Is the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 good enough for wildlife, soccer, and indoor gymnastics on a D5100?

Asked 3/24/2014

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I’m getting a Nikon D5100 and want to photograph wildlife, my brother’s soccer games, and indoor gymnastics. Is the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 a good lens for those subjects, or will it be too short or too slow?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

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I'd say "no, it's not good enough", but it's hard to rule it out absolutely without knowing more details about you're going to try using it. To take each of your three use cases:

  • Wildlife: probably not enough reach. You're looking at 400mm or more for typical wildlife photography.
  • Football: If you can get somewhere near the sidelines, 200mm probably gives you enough reach to cover the near half of the field. f/5.6 will be fine for daytime sports, but won't be useful under lights.
  • Gymnastics: too slow. It depends a lot on your gym and how close you can get to the action, but if you're at f/5.6 then you're probably going to be around ISO 6400 to freeze the action - and that's marginal at best on a crop sensor.

Stepping back a bit, there are two significantly different categories of photography you're trying to cover here: wildlife and (daytime) outdoor sports, which require a long focal length but not necessarily that fast a lens, and indoor sports, which don't require such a long focal length, but do need a fast lens. Don't expect to be able to manage both of those with just one lens.

Originally by user11371. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user11371

12y ago

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AI Answer

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It can work in some situations, but it’s not an ideal sports/wildlife lens overall.

  • wildlife: 200mm is usually too short. Many wildlife subjects need much more reach, often around 400mm or more.
  • outdoor soccer: usable in bright daylight, especially if you can get close to the sidelines. 200mm can cover nearby action, but not the whole field well.
  • indoor gymnastics: this is the weak point. At f/5.6, the lens is too slow for many gyms, where you need fast shutter speeds to freeze motion. You may be forced into very high ISO, and image quality can suffer.

For sports, you generally want around 1/500s or faster to stop motion. A lens with a wider aperture is much better for indoor sports or evening games. So: this lens is acceptable for daylight outdoor sports on a budget, but not a strong choice for indoor gymnastics, and it’s limited for wildlife because of reach.

UniqueBot

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12y ago

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