Photographers - Lens question

[montanafan]

I'm thinking of buying the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens for shooting basketball and volleyball. I have the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens, but the AF speed is pitiful. I've read that the 85mm has pretty quick focusing, but I was wondering if anyone here has used both lenses to shoot sports in low-light and could tell me if the AF speed is noticeably better with the 85mm.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I haven't used the 85mm f/1.8, but I've used Canon USM lenses before, and also Sigma's HSM lenses. Canon's USM is incredibly quick. Half a button press and it's just... there. Sigma's HSM is pretty quick too, definitely quicker than the 50mm f/1.8, but lags behind Canon's USM. I once tried shooting a night football game and the USM was up to the task. The shutter speeds weren't though.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Just look for "USM" and you're as fast as you're gonna get.

 

[montanafan]

Fuzzy, yeah my Sigma's are pretty good, but they do have to "hunt" sometimes in very lowl light. I've never had that problem with my two USM Canon lenses so I guess the 85mm would be no different. Thanks.


GT, I guess that pretty much sums it up. If the USM on the 85mm can't get the job done, then nothing will. Thanks.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Just look for "USM" and you're as fast as you're gonna get.

Some lenses with USM focus faster than others.

Anyway the 85/1.8 is one of the fastest focusing lenses in Canon's lineup. It is perfect for indoor sports like basketball and whatever (a lot of people also use the similar 100/2 and the 135L). If you're used to the butt-slow AF of the 50/1.8, get ready to be blown away.

 

[montanafan]

Mrvile, that was what I was hoping to hear. When I first got the 50mm I was really disappointed that so many of what I thought were going to be good shots at a game were out of focus. I miss a few occasionally in a fast moving sport like basketball, but nothing like that. When I used Canon's File Viewer Utility to check my focus point, they were all spot on just like I'd thought when I took them, the lens just didn't lock them in.

I'm going to place my order for the 85mm right now. Thanks!

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: montanafan
Mrvile, that was what I was hoping to hear. When I first got the 50mm I was really disappointed that so many of what I thought were going to be good shots at a game were out of focus. I miss a few occasionally in a fast moving sport like basketball, but nothing like that. When I used Canon's File Viewer Utility to check my focus point, they were all spot on just like I'd thought when I took them, the lens just didn't lock them in.

I'm going to place my order for the 85mm right now. Thanks!

Learn to use aperture & depth of field range if the problem arise again....It is the way that sport photographers deal with manual focus lens.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: montanafan
Mrvile, that was what I was hoping to hear. When I first got the 50mm I was really disappointed that so many of what I thought were going to be good shots at a game were out of focus. I miss a few occasionally in a fast moving sport like basketball, but nothing like that. When I used Canon's File Viewer Utility to check my focus point, they were all spot on just like I'd thought when I took them, the lens just didn't lock them in.

I'm going to place my order for the 85mm right now. Thanks!

Learn to use aperture & depth of field range if the problem arise again....It is the way that sport photographers deal with manual focus lens.

The 50/1.8 is not a manual focus lens.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: montanafan
Mrvile, that was what I was hoping to hear. When I first got the 50mm I was really disappointed that so many of what I thought were going to be good shots at a game were out of focus. I miss a few occasionally in a fast moving sport like basketball, but nothing like that. When I used Canon's File Viewer Utility to check my focus point, they were all spot on just like I'd thought when I took them, the lens just didn't lock them in.

I'm going to place my order for the 85mm right now. Thanks!

Learn to use aperture & depth of field range if the problem arise again....It is the way that sport photographers deal with manual focus lens.

The 50/1.8 is not a manual focus lens.

My 50mm f1.8 EF lens have a manual/auto focus switch & depth of field range scale.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: montanafan
Mrvile, that was what I was hoping to hear. When I first got the 50mm I was really disappointed that so many of what I thought were going to be good shots at a game were out of focus. I miss a few occasionally in a fast moving sport like basketball, but nothing like that. When I used Canon's File Viewer Utility to check my focus point, they were all spot on just like I'd thought when I took them, the lens just didn't lock them in.

