These are some shots of the homecoming football game at my kids' HS. My first attempt at sports would have to be at night under the lights!

Anywho, my fastest tele is my Soligor 135 2.8. Shots were from the stands, so I tried using my 85-300 zoom for isolation purposes, but at F5 it was tough freezing the motion even at ISO 3200. I also noticed it suffered a bit of a flare problem near 300mm, so I went back to the 135 for the faster speed. All are manual focus with standard focus screen on the K20D (haven't bought a split-screen yet).

All the following shots were 135mm (202 equivalent) F2.8 ISO 3200 and shutter speeds between 1/320" - 1/800". Minor PP for levels and just a touch of sharpening after resize. No cropping for composition.

So...whaddya think?

[Ash]

Hi John.
Very well done under those conditions.
The thin depth of field can be tricky getting focus right, but on the whole you've nailed it.
Exposure is right on most of them and shot selection is good.
Great work.

[jheu02]

Hi John.
Very well done under those conditions.
The thin depth of field can be tricky getting focus right, but on the whole you've nailed it.
Exposure is right on most of them and shot selection is good.
Great work.

Thanks Ash. I'm trying to expand my repetoir of what I shoot. So...shoot I must. Now to look for a decent AF zoom. Though I don't mind manual focus, it's not great for moving subjects. I found I could pre-focus at the start of a play, but would have to accept OOF as the play developed.

I'm looking at either a Tamron or Sigma 28-200 AF 3.8-5.6 Asph. I've seen some shots posted on Flickr from the Tamron and it seems pretty sharp for a super-zoom. Don't know if the Sigma is comperable. It won't solve the night shooting issue, but for daylight action and all-around shooting on a budget, seems a good deal. Thoughts or other suggestions for lenses to look at?