Hi Everybody!!

[shsabres]

Hello all, My name is Matt, I am a 26 year old that lives in Washington DC. I just started getting into photography. I am a police officer and just started this hobby. HOWEVER, I am a police officer so there is a budget. I am looking to do sports photography, will most likely have to rent a good lens at first as I don't have the 2k to blow on a lens. It is a new hobby for me that I hope to get decent at.

I just bought the Canon Rebel Xsi for a starter camera, I know its not a monster machine but like I said I want to get acclimated to the hobby before spending a paycheck on a camera.

[wcrosman]

Welcome Matt.

[Bruce Painter]

Hi Matt. Welcome to Dphoto.

Bruce

[shsabres]

Thank you all for the welcomes!!

[hobbyaddict]

Welcome Matt

[MatsP]

Welcome, Matt.

You are asking a question about lenses, and it's often difficult to suggest to others what lens to get. $2000 will buy you a quite nice lens. My biggest lens is a Canon EF100-400, which B&H is asking some $1600 for one of those. It is a multipurpose lens that covers both fairly long distance and a closer up shot range.

A lot depends on the type of sport, to some extent what level of the sport it is. For example a basketball game at "pro" level will have much brighter lighting than a basketball game of local 12-year-olds. The local small town baseball team in will not have the same lighting as the New York top level baseball stadium. You'll need the longest lens you can get for baseball, as the players are generally standing on their own, and quite far apart.

Amateur football or soccer played during daylight will probably have much closer access, and light is not a problem, compared to "pro" football/soccer played at night. Football is well spread-out. If you can get close to the pitch itself, you don't necessarily need a really long lens, 200-300 mm will probably be enough. If you are sitting on the top row, you need much more lens...

If you want to do college level basketball, you don't need an extremely long lens, but you do need a lens that is good at low-light - EF85/1.8 is a good choice. For NBA games, you can probably get away with a slightly less "fast" lens, but you'll need more length, as you probably can't get close to the court.

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Mats

[shsabres]

Mats, thanks for the reply!! I am actually going to be photographing for a collegiate baseball team at first to get exposed to sports photography. I will probably start at that and hs football as well. Thanks for the info, I will probably rent a big lens to try it out prior to purchasing for such a large amount!

[MatsP]

Renting is an excellent way to get to know what the lens can and can't do.

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Mats