9+ Best Lenses For Sports Photography | Unrivaled Guide 2022

In today’s article, we will see How to Photograph Sport and which are the best lenses for sports photography.

The sports photographer can be easily “recognized” by the contents of his photographic backpack.

Today’s Sports Photography Guide wants to give you small useful tips to apply if you are a beginner,

Peering inside you will surely find many telephoto lenses, some monopods, many batteries, and many very large memory cards.

Think you can only find super-telephoto lenses in a sports photographer’s backpack? You are very wrong.

Best Lenses For Sports Photography

If you look closely, you’ll notice much more complex equipment, such as super wide-angle, fisheye, and portrait lenses. These are also part of a sports photographer’s kit and for good reason.

To date, sports photography has evolved a lot through technological adaptation, going digital. New technologies have changed the way people watch sports on TV and multimedia content experts have changed the way images are created.

Cameras in “remote” mode, digital transmission, and video frame acquisition have made the sports photographer a cutting-edge professional.

Best Lenses For Sports Photography | Comparison Table 2022

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Best Lenses For Sports Photography | Unrivaled Guide 2022

What is a photographic lens and what is it for

The photographic lens is nothing more than an optical device with which images are collected and reproduced, which are imprinted on sensitive support that can be represented either by films, in the case of analog cameras, or by sensors in the case of digital cameras.

They usually have a cylindrical shape and inside there is a system of lenses, concave or convex which capture the light and help reproduce the desired image. This part for me is pure magic, the light enters the lens, goes to the sensor and an image is reproduced.

The lenses can rotate thanks to the adjustment rings, present on the outside of the lens, and depending on the position taken, I focus on the desired subject or not.

Main features to consider in a photographic lens

Now that we have clarified the difference between the various lenses, it is time to go into more detail and see what are the main characteristics to consider when evaluating the purchase and use of a particular lens.

There are many factors to take into consideration, and you are not always able to understand them right away.
Those who approach photography for the first time do not always have a clear idea of ​​what terms such as focal length, brightness, angle of view, etc. mean. That is why it is good to clarify a bit about it.

Focal length

this term indicates the distance, generally expressed in millimeters, that separates the lens from the focal plane (i.e. the sensor or the film), whose position is indicated with a symbol (a circle with a rod in the center), and that it is usually found on the camera body at the viewfinder.

This distance is generally measured starting from the ” rear nodal point ” of a lens, which coincides with the diaphragm. This point is also known as the optical center of the lens.

The focal length also determines the angle of view, which is closely related to the size of the sensor on which the image is imprinted. As the size of the sensor varies, the shooting angle also varies, which can be wider or narrower.
In fact, the same lens on cameras with different sensors produces clearly different results.

Aperture or brightness

the aperture of a lens diaphragm determines its brightness accordingly.

Usually, this value is expressed as a fraction, which indicates the maximum opening.

The smaller the value of this fraction, the larger the aperture of the diaphragm diameter, therefore also brighter.

To be clearer, a lens with an f / 1.4 value (hence a small aperture number), is brighter than an f / 8 value lens, which will have the smallest diameter and therefore allow less entry. light.

The diaphragm is therefore that device inside the lenses that regulates the amount of light that must pass.

Focus

To be able to have clear photos you must operate on the focus.

This means positioning the lens at a suitable distance between the focal plane and the subject to be portrayed.

In older generation lenses, the focus was done manually, using a special ring that allowed the optical group inside the lens to be moved.

In the most modern lenses, focusing can take place automatically, thanks to an internal motor and the camera sensor that calculates the distance between the sensor and the subject to be portrayed.

Although autofocus is quite useful, modern lenses offer the possibility of using manual focus, this can be done via the special ring on the front of the lens.

All these factors must be taken into consideration when buying a photographic lens, both to understand how the lens works, and to understand how it behaves with different types of sensors.

For example, a lens with fast autofocus is more suitable for sports or bird photography, because the subjects move quickly, but it is not essential if you will focus mainly on product photography, or photography where the subjects are still or very slow, such as for example if you decide to photograph landscapes.

Stabilized objectives

The last point to consider is the stabilization of the lens.

When we talk about image stabilization, we are normally talking about optical image stabilization, which is found in many lenses.

Canon calls the Image Stabilization ( IS ) function and Nikon calls it Vibration Reduction ( VR ). 

With optical image stabilization, part of the lens physically moves to counteract any camera movement when taking the picture; if the hands are shaking, an element inside the lens also shakes, in the opposite direction to counteract the movement.

Long lenses and… pedaling!

Sports photographers have traditionally been known for their mammoth telephoto lenses, such as the Canon 400 f2.8, for example.

Surely you have seen them at the stadium as they flock to take the best position at any major sporting event.

Surely the long lens is the sign that distinguishes a sports photographer.

As you can guess, there must be a certain distance between the players and the media during events for the safety of both professionals.

Surely when choosing to photograph football, it will be necessary to use a very long lens, because you have to position yourself in such a way as to also take the door that is on the opposite side from yours.

Wide angles

They have a focal length of less than 40mm and a wider angle of view. In fact, this can vary from a range of 60 ° -80 ° to about 180 °.

In the latter case, we are faced with an ultra-wide-angle or a fish-eye.

The characteristic of these lenses is that of enormously “deforming” the image, creating effects that are sometimes rather exaggerated, and in the case of fish-eyes also a sphere effect as if the image were seen by the eye of a fish.

