Need some advice

[MrMojoRisin]

Ok. So I will be shooting a sport event this weekend but I will do it from the stands.
It will be a very very strange situation, so I need your thoughts.

It will be a soccer match, however I will not be mainly focusing on the field and the players. The team is celebrating its 100 year birthday at the game and the supporters will be all fired up. (entire stadium with confetti, whole stadium participating with papers to create unique picture (cca 40 000 people), a lot of flares and smoke grenades. (you know how it is done in south Europe) . its a friendly match so the game is not so important.
I will take my 500d with my 50-250mm IS. So if you have any thoughts how to prepare myself to that occasion. My other choice is to take my kit lens 18-55

looking forward to any suggestions.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Neno,

I'd be thinking about whether or not you want to freeze motion. If you do then you're going to have to get your shutterspeed up around 1/640th to be on the safe side ... which may mean you need to crank your ISO up quite high (considering you may have to stop your lenses down a bit to ensure sufficient depth of field (if that's what you're after) (which I'd also be thinking about well in advance and "getting to know some numbers".

Hope this helps

[Nomadr]

is it possible to take both lenses ? i would have thought the wide angle would be good for shooting the stadium scenes while the 50-250 might get a few decent shots of the players action, obviously it depends on where you are in the stands, cheers martyn

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Neno,

I agree with Martyn; niether lens is probably ideal, the 50 of the 50-250mm will undoubtedly be too tight to get atmosphere shots of the enitre stadium, but also the 55 of the 17-55mm will, without significant cropping in PP, be too wide for any cameo/personality/player shots

If only one lens is a firm requirement, then I guess one idea that might be possible, if carefully done, is to shoot a handheld pano with the 50-250mm. However, if there is significant smoke, it may prevent the software automatically stitching the images together. I would strongly suggest you practice the technique if you've not done it hand held before, so you get the hang of the basics like sufficient overlap, correct orientation for subject, manual focus, manual exposure, level pan, etc.

Enjoy yourself,

[William W]

The EF-S 18 to 55 F/3.5-5.6 IS will give you a FoV that will capture the ambience and the stadium and surrounds of thousands of people.

Longer than 55mm (from the stands) will allow you to capture activity (game or fun) on the field and still have a wide enough view of the local environment.

I also join the chorus as I don’t understand why the options are: This OR That – why not both?

WW

[MrMojoRisin]

After some consideration I think I will take only the 18-55.
To answer your questions why not take both I will just show you this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxpdqOyk_VY

This is a footage of the main ultras stand (I will not be there) on a regular European league match. However, this Sunday the team is celebrating 100 years and the game is a friendly one and all of these flares are going to be allowed (they smuggle it in regular match) so I can expect to see them all around me on the "normal" fan side.
So it will be a problem to change lenses in that environment... A friend of mine is just bragging to me that he bought 20 flares for the game. I can only imagine what did the other ultra fans prepare. Anyway I think this will be a show to remember, and I hope I can get some really good shots. !

[William W]

Thanks for the explanation.
It seems it will be a day to remember.
Enjoy. And I hope you team wins.
From the description (and the visual), the ONE lens I would choose to take would be the 18 to 55 also.

Good Luck with it.
WW

[Dave Humphries]

I agree now I have seen the size of the problem

Enjoy yourself,