Fast lenses for night action shots

Since you`re thinking about a manual focus lens, too, and even though some people seem concerned with the depth of field being too thin with fast lenses, I`d still wholeheartedly recommend Mitakon Speedmaster 35mm f/0.95 Mark II.

You`ll have 3 stops of aperture advantage over your current f/2.8 lens (one stop in comparison to a f/1.4 lens), which you can use to make your shutter speed faster and/or ISO lower - for example, turning your 1/160, f/2.8, ISO 12800 photo into a 1/160, f/0.95, ISO 1600 one.

For the framing you`re aiming for (as per two examples you`ve posted, wider than full body shots), even with an f/0.95 lens you should still have plenty of depth of field to keep the whole person in focus (some 50cm) - both, if they`re parallel to you, or at least one if the other is closer (and presumably facing away from you, thus focus is not critical there anyway).

Besides, you can always close a fast lens down when situation really requires it, but you can never open a slower lens more when a faster/wider aperture could work, too.

Manual focus will require some practice, but with time you`ll only get better - and more consistent. While auto-focus can make wonders when it works as expected, an unexpected "jump" - for example due to brighter background, "stealing" the focus away from dimly lit subject in front - can ruin the whole photo, focus being miles off. That can`t happen with manual focus, and while you might not be that precise (in the beginning, at least), slight focus misses might even be unnoticeable, depending on photo view/print size.

As an alternative, Mitakon being priced around $450-$600, you can look into 7artisans 35mm f/0.95, to be found for some $250, or even Risespray 35mm f/0.95 Mark III, for $200. Just make sure to have a decent return policy, in case you get a subpar copy, not being unheard of, especially with these cheaper lenses.