Need advice on a zoom lens

I got the new camera I had been coveting for Christmas, Canon Xti, and want to get a reasonably priced (meaning not more than the camera cost) zoom mostly for handheld sports photos such as outdoor soccer (my kid's high school teams) wakeboarding (for posting on wakeworld and computer scrapbooks) and occasionally snow skiing (although I wouldn't trust myself with this camera on the mountain on a regular basis. I'm interested in the 70-300mm range and think I need image stabilization and fast autofocus with full time manual capabilities. There is a new Canon lens that is about twice my budget that looks perfect, but I really can't afford it. What do you think about the Canon EF 70-300 F4.0-5.6 IS USM ? Are there equivalent Tamron options that are as good and less money or should I be looking at something else entirely? Thanks

Here is a great site for reviews.....and somewhat with info, though I think MANY there are fairly pompous.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

Have you considered the 70-200 f4?

I shoot A LOT of my sons hockey and lacrosse and feel good about the 200 MM range(I have the 70-200 2.8).

Go rent locally and see if you are left wanting more range than the 200MM.....as well as your feelings of needing IS.

That new Canon 70-300 is getting high marks for IQ, IS and decent AF, it's the price and build quality that are turning some off to it. I had the new Tamron 18-250 for a while on the xti I owned and I was pretty impressed given it's cost and do it all range. (especially good on the wide end). It's not as sharp at 250mm and it's lack of IS doesn't help either. Build quality is as good as the Canon. Give it a look if you can't afford the 70-300 or the 70-200 f4. You'll find a lot of used 75-300 IS models out there now at half the cost or less of the 70-300 too.

You can't go wrong with the 70-200.

70-200 f4l IS or non IS, is the right lense for you

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely give the 70-200 a look. I buy a lot of gear used, but have never felt comfortable with camera equipment used because of the fear of unseen damage or just a bad lens that someone wants to get rid of. How do you avoid that with used camera equipment? Do you buy from a dealer, website or e-bay? Thanks again, Les

I bought my 70-200 f/4 on Fred Miranda and it was in mint condition. Just make sure you get a bunch of pictures of the lens and do some homework on the seller. It seems as though a lot of people selling stuff there have a good reputation already on the message boards.

i've had the 70-300 for a almost a year and love it. the range is perfect and the lens is really nice quality and sharp as can be when stopped down a little. the only draw back is the variable 4-5.6 aperture, i wish i had a stable f4 with IS. The 70-200 f4 L has had my eyes drawn to it for a while, it'll probably be my next lens.

Thanks, I've decided to try the EF 70-300 IS as it fits the budget. I hate to be a complete newb., but what do you mean about "stopping down" to improve sharpness? Hopefully by Spring I'll have enough experience with the camera to post some great shots of us not doing very much behind the boat

most lenses are sharpest when they are "stopped down" from their widest aperture (in the 70-300's case its 4.0-5.6) to a aperture like 8.0.

good luck with the new lens, you wont regret it.

Here's an excellent way to see how a lens will perform at different zooms and f-stops:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx

Les,

Make sure you shoot a few shots zoomed in to 300 on your new lens in portrait mode and check that they are as sharp as shots taken in landscape. Early on that lens had problems with barrel misalignment in portrait. Canon fixed the problem a while back so if you got a new lens it shouldn't be an issue but there are still a few slipping through the cracks from what I hear. If your portrait mode shots look distorted compared to your landscape (it will be real obvious) then you need to return it or send it in to get fixed.

Okay, I apparently have more money than brains, no doubt from too many falls trying to learn how to wakeboard. I decided on a little more research and have gotten myself completely confused. Here's what I think I've learned so far.

1. My XTi with the kit lens 17-55 EF F4/5.6 does not appear to take as sharp a photo as my $130 canon 5 MP point and shoot in many situations.

2. The amount of money I need to spend to buy a lens that will take a sharper photo at normal to about 6X zoom is 2 to 3 times the cost of the camera body and with necessary accessories makes the system more than 10X the cost of the point and shoot.

Why did I do this? I must be nuts.

The real question I have beyond the entertainment value of my despair is this: I've been reading that the IS system for he Canon lens is good for 2 to 3 stops of additional light gathering power for handheld shots which would normally be hindered by camera shake such as caused by breathing or movement from shutter release, but that it isn't at all good for cameras in motion such as sitting on the back seat of my Malibu taking photos of riders behind the boat. Has this been your experience with IS. Some of the pure photo buff articles I've been reading suggest that IS used with this much camera movement can actually make the photos worse.

Also, I'm getting it that with my small sensor and 1.6 magnification factor the 300mm max zoom is going to be too much to handhold in the best of circumstances.

Your additional thoughts are appreciated.

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quote:

1. My XTi with the kit lens 17-55 EF F4/5.6 does not appear to take as sharp a photo as my $130 canon 5 MP point and shoot in many situations.

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Most likely due to operator error.

I use the 70-200L and it's a great lens for wakeboarding. 200mm is more than enough zoom for shooting from the tow boat. For boarding shots you will be shooting at fast shutter speeds in most cases so there's really no point in paying for IS if this is what your using the lens for.

Keep in mind that you won't be zooming in to 200mm unless you want a guy in the shy shot. When I'm shooting from the tow boat I usually am around 70 to 85mm. If you zoom in to tight you loose all perspective.

You can pick up the 70-200L f/4 for around 600.00

The Canon L glass holds it's value fairly well too.

Remember that your not using a point and shoot camera any more and now you are a big factor in how the photos come out.

My advise is pick up your camera and use it as much as possible so you understand what all the settings do and how to change them quickly.

There are so many things influencing the shot and what you're seeing (especially between your new xti and your P&S) it's hard to know where to begin. Let's start with something simple, if you point a DSLR with even an inexpensive lens and a P&S at the same subject, both on full auto you could very well end up with images from both in which the P&S provides a sharper image. A P&S cam has immense depth of field due to it's tiny sensor (everything's in focus) where a DSLR may not.

You also need to know the difference between motion blur (moving subject is blurred - BG is sharp), camera shake (everything is blurred) and Oof (out of focus - something in the image is in focus but not your subject).

A fast shutter speed will freeze motion and generally eliminate camera shake but will not keep your subject all in focus if your aperture is wide open (which happens when you speed your shutter up) and your depth of field possibly becomes so small that it's impossible to keep your entire subject in the focal plane.

A good photographer knows how the camera's settings interact and which ones are critical given the type of shot being taken if you don't know how it all works you'll find getting a good image is more due to luck then anything else and you'll always be wondering what happened when you get a bad shot.

A good starting point for shooting WBing is set your XTi to TV mode, set the shutter speed to 1/1000th and turn the ISO up until your aperture is averaging between f5.6 and f8. If it's so bright out that ISO100 is still stopping the camera down past f11 then up your shutter to the next available speed. I'll bet you'll get some decent shots then. Forget IS for now I really doubt that's a solution to your problem.

(Message edited by richd on January 22, 2008)

Walt and Rich, thanks. Those thoughts really help. I used to dabble in film photography when I was a kid and haven't really touched a serious camera in about 25 years. It is amazing how much I have forgotten about the most basic elements of photography (and how spoiled I've gotten taking snapshots with the incredibly user friendly AF point and shoot I've been carrying around skiing, backpacking, traveling and WBing. I'm always just blown away by the quality of information available in the WW community. I'll post some photos when I get something interesting.