What's needed for sports pictures

[Grandpaw]

I am thinking about purchasing a Nikon D80 and the Nikon 18 to 200 vr lens. I have never tried taking sports photos and was wondering if I wanted to try would I have any chance of getting any pictures using this equipment? Is there a minimum lens needed? Thanks, Jeff

[Old Timer]

Both the pieces of equipment you mentioned are high quality. But several questions need to be answered before anyone could say if they would be adequate for what you are going to do. What kind of sports pics and what level of competition, at what time of day and from what location would you be shooting are a few of the lead off questions.

[Grandpaw]

Both the pieces of equipment you mentioned are high quality. But several questions need to be answered before anyone could say if they would be adequate for what you are going to do. What kind of sports pics and what level of competition, at what time of day and from what location would you be shooting are a few of the lead off questions.

I guess what I would like to know is if this lens would be strong enough to take basketball or football pictures? Also would it be fast enough to take under stadium lights or in a gym? The lens is a Nikon 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 G ED DX AFS VR lens. In the daylight I would think it would work for little league baseball or soccer, it's under lights that I wonder about.

What would you consider as a minimum focal length or F stop that could be used? I realize that different places have different lighting but is there a general rule of thumb for the requirements of a lens? What I am trying to do is determine if I have any chance at all with this setup to take sports type pictures. Any thoughts or suggestion you may offer will be helpful. Thanks, Jeff

[Old Timer]

Jeff I think that most of us here at PR that take nighttime football in high school environments and shoot under high school basketball lighting would agree that an f2.8 lens is almost an essential piece of equipment. Addition light support such as a speed light or strobes would probably be needed in most high school gyms or football fields if you were using anything less than an f2.8 lens. Even with the 2.8 you still have a difficult time getting an appropriate shutter speed while controlling noise at higher ISO speeds. I shoot Nikon and experience noise problems. However I have no experience with the D80 so I can't speak directly to it. As to focal length basketball and football will require different focal lengths depending on you access to the field of court. I find that my 80-200 f2.8 can be used in both sports, however the 200 is many times too short for football and the 80 is not wide enough for many under the basket or end line shots in basketball.

[Grandpaw]

Jeff I think that most of us here at PR that take nighttime football in high school environments and shoot under high school basketball lighting would agree that an f2.8 lens is almost an essential piece of equipment. Addition light support such as a speed light or strobes would probably be needed in most high school gyms or football fields if you were using anything less than an f2.8 lens. Even with the 2.8 you still have a difficult time getting an appropriate shutter speed while controlling noise at higher ISO speeds. I shoot Nikon and experience noise problems. However I have no experience with the D80 so I can't speak directly to it. As to focal length basketball and football will require different focal lengths depending on you access to the field of court. I find that my 80-200 f2.8 can be used in both sports, however the 200 is many times too short for football and the 80 is not wide enough for many under the basket or end line shots in basketball.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. With my Nikon F cameras I have some fast lens but when I looked at the price of a Nikon zoom I think the faster lens for the D80 will be far down the road unless I can make some money off the first setup and see that I can make enough off the lens to warrant paying for it. Thanks again, your information has been very helpful, Jeff

[Old Timer]

I felt the same way and skimped on glass for years with the Nikon film cameras. I finally said what the heck I sure am not getting any younger and if I'm ever going to have them I might as well take the plunge. I invest in a few pieces of good fast Nikon glass and it has been worth every cent. I did shop around and found a couple of good used lenses on Ebay and another one at a local camera store. I got the 80-200 f2.8 when Nikon when to the new models and dropped the price on the old style two touch. Glass is just as good as the new model and it was $600 cheaper at the time. Think about it your not getting any younger.

[Grandpaw]

I felt the same way and skimped on glass for years with the Nikon film cameras. I finally said what the heck I sure am not getting any younger and if I'm ever going to have them I might as well take the plunge. I invest in a few pieces of good fast Nikon glass and it has been worth every cent. I did shop around and found a couple of good used lenses on Ebay and another one at a local camera store. I got the 80-200 f2.8 when Nikon when to the new models and dropped the price on the old style two touch. Glass is just as good as the new model and it was $600 cheaper at the time. Think about it your not getting any younger.

Your right there! I had a birthday yesterday. I am retired and have spending a lot of bucks the last two years totally replacing everything inside and outside of my house due to hurricane Katrina. We will be finishing this project in about two weeks. If I had just a small fraction of what that cost none of this camera equipment would be a problem. I guess for now the Nikon D80 with the 18 to 200 VR lens will be challenging enough for me to get! Thanks again and I may be asking for more down the road. Thanks, Jeff

[rovowen]

Granpaw
I'm was like you. Didn't have fast lens and still wanted to capture my daughter in in-door
sports. This year for the Aurora Indiana Regatta, I purchased the Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS
lens. When it came time for volley ball and they say, "I'm stubborn". I just had to see if the
Canon 70-300 would work in-doors. It did, but most pictures were underexposed and you didn't have a lot of hit rates. But I did manage with it and with a lot of PP got some photos
that were not bad.
Saying that, I do have several faster lens and will use them, but wanted to see if it could be done.
I was loaned an Prime 85mm f/1.8 lens. The Volleyball Tournament is over tonight and I will have to return the lens this week-end, probably with a tear in my eyes.
If you are not trying to make a living off of taking these pictures and are only wanting some for your own. Buy what you budget allows, seems the lens you mention is a good
all around lens.