Canon Equestrian lens question

coccolinobueno · July 29, 2008

I'm beginner here:scratch
I hope somebody can help me.I try to find the best thread to my questions...
So I would like to do pics about horses and riding also outside and also inside in the arena.I have around 1000$ for body. I choose canon eos 40d.
Which lens i should buy for ? I thought Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L EF IS USM Lens or Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS Lens

I would like to take pics from hand.
The riding tracks are 40x80m and i cant pass through while somebody is riding.

Please help me with your advices even with lens or body too !
It would be my hobby.

thnkx:lust

ziggy53 · July 29, 2008

coccolinobueno wrote:

I'm beginner here
I hope somebody can help me.I try to find the best thread to my questions...
So I would like to do pics about horses and riding also outside and also inside in the arena.I have around 1000$ for body. I choose canon eos 40d.
Which lens i should buy for ? I thought Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L EF IS USM Lens or Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS Lens

I would like to take pics from hand.
The riding tracks are 40x80m and i cant pass through while somebody is riding.

Please help me with your advices even with lens or body too !
It would be my hobby.

thnkx

CoccolinoBueno, welcome to the Digital Grin.

I moved this to a seperate thread so it would be seen a little better.

This question has been asked before and I'll try to locate the thread(s).

In the meantime, I think the Canon EF 70-200mm, f2.8L USM (with or without IS) is a better choice because of the indoor shooting you need to do.

It may also be too long, at 70mm, to capture the horses when they are close so the ideal solution might be 2 camera bodies and a much shorter zoom lens on the second body. A second shooter might also be handy if the action gets fast.

I would suggest the Canon EF-S 17-55mm, f2.8 IS USM as a good choice for the shorter zoom.

Tee Why · July 29, 2008

I too think the faster speed of the 70-200mm would be better.
I used to have one and used the 70-200mm lens as well.

The 100-400mm maybe better if you really want a tight crop and have enough light like outdoor events though.

sirsloop · July 29, 2008

I have been shooting equestrian events for the past 2.5 years. I've used the 70-300, 70-300IS, 70-200/4L, 70-200/2.8L, and 70-200/2.8LIS. Best rig IMHO is a 40D with a 70-200/2.8L (non-IS). I use that lens, and my wife is using the 70-200/4L non-IS for weight reasons. That will cover most jumper/dressage arenas. For larger arenas or to get some extra length on x-country you can add a 1.4x teleconverter to that to get out to 280mm. I have seen other photographers using the 100-400L, seen their photos, and think its unneccessary. You are giving up a lot of aperture, not to mention the push/pull design is a massive dust pump (think dry dusty horse barn/arena!). Shutter speed is king. In a pinch at dusk I can shoot at f/2.8 at 200mm which is ~2-4 times faster than a 100-400L at the same length. Thats a huge advantage when you are already pushing high ISO at the end of the day, or in overcast weather. You also get super nice bokeh at f/2.8-3.2 when you frame a horse at 200mm jumping from the side. The increased shutter speed of the 40D helps here over a rebel body. I don't like shooting indoor's and really don't do any shows inside just due to poor light, poor background, and low possibility of sales vs outdoor shows. Don't expect IS to help you out AT ALL indoors as you will just end up with a photo of a horse with blurry legs. I rarely use anything except 70-200's for horses. Occasionally I'll throw on my 24-70/2.8L for portrait work, but thats only on private sittings or some non-event occasion. From the side of an arena or jump its only a 70-200. Hope that helps!

mfiedel · July 29, 2008

I don't use Canon, but my main interest is also equine photography, and I think you will be much happier with the 70-200 as well. Best of luck shooting indoors, that is a mystery that is beyond me and I've heard of quite a few pros who won't even bother with indoor shows

70mm is not usually too long for shooting horses in my experience, especially while they are being ridden, in which case they are usually a good distance from a photographer anyway. When photographing them at liberty, I like having that length because I know when I can no longer focus on the horse it's way too close and I need to move it off away from me (I am usually on my own so there's no one to worry about my safety for me -lol- )

sirsloop · July 29, 2008

Yeh.. biggest problems indoors is horrible lighting, dusty/dirty/ugly backgrounds, and you usually cannot use flash (unless you want to risk spooking a horse and getting tons of nasty remarks from people). Its just not worth it... ugly photos even if technically you can pull it off.

coccolinobueno · July 29, 2008

Reining & Cutting
Thank you for fast reply !!
Now is time to take my moneypocket....

Special thanks to Sirsloop

I would take photos about Reining & Cutting. There are exact places at the arena where riders doing sliding stops, spins, rolbacks... and also a line where the cow is moving....

I hope soon i will be back with pics....

Phyxius · July 29, 2008

I regularly shoot in an arena that's a little bigger than half the size of the one you're talking about. The standard arena in dressage is 20m x 60m, with the short arena being 20x40m. I'm quite happy with the 70-200 f/2.8 for just about every show! Occasionally if I'm shooting jumping in an indoor the 70mm is too long, but for flat (dressage, non-over fences classes, western, etc.) you should be okay with that lens. I don't know the reining patterns, but the sliding stops are generally in the center of the ring, right? So, you should be fine with the 70-200!

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your pictures! Welcome to DGrin!

Canon Equestrian lens question

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