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Hey everyone, I just got a new Canon 40D and one of the things I wanted to start taking pics of was good ol' Southern Californian surfing. If you're familiar with much of SoCal you know that the distance to the waves isn't too far, so nothing extreme would be needed in terms of focal length, but does anyone have any suggestions about good quality lenses? I know a good telephoto can be quite expensive, but if anyone has advice on a good, quick, sub $1,000 lens, it would be greatly appreciated.

What about the Canon EF 300mm f/4 USM L IS? I'm not very familiar with SoCal surfing, but my guess would be that's 300mm is a good range if they are in midrange (i suppose they still are a little away from you).
At the moment Amazon has it for 1200$ and you probably wont find a better lens at that range.
Or if you can find it somewhere without IS, it's probably gonna be a lot cheaper.

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

I think I'd like to go for some type of zoom lens so that I could use in other situations as well as surfing. I did like the 70-200 F4L but it lacks the IS which I think would become invaluable as soon as I dismount off the tripod. Oh, and is F4 fast enough for surfing, or would I have to save up for a quicker lens?

F4.0 should be fast enough. Afterall the light conditions while surfing is usually pretty good (i guess). Just pick ISO 400-800 and yould should be able to get shutterspeeds around 1/1000 sec or faster.

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

Unless you want to shoot night surfing ( ) or in very cloudy days, F4 would be enough. The problem with surfing is that your subject moves fast and is far away, so I would go for a prime, for the quality and sharpness of image, and probably 400mm or more. Maybe a 300mm with a tele converter 2x.
Sigma has this 500mm lens that I think will do the job for sunny days.

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Canon 40D and lots of lenses.
my Flickr

What about the IS version of the 70-200 f/4?

Mark

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Canon EOS 40D / EF-S 17-85mm IS / EF 50mm f/1.8 / My Flickr

Or sigma's version of 70-200 2.8?
Goes for 800 on B&H with minolta/sony mount. Probably about the same for Canon

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

Don't you guys think 200 is a small range? I have a 300mm and in many circumstances I find I would need a tele 2x.

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Canon 40D and lots of lenses.
my Flickr

Well he said he wanted a zoom lens so it would be more versatile in other situations. He also said that the lens doesn't need to be that long for where he's shooting. And you could add converters to the 70-200s. The 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS would give more reach but its a bit slower and the quality isn't as good. All depends on what you need for the situation really.

Mark

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Canon EOS 40D / EF-S 17-85mm IS / EF 50mm f/1.8 / My Flickr

you can spend like $5,000 on a super awesome lens good for this and other misc shots. or maybe look into a wetsuit and underwater armor?


as for the > $1,000 then just a 70-300 USM IS?

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D60 - SB-600
18-55VR
50mm f/1.8
90mm f/2.8

hey everyone. I really appreciate all the consideration going into the replies to my concern over a new lens. It's still up in the air though. Someone mentioned a prime lens which, although i thought it'd be nice to have a zoom for other occasions, sounds like something that could deliver amazing results and work as a specialized sports lens. I thought about the 70-300 IS, mainly because it's at least half of what many other telephotos cost (around $500-$600), but will it even compare to others such as the suggested 300mm prime? Keep in mind, I'm in no situation to be buying lenses with little regard to my bank account. Perhaps it would be something I could still be satisfied with. What do you think?

Sigma Bigma. You're better off getting a better lens and than getting the 70-300IS and then wishing you had something with longer reach and faster later down the road.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

f4 should be plenty!

as far as night surfing- i doubt you'll even get great shots unless a flood light were present...

even a 1.8 super duper zoom will have a hard time focusing in that amount of light.

my 70-300 4-5.6 captures quick action moments in the desert with no issues.

as far as working in the water, you might want to invest in a weather sealed armor and a jetski along with someone who'll drive with you to the action.

personally, i think a lot of sport shots look extremely bland when shot from far away. you've got to get in on the action and a combination of a 70-300 or 70-200 2.8f lens along with a jet ski would be perfect as it allows you to get a better perspective on the surfer.

for example-



you're actually local- give me a call if you want some more advice or questions. pm'ed you phone number.

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Another alternative is to get a wet suit, a water case and a super wide angle... go and get close. Best way to get fantastic action pics...

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I would recommend the 70-200 F/4L lens from canon. I believe for most times of the day you will have enough light to capture a great image with little sacrafice in quality. As for the image stabilization you can always invest in a monopod. The F4 is the lens that I almost never remove from my camera. I shoot mostly sports but use this lens for portrait work for the excelent bokkah effect that it has. Bonus is that you can add a teleconverter for longer distances and still not sacrafice on too much quality. Here is an example of an image taken at a professional football game with sunny conditions but I was able to shoot at 1/1200 with iso 100 at 5.6. This image is taken with my F/4L non IS lens, a 1.4 tele, and i did not use a monopod on this shot. I am not a professional by any means but when I show my friends my images they have nothing but praise. Keep in mind the runningback was on the closest 20 yard line and I am sitting 15 rows back from the corner end zone so I estimate this to be a distance of 60 yards away if not more. this turns my 70-200 lens into a 448 lens. If this is not enough to get you close to the subject then you might consider a 2x converter that would give you a 640 focal length lens with the 40D crop factor. Hope this helps. I also have my other images posted under the Chicago Bears Training camp topic. As a side note i have used this exact set-up and have gotten great airshow photos as well, so this lens has multiple advantages

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Canon 40D, 70-200 f/2.8, 28-135 IS USM, 1.4x Tele, Battery Grip w/extra batteries. Monopod. Tripod.