Best Zoom 200+ for a canon mount?

[Anubis]

not much in this range, i have the Sigma 100-300 for my Nikon and love it, need something of at least 250mm for a Canon mount

any other lenses fit in here other then a 300 prime?

for what its gonna be used for a zoom is better

budget ~1000$

 

[rudder]

I've got a real sharp copy of the 70-300 IS. They are about $400-500 used..and $550 new.
Of course its not suited for indoors.. but shooting outside sports its an awesome lensl.

 

[Anubis]

this is gonna be used indoors with controlled lighting and sharpness is criticial, we have 1000$ to spend because its leftover in the budget, and well if we dont spend it it jst kinda goes away

 

[rudder]

For $1000 all you will get in a zoom is a 70-200mm f.2.8.. which is nice but probably not long enough. Sigma makes the 100-300 f/4.0 which is doable indoors. Other than that bet a couple of much faster primes... 85mm f/1.8 and a 200mm f/2.8.

 

[soydios]

the 300mm f/4 would be plenty sharp for your purposes. it's $1150 from B&H for the L IS version

 

[corkyg]

I have the 70-200mm f/2.8 (L)(IS) and it is a great lens. But, it is a moose to carry around, and needs a 77mm filter or polarizer.

For most work, I use the EF 70-300mm, f/4-5.6,(DO)(IS), and when necessary, bump up the ISO speed. Here's a sample of one of many shots last month when I covered the Arizona Classic Jazz Festival in Chandler. This was at 1/320th sec, f/5.6, and ISO 800. It was enough to stop the action of a fast moving right hand.

Jazz

 

[ElFenix]

indoors with controlled lighting, is the subject moving?

the 70-300 is pretty decent wide open at the long end, and stopped down one stop becomes very good. f/8 may be too slow, though. of course, if you're using a 5D or a 1Ds Mk. II you can push up the sensitivity to correct.

 

[Anubis]

no the subject matter is not moving, we will prob be shooting >F8 anyway somewhere between 200-300 MM, depends on how big our suject is, sharpness and contrast are the 2 most criticial things about this

a shorter lens wount work because we are shooting from 9 feet away and cant move any closer because of the nature of what we are trying to capture, we use a Canon 100 Macro at near 1:1 for all our close stuff

we decided to go with the Sigma 100-300, based off my own use with mine for my nikon and everything i have been reading for the past 2 hours it should be perfect for what we need,