I was talking with a fellow T2i owner over on my Facebook page and she was wondering which lens' are best for both indoor and outdoor action shots. I thought it would be beneficial to share our conversation with all of you...
Darolanne's Question: Can you recommend the lens basics to own for most shooting situations? I take a lot of sports shots of my boys such as indoor basketball, Marshall arts, outdoor baseball, swimming etc.. I also enjoy shooting natural shots of my kids playing outside with the dog, or riding their quads etc. I would like to know which lenses, lightning that are must haves.
Moose's Answer: Let's talk about lenses first. For the types of shots you're after, there are two types of lenses to choose from:
1. An "outdoor" telephoto zoom lens like the 55-250mm (which you already own)
2. An "outdoor" and "indoor" telephoto lens (expensive)
The major difference between these two types of lenses is the maximum aperture. The maximum aperture is the lowest aperture f-number you can obtain with that lens. For example, your 55-250mm can go down to f/4 when shooting towards the wide end (55mm) and f/5.6 when shooting towards the long end (250mm). This is a very average aperture range. It's the equivalent to wearing dark tinted shades. Wearing shades outdoors in bright light you can see things clearly, whereas wearing shades indoors in low light you'd be hard pressed to see anything. In the same way, lenses allow a certain amount of light into the camera and onto the image sensor. Lower aperture f-numbers increase the amount of light being passed through the lens, allowing you to use faster shutter speeds in low light. Fast shutter speeds are critical to shooting sports (action) in low light.
Now here's the kicker, telephoto lenses that can obtain lower aperture f-numbers are large, heavy and extremely expensive. For example, the "cheapest" indoor telephoto lens offered by Canon is the 70-200mm f/2.8. This lens will allow you to obtain an aperture of f/2.8 throughout the zoom range.
Still with me? :)
Tamron and Sigma both offer cheaper alternatives, but you're still looking at an investment between $700 to $900. If you don't have the budget for it right now, then you'll have to deal with the fact that the 55-250mm will produce heavy image noise (grain) when shooting action in low light. There are software programs out there, like Noise Ninja that do a pretty good job removing noise. You might give that a try, although don't expect miracles.
In regards to settings, for sports and anything with action you'll want to shoot in Shutter priority (Tv on the mode dial) and select a shutter speed starting at 1/250. If you're shooting outdoors in bright light, you should be able to set the shutter speeds between 1/500 to 1/2000. When shooting in low light, it's going to be difficult to get shutter speeds faster than 1/250 with your 55-250mm lens.
I would also set your ISO to Auto when shooting action. This will let the T2i decide which ISO to use in order to get an accurate exposure.
