Sports Shooting With a Canon 200mm f/2 16 December 2009
Let's be honest right from the start, the Canon EF 200mm f/2 L IS USM is expensive. Even if you don't recognise the trademark white lens with the red line at the front, this L lens with its f/2 aperture simply reeks of high priced optics. Many photographers spend a lot of time debating about which DSLR model is better or whether it's worth upgrading to a newer model. When it's all said and done, the best way of getting better photos is probably through better optics rather than a better body. With the Canon EF 200mm f/2 L IS USM, you have a superb professional medium telephoto lens which can deliver excellent results for low light photography, portraits as well as sports photography where a fast lens can make a world of difference. It just so happens that the East Asian Games were held in Hong Kong this year and so, with the 200mm mounted to our Canon EOS 7D, we went to one of the Field Hockey matches to capture the action. Mounted on the Canon EOS 7D, with the crop factor from its APS-C sized sensor, we effectively turned the 200mm into a 320mm lens in 35mm equivalent focal length. With this extra reach, we found that we were able to get some excellent close up results up to 25 metres. Kai, the new member of our team, was having a wild time with the lens and snapping away at the action. Given the hectic pace of the game, the fast aperture was definitely useful. Add to that the Image Stabilisation feature, you not only get up to 5 stops advantage with the shutter speed but also the horizontal and vertical detection which allows you to pan without concern.
The build of the lens is without compromise as expected with Canon's L-series. However, all that workmanship does add to the weight and you should work out your arm muscles if you are going to heft this 2.52kg lens for handheld shooting. If you are shooting sports, a tripod is usually out of the question as you won't be able to follow the action fast enough but perhaps a monopod would be useful if you are comfortable using one and it doesn't interfere with your shooting.
As we don't do much sports photography generally, we were looking forward to the challenge of getting some good results from this field hockey game. Anyone who is into sports shooting would know the few key rules of thumb to get good shots, shutter speeds from 1/500 seconds upwards to stop the motion as well as a large aperture setting to achieve minimal depth of field (DOF) to enhance the effect of motion and speed.
Shutter speed would need to be higher than the general rule of thumbs for hand holding a lens, where minimal shutter speed is 1 divided by the focal length of the lens. Generally, to stop people completely, 1/1000 would be required but depending on lighting conditions, camera performance and the anticipated results, the range from 1/500 to 1/1000 (or more) may be used. To throw in some shutter speed comparison, we also shot some images at 1/250 to indicate the results at what is really the minimum speed for sports shooting, unless effects from slower speeds are sought. Of course, with the Image Stabilisation of the Canon 200mm f/2, we didn't have to worry so much about handheld blurring but rather the noise level and the focusing speed, 2 issues which are more the domain of the camera rather than the lens. Furthermore, having an f/2 aperture rather than say f/2.8 or more allows us to get more light in and therefore keep ISO settings lower and hence noise as well. Of course, using a prime lens gives you more than a larger aperture as it also gives you better image quality than those achieved by zooming to 200mm on even the popular, high quality 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM.
DigtalRev's Verdict
There is no question whatsoever that the Canon EF 200mm f/2 L IS USM is an amazing lens. Your images will immediately show the difference in terms of Image Quality even in untrained hands. For those with more experience, this lens will open the door to even better images both in terms of quality as well as creative possibility. If you've got deep pockets, and like to shoot sports (especially indoor sports), this lens would be a great investment and one that you won't want to be without anymore.
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