Lens help

[illmonkey]

After spending over £500 on a 450D plus accessories I'm stupidly looking at purchasing an additional lens.

I'm after something that will be good for motorsport, so it needs to zoom and be fast.

Any recommendations? I've seen a "Canon Zoom Lens EF 70-210mm F4", any good?

After looking on Ebay, I now seem you can get 28-90 f4.0/5.6 lenses, would this be a good replacement for the 18-55 that came with the camera? I think it'd be a lens I could keep on the camera generally?

What do I need to look out for to make sure its good enough to get cars at 150MPH+?

[andy-xr]

Probably something that goes to, or over 300mm would be a good start, 70-300 maybe?

[illmonkey]

andy-xr said:

Probably something that goes to, or over 300mm would be a good start, 70-300 maybe?

Now I've seen a few of these, like the Tamron 70 300, but is it any good? On ebay for about £80 + P&P

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tamron-70-300mm-Di-LD-MACRO-...

[SamHH]

For motorsport you probably need a lens that goes to at least 200mm, maybe more, depending on what venues you'll be doing it at. Pretty much any Canon EF lens with this sort of focal length will be capable of getting good photos, although obviously the posher ones will have better image quality, better focussing, more features etc. What you get depends on your budget; suitable lenses cost from £100 to £8000.

As for a 28-90mm lens, if you think that's the focal length range you want, then it would be fine. Bear in mind that the 18-55mm range is what's considered 'normal' on your sort of camera (i.e. it goes from moderately wide angle to slightly telephoto) and it's what most people find useful for general, everyday sort of uses. 28-90mm would give you hardly any wide angle ability at all. My advice would be to get a telephoto zoom lens and then only replace your 18-55mm if you find it's lacking in some way.

Edited by SamHH on Wednesday 6th May 10:19

[illmonkey]

SamHH said:

For motorsport you probably need a lens that goes to at least 200mm, maybe more, depending on what venues you'll be doing it at. Pretty much any Canon EF lens with this sort of focal length will be capable of getting good photos, although obviously the posher ones will have better image quality, better focussing, more features etc. What you get depends on your budget; suitable lenses cost from £100 to £8000.

As for a 28-90mm lens, if you think that's the focal length range you want, then it would be fine. Bear in mind that the 18-55mm range is what's considered 'normal' on your sort of camera (i.e. it goes from moderately wide angle to slightly telephoto) and it's what most people find useful for general, everyday sort of uses. 28-90mm would give you hardly any wide angle ability at all. My advise would be to get a telephoto zoom lens and then only replace your 18-55mm if you find it's lacking in some way.

I think you're right, I don't want to spend monet replacing what I've only just got, and its upto the job.

Wanting to spend money ASAP, what about this lens? Seems dirt cheap

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Zoom-Lens-EF-70-210mm-...

[SamHH]

illmonkey said:

I think you're right, I don't want to spend monet replacing what I've only just got, and its upto the job.

Wanting to spend money ASAP, what about this lens? Seems dirt cheap

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Zoom-Lens-EF-70-210mm-...

Looks good. Most people who get seriously into motorsport photography end up spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on lenses as unfortunately this is what the really good ones cost. Something relatively affordable like that one would probably be a good way to try it out and see if you think it's worth buying a posher lens. Buying second-hand means you can sell it for little loss if you do decide to trade up although as always, beware of the risks of buying used from a private seller.

[illmonkey]

SamHH said:

illmonkey said:

I think you're right, I don't want to spend monet replacing what I've only just got, and its upto the job.

Wanting to spend money ASAP, what about this lens? Seems dirt cheap

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Zoom-Lens-EF-70-210mm-...

Looks good. Most people who get seriously into motorsport photography end up spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on lenses as unfortunately this is what the really good ones cost. Something relatively affordable like that one would probably be a good way to try it out and see if you think it's worth buying a posher lens. Buying second-hand means you can sell it for little loss if you do decide to trade up although as always, beware of the risks of buying used from a private seller.

What about IS, I'm assuming with this much zoom, IS is required?

[SamHH]

illmonkey said:

What about IS, I'm assuming with this much zoom, IS is required?

No, not at all. Photographers somehow managed to take brilliant motorsport photos for about a hundred years without having IS, so I'm sure it's possible now. In fact, motorsport is probably one of the areas where IS is least useful, because mostly you have to use a fast shutter speed in order to photograph fast moving subjects anyway, with or without IS.

[RobDickinson]

illmonkey said:

What about IS, I'm assuming with this much zoom, IS is required?

IS doesnt help when your using a tripod or monopod(much) which you should be doing with a long lens anyhow. It also doesnt help with moving subjects.

Exception is mode 2 IS for panning.

[mas99]

illmonkey said:

andy-xr said:

Probably something that goes to, or over 300mm would be a good start, 70-300 maybe?

Now I've seen a few of these, like the Tamron 70 300, but is it any good? On ebay for about £80 + P&P

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tamron-70-300mm-Di-LD-MACRO-...

Not that one - Its for a pentax slr. If looking at cheapy lenses make sure that its the correct fit and will autofocus on your body (I know that sounds obvious, but its easy on fleabay to find yourself looking at something described as say 70-210 F4 Canon fit and not notice that its an FD mount and need to be used on something like an AE1)