Paladin3
Diamond Member
- Mar 5, 2004
- 4,933
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I'm going to weigh in on the sports shooting aspect of this debate. I've probably shot more baseball than any other sport over the years. Everything from little league to MLB (Go Dodgers!). I used to shoot our local single A team at least twice a week during the baseball season.
Focal length of lens: 200mm on a 1.5x or 1.6x crop body is plenty for covering the infield of a little league or softball game. 250mm or 300mm would be a better and let you reach out into the outfield some. Remember to shoot tight and don't give into the temptation to zoom out wider than necessary because you are afraid some of the action will be out of frame. Don't sit in the stands, find someplace at the end of the dugout where they will let your shoot, or get right up and put your lens against the fence if you have to. Take any lens hood off and make sure you have a front filter to protect your lens, but right up against the fence.
My daylight high school or little league baseball lens was a 300/f4 on a 35mm camera. For night sports I used a 300/2.8 or 400/2.8. I used a second camera with a 135/2 or 180/2.8 for shooting the bases closest to me, but you've got a handy zoom and don't need a second shorter lens.
MLB requires at least a 400/2.8 since you are often farther back from the field. On a 1.5x crop body you could get away with a 300/2.8, but a 400/2.8 (35mm equivalent of a 600/2.8) would be damn sweet.
Auto Focus: An AF system fast enough for sports will often require that you buy fast f/2.8 professional lenses and a pro camera. You can get away with slightly slower AF on baseball because you can often prefocus on the bases and just wait for the action to arrive. Either way, unless you invest $$$ in pro equipment, it is best to learn to manual focus when you shoot sports.
Shooting sports with manual focus is not that hard, it just take a little bit of practice. I personally like to rock the focus ring back in forth and watch the focus pop in and out. Before you know it you will be doing it faster than your camera can AF. If you have to AF, put the camera on single AF point and practice setting the focus before the action arrives.
FPS: Nobody has mentioned yet how slow 3 fps really is when shooting sports. I never enjoyed shooting sports at anything less than 5 fps. In a pinch I've shot sports on a 35mm camera without a motor drive and made good shots. You just have to work on your timing. It's far easier to get good shots though if you have a fast camera and can make several shots of a single play. Out of the cameras the OP mentioned, I would want the 5100 for it's 4 fps.
Flash and sports: Never the best choice, but if you do end up using flash for sports you will want to use it as fill flash, not the main light for the image. Because of this you need a camera that syncs flash at least 1/250. 1/500 is MUCH better.
I've used flash on night football and indoor basketball and volleyball. I usually bounce the flash off of a wall behind me or a large bounce card. I often shot ISO 1600 or 3200 in dark gyms at 1/250 @ f2 or f2.8 and then bounced a flash off of a wall/ceiling to fill in faces. Expect some blur when you use flash, since anything less than about 1/500 will blur in an action photo.
The other alternative is to shoot a powerful flash at a lower ISO like 400 or 800, and overpower whatever available light there is. Yes, if you are close enough and have a powerful enough strobe you will stop the action with that huge blast of light. You will also be making terrible, washed out images with black backgrounds. And you will probably blind the players and be asked to stop pretty quickly.
To sum up: If I was the OP, and didn't have to shoot any night games, I would go with the camera with the fastest FPS and the cheaper kit zoom lens like the 55-200. It is long enough if you don't try to shoot from the stands. Learn to manual focus if the AF isn't fast enough for you.
For baseball on a small little league field, your timing and ability to predict where the action will be is far more important than having expensive equipment.
Focal length of lens: 200mm on a 1.5x or 1.6x crop body is plenty for covering the infield of a little league or softball game. 250mm or 300mm would be a better and let you reach out into the outfield some. Remember to shoot tight and don't give into the temptation to zoom out wider than necessary because you are afraid some of the action will be out of frame. Don't sit in the stands, find someplace at the end of the dugout where they will let your shoot, or get right up and put your lens against the fence if you have to. Take any lens hood off and make sure you have a front filter to protect your lens, but right up against the fence.
My daylight high school or little league baseball lens was a 300/f4 on a 35mm camera. For night sports I used a 300/2.8 or 400/2.8. I used a second camera with a 135/2 or 180/2.8 for shooting the bases closest to me, but you've got a handy zoom and don't need a second shorter lens.
MLB requires at least a 400/2.8 since you are often farther back from the field. On a 1.5x crop body you could get away with a 300/2.8, but a 400/2.8 (35mm equivalent of a 600/2.8) would be damn sweet.
Auto Focus: An AF system fast enough for sports will often require that you buy fast f/2.8 professional lenses and a pro camera. You can get away with slightly slower AF on baseball because you can often prefocus on the bases and just wait for the action to arrive. Either way, unless you invest $$$ in pro equipment, it is best to learn to manual focus when you shoot sports.
Shooting sports with manual focus is not that hard, it just take a little bit of practice. I personally like to rock the focus ring back in forth and watch the focus pop in and out. Before you know it you will be doing it faster than your camera can AF. If you have to AF, put the camera on single AF point and practice setting the focus before the action arrives.
FPS: Nobody has mentioned yet how slow 3 fps really is when shooting sports. I never enjoyed shooting sports at anything less than 5 fps. In a pinch I've shot sports on a 35mm camera without a motor drive and made good shots. You just have to work on your timing. It's far easier to get good shots though if you have a fast camera and can make several shots of a single play. Out of the cameras the OP mentioned, I would want the 5100 for it's 4 fps.
Flash and sports: Never the best choice, but if you do end up using flash for sports you will want to use it as fill flash, not the main light for the image. Because of this you need a camera that syncs flash at least 1/250. 1/500 is MUCH better.
I've used flash on night football and indoor basketball and volleyball. I usually bounce the flash off of a wall behind me or a large bounce card. I often shot ISO 1600 or 3200 in dark gyms at 1/250 @ f2 or f2.8 and then bounced a flash off of a wall/ceiling to fill in faces. Expect some blur when you use flash, since anything less than about 1/500 will blur in an action photo.
The other alternative is to shoot a powerful flash at a lower ISO like 400 or 800, and overpower whatever available light there is. Yes, if you are close enough and have a powerful enough strobe you will stop the action with that huge blast of light. You will also be making terrible, washed out images with black backgrounds. And you will probably blind the players and be asked to stop pretty quickly.
To sum up: If I was the OP, and didn't have to shoot any night games, I would go with the camera with the fastest FPS and the cheaper kit zoom lens like the 55-200. It is long enough if you don't try to shoot from the stands. Learn to manual focus if the AF isn't fast enough for you.
For baseball on a small little league field, your timing and ability to predict where the action will be is far more important than having expensive equipment.
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