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What lens do you use for soccer with a D3s?

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jfriend00

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I've been shooting full size field soccer for a number of years with a D300 and 200-400 f/4. Before that I used a D2Xs with the same lens.

For a number of reasons, I've been entertaining the idea of getting a D3s, but I'm unsure what lens would go well with it for soccer. With my D300, I am frequently in the 300-400mm range on the zoom. That seems to say that I'd need a 500 or 600 f/4 to go with the D3s (and give up the flexibility of the zoom) or give up a stop of light and put a TC on the 200-400 (I'm not excited about losing a stop of light or losing a stop of background blur).

So, what do those of you who shoot full field soccer use with your D3s? 400 f/2.8? 500 f/4? 600 f/4? Something else?
--
John
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domphoto said:
you can still shoot with the same setup , just just the dx mode with the d3s
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I've always found crop mode to be somewhat of a joke. I never used it on my D2Xs. If you want more reach, get a better lens. Crop mode takes your nice large viewfinder and makes it into a tiny little tunnel.

I'm looking for a setup with a D3s that would be better than what I have now with my D300 so I'm unsure why I'd use a D3s in crop mode at 5.1MP and a reduced sized viewfinder when I own a D300 and could use all 12mp and the full viewfinder on it?

I was hoping to hear from some people who actually shoot full field soccer with a D3, D3s or D700 and find out what glass they use and why.
--
John
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jfriend00 said:
I've been shooting full size field soccer for a number of years with a D300 and 200-400 f/4. Before that I used a D2Xs with the same lens.

For a number of reasons, I've been entertaining the idea of getting a D3s, but I'm unsure what lens would go well with it for soccer. With my D300, I am frequently in the 300-400mm range on the zoom. That seems to say that I'd need a 500 or 600 f/4 to go with the D3s (and give up the flexibility of the zoom) or give up a stop of light and put a TC on the 200-400 (I'm not excited about losing a stop of light or losing a stop of background blur).

So, what do those of you who shoot full field soccer use with your D3s? 400 f/2.8? 500 f/4? 600 f/4? Something else?
--
John
Gallery: http://jfriend.smugmug.com
Popular: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/popular
Portfolio: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/portfolio
Click to expand...
You will of course loose reach with the D3s but adding a TC-14E II will almost (1.4x vs 1.5x) give you that back and give you the same DOF at f4/f5.6 as with the D300 at f2.8/f4. Using the 1.2 crop mode give you an alternative crop with 8.4 MP.

The D3s have at higher ISOs a 3 stop advantage in IQ over the D300.

I would wait and see what Nikon will announce in the coming weeks: D900, lenses, new converters (TC-14E III, TC-17E III) before purchase.
 
I wanted a lens I would use. As with Nikon's tele-prime lenses, they are very sharp and take tele-converters extremely well. With this in mind, I felt the 500 was more manageable lens that I would use. For me, the 600 was too big and heavy.

This is one of those decisions that if go the inch you go the mile. I later added a D3X to my kit. Mated to the 500, I'm capturing much more detail with a lot of cropping headroom. It has become my birding, wildlife kit of choice. My D3 pretty much is an event camera now.
--
Sonny
 
jfriend00 said:
I've been shooting full size field soccer for a number of years with a D300 and 200-400 f/4. Before that I used a D2Xs with the same lens.

For a number of reasons, I've been entertaining the idea of getting a D3s, but I'm unsure what lens would go well with it for soccer. With my D300, I am frequently in the 300-400mm range on the zoom. That seems to say that I'd need a 500 or 600 f/4 to go with the D3s (and give up the flexibility of the zoom) or give up a stop of light and put a TC on the 200-400 (I'm not excited about losing a stop of light or losing a stop of background blur).

So, what do those of you who shoot full field soccer use with your D3s? 400 f/2.8? 500 f/4? 600 f/4? Something else?
Click to expand...
I've been shooting soccer with a d3 for a couple of years. Before that I shot with a pair of d2x/s using a 200VR on a monopod and a 400 afs2 on a tripod. This was a great combo, much like the 200-400 you're using only a little faster focusing, a little sharper, and a little bit better isolation.... at the expense of having to work two rigs simulataneously. Enter the d3..... only way to get down the field like I was used to with d2x is with a 1.4 on the 400... not bad at all, but in good light why not just use the d2x?...no image improvement at all other than maybe better AF hits.

