as critical (f5.6 can suffice). If you get any late day/twilight game times, then the f2.8 becomes necessary as kids usually do not have field lights like collegiate and pro games do. Also, as the kids get older, the speed of the game increases dramtically, especially the ball speed so lens speed becomes more critical with poor lighting and faster pace of action.

I use the 10D w/70-200 f/2.8L IS USM and when necessary add 1.4x or 2x extender depending on field size and lighting conditions. Takes some thought whereas 100-400mm covers more range without worrying about using an extender. However, you are starting at 160mm if you choose the 100-400mm at the close range so you can't get too close to your near sideline/endline.

I will post a few soccer images from my 12 year olds team in my gallery with and without extender later today. If money is an issue, the 100-400mm is less expensive by a few hundred than the 70-200mm (then add the cost of extenders @ $275 ea.) but I like the quality of the images better when I can shoot without extenders.

Doug

http://www.pbase.com/delta_sierra

On a sort of related subject.

http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=4534

Kelley,

Have you had a chance to check out the images? If you have any further questions on your lens selection, let me know and I'll be happy to give you my "two cents".

Doug

http://www.pbase.com/delta_sierra