Budget Lenses for action sports - Surfing, skateboarding, etc.
 

Hello everyone,

I'm going to be diving into the world of HD DSLR video soon. Going to be purchasing a 7d. I've been searching the internets for a long time trying to figure out what sort of lenses I should be investing in and I'm having some trouble.

I want to stay on a tight budget, but it's been pretty hard to find lenses for my needs in the prices I'm looking to stay within.

The type of shooting I normally do is usually outdoor, sports profiles. I often shoot surfing and I need a long lens to reach the subjects which are often far away. I also shoot close to moving subjects (skateboarding, cycling, climbing etc.) so I like to use a wide angle lens or a fisheye to keep them in frame.

So far I have definitely decided that I'm going to be getting the Canon 50mm 1.4 prime lens for portrait use and whatnot.

For a fisheye I was thinking about the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fish eye. It's about $289 (cheap) and seems to produce nice images. But I'm also looking for a wide angle lens to use that isn't a defined fish-eye, just wide angle, possibly instead of the Samyang in that same price range (under $350)

Finally I need to get a telephoto lens. I was thinking this one would be a zoom lens because when I'm shooting subjects from a distance, my vantage point is often very far away, or only somewhat far away, so it'd be nice to have the zoom to compensate accordingly. I was looking at the Canon 70-200 f/4L, and other lenses with similar lengths, but they are all around $600, and that's a bit too high for me. And I'm not sure if that lens length of 200mm is even long enough for my uses. I'm used to shooting on a canon xha1 which has a 20x zoom.

So to summarize:
Suggestions for a wide angle or fisheye in the sub $350 range

And a telephoto zoom lens for outdoor use in the sub $500 range.

I think it might be wise to rent the lenses I plan on buying first, but so far I haven't found any places that rent lenses that are in my price range if I were to buy them later on.

Thanks for any help or suggestions. If you think I should be looking at different types of lenses/lengths then please let me know.

lens
 

Hey Morgan,
I don't know if this helps but I'm selling 3 lenses for the Canon.
Canon 28-135mm f3.5-5.6
Sigma 10-20mm 4-5.6
Sigma 24-135mm 3.5-5.6

My reason for selling them is my wife is "allowing" me to buy some L's to replace them. If these will help you out let me know. They are all less than 2 months old.

Buy used.
From members here or B and H used dept. Even ebay is good if you are diligent.
One thing in your favor for the budget is that you don't need fast lenses or very shallow DOF considering you are shooting sports in daylight.

You might want to look at the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens. It's not an L lens like the EF 70-200mm f/4L, - and it's only a little cheaper - but it's longer, and it also has Image Stabilization, which - unless you're planning to shoot off a tripod all the time - might be more useful to you.

The 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS would be a good lens for that use. I sold mine in order to get fast primes. Also, I wasn't all that pleased with its sharpness for photos.

For surf videos, it's another story. Video doesn't require tack sharpness, nor lens speed. The one bummer is that is won't accept the 1.4x or 2x teleconverter if you wanted to go longer.

I ended up getting the 200/2.8L, but it's a bit more expensive ($600ish vs. $400ish used) and doesn't have IS. The 300/4-5.6 has both modes of IS.

did you see the video I just made? I also shoot action sports stuff. Check out the video in this thread. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...led-a1-me.html

all of it was shot with a tamron 17-50 VC (which i'm selling right now btw) and a 50mm 1.8

hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any questions man

Consider the 55-250
 

If your budget is limited, I highly suggest that you consider the 55-250. It's less than half the price of the 70-300, yet the contrast is only very slightly worse. Check out the resolution chart comparison:

55-250 @ 200mm f/5.6 vs 70-300 @ 200mm f/5.6

For surfing you need something at least 400mm. I don't know the best way to get there, tel converters, zooms, primes, but you will need at least 400mm.

Right on the money.

There are VERY few instances I would recommend such a lens, but in the OP's case, a reflex lens might be just the ticket:

Nikon Manual Focus 500 F8 REFLEX (39) / LATE COMPACT WITH L37C WITH CAPS 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS TELEPHOTO LENS - KEH.com

It'll take some work to stay focused but it will have PLENTY of reach. I'd prefer to recommend something more like this...

Nikon Manual Focus 300 F2.8 ED INTERNAL FOCUS AIS WITH BUILT IN HOOD (39 DROP-IN) WITH CAPS 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS TELEPHOTO LENS - KEH.com

But I understand the budget constraints.

A reflex lens is a great recommendation. Besides, you will get circles for bokeh, which would look very cool on a surf film.

There's no cheap way of getting good tele's, but I've seen used Sigma 170-500's go for under $500-. I have both the Sigma 170-500 and 50-500, the 50-500 is sharper, heavier and has much faster AF, but the 170-500 is quite good on a tripod.

If you have a 300mm lens and a 1.7x teleconverter on your 7D that should be around the same length as the XHA1 at 20x (between 700 and 800mm). Anything less that 400mm (35mm equivelant) is pretty much useless unless you're at places like The Wedge or Off The Wall and other places where the wave breaks super close to the beach. Tamron make a 28-300 which has a manual Iris ring so it should work with any teleconverter.

Minor correction: the XHA1 angle of view is equivalent to 650mm on full frame, so 400mm on the 7D has the same angle of view as the XHA1 at 20X. So you only need a 1.4X TC (not 1.7X) with a 300mm lens in order to get the same angle of view.

Thank you all for your recommendations! I really appreciate all of your input.