SL1 Do-it-all Lens for team pics and action Sports Shots..HELP!

First off let me say that I have scoured the net for a few weeks and my analytical personality is getting the best of me and cant decide on a lens - so hoping for some help here.

I currently shoot the two kit lens that came with SL1. The Canon 18-55 IS STM and the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III. All the photos below were taken with the 75-300 in "sports" mode or "Auto".

I am no professional and don't use any post edit software but really enjoy taking pictures of my kids and their teammates. I create a shutterfly share site and post all for the parents to download.

I bought this back in 2014 and it has been a great set up but I am looking to upgrade. I really like the small lightweight aspects of the SL1. I really am looking to keep the camera body (unless someone can convince me otherwise) and looking to upgrade to a better Zoom lens with IS. Preferably looking for a compact do it all lens that covers all of my needs and makes me want to take the DSLR to more events vs. leaning on the iPhone...

The lenses I have looked at are:

Sigma - 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Optical Zoom Lens for Canon

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Ultra Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Model A061E)

Other alternative is to get 2 new canon lens.

Other option is the buy this refub kit from canon...

Refurbished EOS 80D EF-S 18-55 & EF-S 55-250 IS STM Bundle

Lastly, I am pretty frugal and trying to do this the least expensive or best bang for the buck possible.

Any help you are willing to share would be greatly appreciate.

Those lenses won't necessarily give you any benefits other than the IS. But I don't have any experience with them. Just that it's difficult to make a zuper zoom lens at a low price point so there's compromises there.

You're doing fine with the SL1 so far. The 80D should give you better results but there's a learning curve due to the more advanced AF system.

Personally, I'd go for the 80D. The 55-250 STM is a decent lens also, so that's a bonus. You lose 50mm compared to the 70-300mm lens you have, but you also have more megapixels to be able to crop more.

If you've got a Best Buy near you they may have a 80D on display that you can get a feel for to see if it might be too big or heavy for you. I loved playing with the camera but yeah, too big for me.

I agree that the 80D with the 2 lens kit is your best option. The sensor in the 80D will be an upgrade in image quality as well as the overall 80D AF performance. The 55-250 will also be an upgrade from the 75-300 in terms of IQ. The only area that may limit you is the AF on the 55-250 may not be quick enough for some fast moving sports.

If the weight of the system bothers you, you can pick up a monopod which is a good option for shooting sports.

First of all , congrats to  both your kids and your agility and enthusiasm.

Few thoughts:

- IS won’t help you with sports

- if you like to have all-in-one , stay with the iphone

- your dslr body is fine, yet the 80D combo is good choice

- in your shoes, I would keep the SL1 and shop for speedy ( L class ) tele zoom ( again, no IS needed)

bushead11 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

First of all , congrats to both your kids and your agility and enthusiasm.

Few thoughts:

- IS won’t help you with sports

- if you like to have all-in-one , stay with the iphone

- your dslr body is fine, yet the 80D combo is good choice

- in your shoes, I would keep the SL1 and shop for speedy ( L class ) tele zoom ( again, no IS needed)

If I was going to get quicker glass and stay in the zoom family I think I would get something that went to 400mm. Or should I stay at 300mm max. Sometimes I cannot get as close as I would like across the football field. Also would like to use the lens indoors too.

watch the pros, what they have for footbal field. You might buy a new car for that money no cheap options there, at least as to canon.

as to Canon, they have great grey lenses 70-200, f4 non IS has very reasonable price, the other are bloody expensive. I have 100-400, is perfect but also little bit  expensive.

I have  also 70-300IS (not 75), which is old but lovely, but it doesn’t autofocus very quickly

Any recommendations on Tamron vs Sigma vs Canon?

All of these brands are great. Avoid the slow and cheap variants, or extra zoom like 500.

Above  f/5.6  it might have focusing problems.

bushead11 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

bushead11 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

First of all , congrats to both your kids and your agility and enthusiasm.

Few thoughts:

- IS won’t help you with sports

- if you like to have all-in-one , stay with the iphone

- your dslr body is fine, yet the 80D combo is good choice

- in your shoes, I would keep the SL1 and shop for speedy ( L class ) tele zoom ( again, no IS needed)

If I was going to get quicker glass and stay in the zoom family I think I would get something that went to 400mm. Or should I stay at 300mm max. Sometimes I cannot get as close as I would like across the football field. Also would like to use the lens indoors too.

watch the pros, what they have for footbal field. You might buy a new car for that money no cheap options there, at least as to canon.

as to Canon, they have great grey lenses 70-200, f4 non IS has very reasonable price, the other are bloody expensive. I have 100-400, is perfect but also little bit expensive.

I have also 70-300IS (not 75), which is old but lovely, but it doesn’t autofocus very quickly

Any recommendations on Tamron vs Sigma vs Canon?

All of these brands are great. Avoid the slow and cheap variants, or extra zoom like 500.

Above f/5.6 it might have focusing problems.

I was looking at this...

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens

Is that the one your referencing?

Yes. I love it, and tried it on our local river for BIF (ducks in flight but AF speed for moving targets is so so. Seconds, its lens speed on the long end is 5.6.

4-> 5.6 means for example 1/125->1/60 and you could have the motion blur.

In other words, no BIF (or kids in flight :-)) , when not sunny.

Looking at your great pics, what exactly makes you unsatisfied with your current setup ?

Anyway, I was told by my family and friends: only you see that problems, we don’t.

bushead11 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

Looking at your great pics, what exactly makes you unsatisfied with your current setup ?

Anyway, I was told by my family and friends: only you see that problems, we don’t.

At 300mm. Things break down and on the football field or baseball diamond I need that length or even more. I’d like to be able to get some cool helmet shots or zoom in on faces and feel I don’t have the reach right now. I also am only shooting in jpeg with a file size of approx 8mb. Also not using Lightroom or photoshop just the windows photo tool for cropping and slight enhancements. Open to all suggestions on settings or equipment to get the most bang for the buck. I’m just a dad who wants to grab great moments my kids will appreciate down the road...

Oh my, shoot in RAW and/ or do not limit the jpeg resolution! Crop is your friend!

You can make the small jpg from that, not vice versa. No need for LR or PS , great Canon software is included with your camera.

I was mistaken: it you wan to shoot a helmet on a footbal field, don’t sell your car  but the house. (Sorry, if you are a billionaire :-))

bushead11 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

Looking at your great pics, what exactly makes you unsatisfied with your current setup ?

Anyway, I was told by my family and friends: only you see that problems, we don’t.

At 300mm. Things break down and on the football field or baseball diamond I need that length or even more. I’d like to be able to get some cool helmet shots or zoom in on faces and feel I don’t have the reach right now. I also am only shooting in jpeg with a file size of approx 8mb. Also not using Lightroom or photoshop just the windows photo tool for cropping and slight enhancements. Open to all suggestions on settings or equipment to get the most bang for the buck. I’m just a dad who wants to grab great moments my kids will appreciate down the road...

Despite of the gear: be creative for the sake of interesting details for other parents: who can recognize  if the helmet or stressed face pic was taken in the diamond  offside ? Definitely I prefer to shoot  on the rehearsal instead of premiere.