How long are telephotos on TV??

[Rich Wile]

Watching the Ryder Cup and other sports this weekend, it occured to me that the lens being used by all those pros you see on the sidelines are very long and with huge size glass.

How long are these lenses typically? They have to be very fast, from the size of the glass.

I currently have the 80-400 VR and love it for long stuff, but what are most of these guys (and gals) using to get close?

Any comments from folks who do this for a living and have spent some time comparing "hardware" in the camera pit would be very useful.

Thanks very much.

--
Rich Wile
Nova Scotia, CANADA
All digital - all the time

 

[Dave Kunze]

The big "bazookas" you refer to are 400mm f2.8, 500 or 600mm f4 and the really big ones with the built in carrying handles are up around 1200mm f5.6. Don't even ask the price!

kunza

Watching the Ryder Cup and other sports this weekend, it occured to
me that the lens being used by all those pros you see on the
sidelines are very long and with huge size glass.

How long are these lenses typically? They have to be very fast,
from the size of the glass.

I currently have the 80-400 VR and love it for long stuff, but what
are most of these guys (and gals) using to get close?

Any comments from folks who do this for a living and have spent
some time comparing "hardware" in the camera pit would be very
useful.

Thanks very much.

--
Rich Wile
Nova Scotia, CANADA
All digital - all the time

 

[dennis chapin]

The 600mm f4 is very popular among sports photographers.

 

[Bob Lang]

the really big ones with the built in carrying handles are up
around 1200mm f5.6. Don't even ask the price!

kunza

Nikon's 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8 P ED-IF will set you back $80,000 (as of 1997).
It weighs 35.3 pounds (16 kg) and was specially designed for baseball.

http://www.ozdoba.net/nikon/nikon_superzoom.html