The type of objectives

The lenses are divided into three macro-categories: Normal, Wide-angle, and Telephoto lenses.

Each of these categories has different focal lengths and angles of view, as well as other features useful for various situations.

Normal Goals

this type of lens is the one that comes closest in terms of angle of view to that of the human eye. In fact, it returns the correct three-dimensional proportions of the planes: in other words, what the human eye sees is reproduced with the same “fidelity” in the photograph.

The family of Normal lenses includes lenses that have a focal length from 40mm to 50mm, the latter being one of the most used lenses for ambient portrait photography or even for street photography.

APS or Full-Frame?

Surely sports photography is an area where the smaller size of APS sensors can really come in handy.

Of course, the quality of a Full Frame camera is unbeatable, it is no coincidence that I usually shoot with two full frames during events.

The APS sensor is smaller than a full-frame sensor, the full-frame lenses attached to an APS camera have a crop factor that gives the lens a different field of view, and it’s like shooting with a longer lens. So if we want, the positive note of APS cameras is precisely this.

With very favorable weather conditions, the APS can get to make shots almost on par with a FF. Indeed if you compare an APS photo and an FF photo both shot in sunny weather, low ISOs, and whatnot, I’d challenge anyone to recognize the difference. Of course, I can not deny that by raising the ISO, even slightly, the difference is noticeable and not a little.

However, an APS camera with a crop factor of 1.6, using a 300mm full-frame lens (Canon EF Lenses) will give you the field of view of a 350mm lens.

A lens made for an APS camera (Canon EF-S lenses) can offer the same field of view as a full-frame lens in a smaller size and lighter weight. There are many sports photographers who always carry an APS body with them, even if they always prefer a full-frame.

Others, such as some of my Canon colleagues, are lucky enough to have the Canon 1D Mark IV, which is an APS-H (practically already incorporates a 1.3x multiplier inside) and is a great camera, with a completely different format, but perfect for sports photography. To date, it is out of production but is used, albeit with many shots.

Sports photo technical settings {Additional Tips}

Use a fast shutter speed

If you want to freeze the action, the shutter speed of the camera has to be very fast. Depending on the type of sport you could start with a setting of 1/500, up to a speed of 1/2000 of a second. The faster the subject moves, the faster the shutter speed we will set. In some shots, we could also use slower speeds to capture some of the movement. The problem with using a fast shutter speed is that less light will enter the camera and we should, especially in difficult light situations, compensate for the photographic exposure by increasing the ISO.

Use continuous autofocus

Continuous Auto Focus keeps the subject in focus as the distance from the camera changes. The continuous focus option is usually shown as AF-C in the camera settings.

Shoot in burst mode

Burst mode, also known as continuous shooting mode, allows you to take bursts of shots at the same setting. By holding down the shutter button in continuous shooting mode, you can take multiple shots in very quick succession. Most digital cameras released in recent years have some continuous shooting capability.

This function is very advantageous in sports photography because you will be able to capture various phases of fast game action, subsequently having the possibility to choose the best one. If we shoot a lot in continuous shooting mode, we will consume a lot of memory card space. It is therefore necessary to have one large memory card and a spare at your fingertips.

Do not use the flash

Your camera’s built-in flash or a flash unit attached to your camera can distract or even blind players, putting the regularity of the sporting event at risk.

Get to know the sport

First, you need to be familiar with the sport before you start shooting. To successfully resume a sporting event you need to know the rules of the game. Knowing how the sport plays out will help you capture the best moments. Before the time you will know how the action moves and what can happen next.

Get the best view possible

Your job is to get shots that the crowd can’t get, and that means you have a better position than most people. At many events, you will need special accreditation to be able to stay in a privileged position. If you don’t have access to an event pass and want to develop your portfolio, I recommend that you go and photograph smaller events, such as youth competitions.

Remember that when photographing you must respect the athletes and the staff on the field at all times. In general, try to be in a position that places your subject in front of you or that allows you to have an easier view.

Tell a story

As in other types of photography, the goal of our photos must be to freeze emotions and tell stories. Look for the emotionally charged moments, tell the victory and defeat, the important moments, the head to head, and highlight the moments that would risk passing for anonymous.

Check the shots only at the end

When you’re shooting sports photos, you don’t have time to look elsewhere, you need to be fully focused on the in-game action. If you check every single shot on the camera’s LCD screen, you can miss out on other potential good shots.

Best Lenses For Sports Photography | Infographics

Best Lenses For Sports Photography | Video Explanation

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Final conclusions

In conclusion, we can say that there are really a lot of optics that you can use to start with sports photography and this will not be the last article I will do about it.

Surely I will also talk to you about my personal optics, how I use them, but above all about those optics that are second best for a professional sports photographer.

When you start photographing sports it is easy to compromise and make lower investments, it is also right, I did it too.

Professional optics require high investments that not everyone can afford, there are lenses that cost more than $ 10,000, more than a car if you think about it.

You get to make certain purchases after learning a lot and working just as much, saving a lot of money.

Over time you will understand that when you buy a lens, you will pay first and foremost the focal aperture of the lens, there are huge price differences between a ƒ 2.8 lens and an excellent ƒ 4 or ƒ 5.6, but I assure you that the quality is equally abysmal.