Camera Labs

Hi
have just bought a nikon d90 and need a lens for tennis

I have made a shortlist of these please help me decide

Nikkor AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

Sigma 100-300mm f4

Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 APO EX HSM with sigma 2x ex apo tele converter

thanks

I'd either go for the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 or the Tamron 70-300mm VC USD (great image stabilizer and very sharp).
The Sigma 70-200mm ist quite a bit more expensive than the other solutions but it's probably the best solution. I'd rather go for a 1.4x extender though.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

thanks for advice just looked at the tamron it looks pretty good .

Is their a problem with the 2x converter as lt comes as a package

You lose more light and sharpness with the 2x TC than the 1.4x TC. I have the Sigma 70-200 and 2x converter, I can make a comparison for you if you want.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Sounds good - that's interesting for me, too.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

I think i am going to go with the sigma 70-200 lawn tennis season isn't while june so will have time to check it out and maybe sell the 2x tc and buy a 1.4 unless anyone has any more suggestions .

Just a quick calculation:
To closely capture a player's body in motion let's assume you need a 1.6x2,4m frame on the court - which is 100x the size of your sensor (making calculations pretty easy). So if you're 20m away from the player you need a 20m/100 = 200mm focal length to get the shot.
A tennis court is roughly 11x24m (36x78 feet) so if you're sitting close to the net a shooting distance of 20m might just be ok. If you're sitting further away or more to one side you may well need to cover a distance of 30m or even 40m. Which in turn would imply you'd need a 300mm or even 400mm to get a shot that tightly framed.
If you'd love to capture an upper body shot your target-frame shrinks to around half of the above (say 1.2x1.6m) which increases the focal length needed for that shot by another 50% (roughly). So you're now talking about a 300mm lens from 20m distance or a 600mm from 40m distance.
You can see that capturing sports even in "closed quarters" might need some pretty long lenses. Combine this with the need to shoot at fast shutter-speeds makes you (and me) wish to use a lens like the stabilized Sigma 120-300/2.8. Unfortunately the price of this baby is past 2000 (USD, GBP, EUR)
So you might consider the non-stabilized Sigma 100-300/4.0 or a good 70-200 + 1.4x TC as an option. As always with Sigma lenses make sure you can give the lens back without prohibitive restocking fee should you get a decentered copy (see my sad story of the 100-300/4.0 here). But when you can get a good copy, the (non-stabilized) 100-300/4.0 was tested with pretty good results (see there).

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

thanks for that i have been doing the tennis tournaments for 6 years now and 300mm is ample unless your sat on centre court at wimbledon .

I have taken some good photos with cheapest lenses this year going to do it right bought the D90 that i hope is a good camera and want a descent lens

update bought the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 and the Tamron 70-300mm VC USD both great lenses
didn't get the teleconverter but wish i had so now looking is their a converter that will work with both these lenses . I have read that the sigma and the teleplus sp300 are the same is this right any recommendation greatly appreciated

If you use the best quality for shooting, enlarging and cropping will still give a reasonable quality photo. Shooting a bit wide also lets cropping where you want it and not cut off any part of the players body when shooting since they move so fast.


Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.