The 200 is just too short on the d3 for much of anything, so what I've ended up with is using a 200-400 on the d3 and a 400 on the d2x. If light sucks, I've learned there is no reaching the end of the field in a fashion that makes me happy....

I ordered a 500VR but the damn thing was broken on arrival, and I ended up not getting one. If I were to buy a long lens now, for soccer, it would be the 600VR. As you know, we need all the reach we can get....and I believe the 600 VR is more optically akin to the 500VR than not. (I think the 500 afs was optically better than the 600 afs2)
Here's a shot that will link you to some of my soccer stuff..



So bottom line for me, the use of a d3 / d3s / d700 for length of field requires a 400 w tc or longer lens. The 200-400 is too slow to focus with a tc ... esssentially worthless for soccer IMO. Really, one cam can't do it if the 1 cam is a 12mp FF.

I guess the ideal would be a pair of d3s, one with the zoom (or a 300) and the other w a 600 :) or maybe a d3x w a 600 in good light :) :)
 
When I got my D3, I also thought that I would use the crop mode for more reach when I needed it. I quickly found that I was a lot better off using the full frame and then cropping to size so that I can use any portion of the full frame to crop from. There is a lot more flexibility both as to the area used and the amount of area used in the final crop. 5 mpx is plenty for 8 X 10 prints or the web. Heck, my D2hs has plenty of pixels for 8 X 10 or larger.
domphoto said:
you can still shoot with the same setup , just just the dx mode with the d3s
--
thanks,
dom.

http://www.domphoto.com
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--
Chuck Currey
 
An alternative to all this talk of lens upgrades would simply be to walk a bit more during the game.
--
You Will Never Walk Alone
 
Wanchese said:
An alternative to all this talk of lens upgrades would simply be to walk a bit more during the game.
--
You Will Never Walk Alone
Click to expand...
I think the best alternative would be to combine the role of the referee with that of the photographer...
 
With the ISO performance of the D3s you could just get a 1.4 or a 1.7 TC.

--
PhotoGo
 
Ha! Imagine being accused of making calls to sell pictures!
--
You Will Never Walk Alone
 
teodorian2 said:
wilkman said:
PhotoGo said:
With the ISO performance of the D3s you could just get a 1.4 or a 1.7 TC.
Click to expand...
Slows down focusing too much.
best, mark
Click to expand...
I you have used the D3s with 400/2.8 VR and the TC14E II before that statement?
Click to expand...
I believe he's talking about the TC1.4 + 200-400 that I own now, not the 400 f/2.8. My experience is also that the TC1.4 + 200-400 is too slow focusing for quick action (birds in flight and soccer) on my D300. Doesn't surprise me that the same might be true with the D3(s).

--
John
Gallery: http://jfriend.smugmug.com
Popular: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/popular
Portfolio: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/portfolio
 
jfriend00 said:
jfriend00 said:
I you have used the D3s with 400/2.8 VR and the TC14E II before that statement?
Click to expand...
I believe he's talking about the TC1.4 + 200-400 that I own now, not the 400 f/2.8. My experience is also that the TC1.4 + 200-400 is too slow focusing for quick action (birds in flight and soccer) on my D300. Doesn't surprise me that the same might be true with the D3(s).
Click to expand...
John, you are correct.

But to answer his question...D3 with 400 afs2, 300VR, 200VR, and 200-400, with 1.4, 1.7. We've already discussed the zoom is dog slow with just the 1.4. The 400 and 300 are acceptable with the 1.4, get a little slow with the 1.7, IMO. The 200 works great with either.
best, mark
 
Sheee iiiit..... walking not an option? I shot futbol for two years with the D300, the 200-400, a 70-200 and my two left feet. Of course, if the game is lasting such a long time that the sun moves from one side of the pitch to the other before the final whistle blows, me 'tinks there are bigger issues than lens selection!
--
You Will Never Walk Alone
 
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