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Sports photography - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

by Mike McNamee Published 01/08/2011

Cricket has particular and specific problems. First-class pitches are even bigger and for most county grounds the 300mm is a wide angle, a 600mm just about copes and 800mm may be even better. An 800mm lens brings additional problems of both weight and stability, it's bad enough carrying the brutes into the ground let alone holding them! Only three 800mm lenses are currently available, primes from Canon and Sigma and a 300-800mm zoom from Sigma.

Adding teleconverters can be problematic. You have to check your chosen pairing, but in a nutshell, the Nikon systems will not autofocus when the effective aperture is more than f5.6, some Canon bodies will keep going to f8. The very latest Canon 200-400mm zoom has a built-in teleconverter (and a price to match).

When it comes to cost, make sure you are sitting down! Prices range from around £2,000 to an improbable £15,260 (only oil sheiks need apply). With the discounts, currency fluctuations and, most recently, the Japanese earthquake, you have got to do your homework and negotiate the best deal.

At this sort of investment level you had better make the correct choice and it would pay to hire the target lens to see if you get along together.

The cost driver is the size of the front aperture (and thus lens element). A graph plot of Nikkor street prices yields a nice straight line from around £2,000 for a 70-200mm out to a 600mm f4 which will be about three times the diameter but more than three times the cost. Plotting the same type of graph for Sigma, Nikon and Canon indicates rising prices in that order (using street valuations).

The lines are not perfect and some of the bumps are due to additional features such as image stabilisation or zoom capability. Overall though, the graphs set down a marker, you are going to have to invest between £4,000 and £8,000 for a professional, long lens - grin and bear it!

We have tabled the usual culprits from Canon, Nikon and Sigma, limiting the list to f2.8 apertures only where available. In general professional practice, the benefits of the extra aperture should outweigh the additional cost.

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