Should I upgrade my camera body or lenses for low-light indoor events and hockey?
Asked 4/11/2011
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2 answers
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I shoot with a Canon Rebel T2i and mostly do two kinds of photography: youth hockey at ice rinks and indoor candid/event work where flash is often not appropriate. My current lenses are the EF-S 18-55mm kit lens, EF-S 18-135mm IS, EF 70-300mm IS USM, and EF 50mm f/1.4 USM.
My main problems are:
- At the rink, I often get slightly missed focus when tracking action, even using AI Servo and trying to keep the AF point on the player’s face mask. Shooting at f/1.8-f/2.8 gives me the shutter speed I need, but the shallow depth of field makes small focus errors obvious.
- For indoor candid work, I often want to stop down for more depth of field, but doing so pushes me to high ISO and the files lose detail after noise reduction.
I’m considering a body upgrade such as a 60D or 7D, but I’m also wondering whether better lenses would make a bigger difference for autofocus, sharpness, and low-light performance. Which upgrade is likely to help most?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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I would gravitate to lens choices over the body. There's a couple of reasons...
The lenses will be useful in the future when another opportunity to purchase arises.
Fast glass, such as f/2.8 zooms, are very helpful in low light. These are, often, pro grade lenses as well, so that helps sharpness.
In the end result, you'll have these lenses for years, the bodies will come and go. So, that investment will pay long term dividends starting now. The other thing to keep in mind, cameras like the 7D will start to appear on the used market and so you may find you'll have budget when that happens and you'll have nice lenses for it when it does.
Now, having said that, the big upside to a 7D now is the speed of the camera. The frame rate is high and that helps a lot in the situations you shoot in. A common technique in these environments is to shoot a bunch of frames of the same scene, it ups the odds that one is sharp.
Still, I'd go lenses first if you have a cap on spending.
Originally by user472. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user472
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Based on the answers, better lenses are the stronger first upgrade. Fast lenses help twice here: they let in more light for indoor work and are typically sharper, higher-contrast, and better at autofocus than consumer zooms. They’ll also stay useful longer than any body.
For your hockey and indoor candid work, fast glass such as f/2.8 zooms—or even a fast prime—would likely help more than replacing the T2i first. One answer specifically recommends the Canon 135mm f/2L for rink shooting: it gives you an extra stop over f/2.8 and is known for excellent sharpness.
That said, a body like the 7D can still help for sports because its speed and responsiveness are advantages for action shooting. So if hockey is the priority, a faster body has value—but the general consensus is lenses first, body later.
Also, not every issue is gear. At very wide apertures, depth of field is extremely thin, so small AF or tracking errors become obvious. Technique and practice still matter.
Best path: prioritize better fast glass now, then consider a sports-oriented body upgrade later.
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AI15y ago
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