What Lenses To Use For Sports Photography?

Whether in Europe, Africa or America, it is no news that sport activities are one of the most televised and popular activities in the world. Talk of football, basketball, tennis and you will not fail to get supporters. The people behind this popularity are Sports photographers who endear to provide high quality images for broadcasting. These images are not just shot from any lens type. They are carefully selected as different lenses provide different image outcomes. Without further ado, here are some of the lenses you can use for sporting events, that you would not use in photography studio.

Lenses to Use For Sports Photos:

Primary lens

The kind of lens you invest in can either make your sports photography easy or hard. For instance Primary lenses may be simpler than zoom lenses but produce sharp images in low light situations. The only demerit to prime lens is that they are not that flexible; have no zooming effect. This means that you will have to constantly move around the subject in order to get a perfect shot.

Zoom lens

Unlike primary lens, zoom lens allows you to zoom in and get a close up or wide angle shot of the subject without necessarily having to come close to the subject. Sports photographers love the zoom lens as its long lens gives them a good transition from seeing the subject when far away (when beginning a race) to a close up view when they are up close (finishing the race).

As you think of having a zoom lens you should know that it has a number of disadvantages namely lack of sharpness. A 200mm prime lens for example can produce sharper images than a 200mm zoom lens. Zoom lens also comes with various apertures meaning the more you zoom in, the less picture clarity you get. Telephoto lens provide wide aperture while Wide angle lens provide more ambience views.

Indoor Sports

Indoor sports are a bit tricky to capture because most of them happen under low lighting conditions. That said here are some good lens picks for indoor sports:

· Cannon 70–200mm f/2.8l IS II

· Sigma 17–70mm f/2.8–4 DC Macro OS HSM

· Sony 16–105mm f/3.5–5.6DT

· Nikon 24–70mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S.

Conclusion

When choosing a sports lens it is important to consider the: focal length, shutter speed, autofocus performance, and type of sport. A sports photographer should also be keen on selecting a good location for shooting as most sports activities require one to shoot images with speed and right camera settings to avoid blurs.