I'm going to place my order for the 85mm right now. Thanks!

Learn to use aperture & depth of field range if the problem arise again....It is the way that sport photographers deal with manual focus lens.

The 50/1.8 is not a manual focus lens.

My 50mm f1.8 EF lens have a manual/auto focus switch & depth of field range scale.

Well you can set the 50/1.8 to manual focus but using manual focus with sports isn't very easy to do, especially with the 50's crummy little focus ring. And actually ours doesn't have a DOF scale.

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Just look for "USM" and you're as fast as you're gonna get.

Some lenses with USM focus faster than others.

Anyway the 85/1.8 is one of the fastest focusing lenses in Canon's lineup. It is perfect for indoor sports like basketball and whatever (a lot of people also use the similar 100/2 and the 135L). If you're used to the butt-slow AF of the 50/1.8, get ready to be blown away.

Yeah, I was gonna say that just because a lens has USM doesn't mean it'll be lightning quick. Comparing the 85 f/1.2L to a 135 f/2L would be a grand example.

The 85 f/1.8 is a great lens and serves a purpose in every bag - excellent length for portraits, action sports, and pretty much anything. The only thing I would advise you watch out for is the terrible purple fringing the lens can exhibit when you open it up to 1.8. I have done soccer under flood lights and everything from the players' jerseys to the soccer ball had a nasty purple 'glow' to it. Doing some online reading, I found this to be a relatively common issue. It's not hard to remove in Photoshop, but it's just an extra step to your workflow.

In short: if you don't already have the 85 1.8, buy it!

 

[montanafan]

You can use manual focus on the 50mm, but the focusing ring is so small compared to the norm and the DoF is so small at the f1.8 to f/2.2 that I have to use in the dimly lit gym I shoot in, that it's no better than the slow AF with such fast moving targets. It's somewhat useful with volleyball and girls basketball, but the boys are playing at such breakneck speeds that it's just pretty much useless at their games.

Edit: Oh, and you're right Mrvile, mine doesn't have a DoF range scale on it either, I just checked to make sure. He may have been talking about the II.

 

[montanafan]

Thanks for the info and advice, jamesbond007. I always have to do some work on my basketball and volleyball photos in PS because of the lighting in our gym anyway, so that shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

[Joony]

Perhaps you should go for a Pocket Wizard + multi strobe setup if you are going to shoot in such a gym often! Lower ISOs, colors popping out, more natural skin tones. I shot high school basketball a few times with avaliable lighting, and during a burst fire, i'd get different color temps due to the metal halide gym lighting, annoying.

Other than that,

<- Loves his 70-200 2.8L

I also just picked up the 85 1.8 the other day, this thing is amazing DoF wise.

 

[montanafan]

Joony, a multi-strobe setup would be nice, but I just wouldn't be able to work it out very easily in this gym. I've seen some examples of those types of shoots though and you're right. the results are excellent.

I had the same problem with continuous shooting that you mentioned, so now I just use single-frame. Here's the actual lighting in the gym that I shoot in most often:

Gym

I use a custom WB, but it's still not exactly right because of the cycling of the lights that you were talking about. This is the kind of result I get with a decent cycle, but you'll notice that it has a bit of a green tint to it.

Basketball

I use my Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 sometimes and it does a decent job when I use EC and drop the shutter speed to around 1/250s, but then I risk getting motion blur. Hopefully, the 85mm will be the answer I'm looking for.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: montanafan
I use my Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 sometimes and it does a decent job when I use EC and drop the shutter speed to around 1/250s, but then I risk getting motion blur. Hopefully, the 85mm will be the answer I'm looking for.

Ideally, you'd have two bodies: one for longer shots and another for shorter/wide-angle ones. The 70-200 is a great range, but the 85 1.8 gives you a bit more than one full stop of light to work with. If you normally achieve 1/250 at f/2.8, you will be thrilled to have 1/500 or even lower the ISO (if that's an issue for you) and reduce the noise in the images. Depending on the shoot, I typically shoot with a friend and he shoots the 200L and I shoot the 135L or the 300 2.8IS on one body and my 28-75 on another. Together, we can do some great work.