Next Lens?

So, now that I have luckily dodged a huge bullet with my laptop a few days ago, I can once again start looking towards my next lens for my Rebel XSi.

To give you guys an idea what I'm looking for in my lens, I have some pictures up @ gallery.me.com/simonsb

I'm looking for using this for sports photography, mostly olympic weightlifting, so I don't need the long focal lengths most other sport photographers need. What I do need is a fast lens, as I'm working with the kit lens which does 18mm @ f/3.5 and the extra zoom lens that came with a rebate with the camera which can do 55mm @ f/4. Neither of these are fast enough for my indoor stuff. Some of the ones up on my gallery are shot @ f/3.5, 1/160 or 1/200 and ISO 1600 just to get something semi-usable with the shutter speeds I need to shoot. 1/200 is still to slow for a crisp picture, as sometimes I am shooting a lifter who moves faster then the barbell and I need to shoot @ 1/320 or higher for them.

I was looking @ Canon 50mm f/1.8 thats really cheap from B&H for like 90 dollars. I know I could work with the 50mm, but thats up around 80mm on my XSi, so its ok. I've shot @ 55mm and it works well, just have to get a bit farther away so thats no problem, except when I shoot @ my school's competition as its in a cramped room and I might not be able to get away with a 50mm lens. Is there any other good lens, maybe around 30mm that is not bank breaking @ 400-600 dollars that can shoot reasonably well @ f/1.8 or so, but no higher then f/2.8, as I want to have more then one stop of light getting in over my other lenses.

I can't seem to find any reviews on any 28, 30 or 35mm lenses.

I'm not making the jump for at least another month, as I don't have a competition to shoot coming up, but I would like to have some options to weigh.

thanks in advance if anyone can help out.

termina3 said:

Sounds like you pretty much know what you want... a short, fast prime. Or maybe a short, fast zoom.



Nice pun

Click to expand...

I can't find any zoom thats faster then f/3.5, at least not for a semi-affordable price. I'm just wondering if one of the 28mm primes that cost around 400-500 dollars are worth while over the 50mm f/1.8 in terms of speed and sharpness.

I've been looking at these lenses:

Sigma 30mm f/1.4

Canon 28mm f/1.8 USM

Comparable quality for those two lens's? They are in the same range as each other price-wise (385 to 420 from B&H). Chances are I will be taking a trip into the city soon to stop by B&H and see how I like them. My thing is, I don't know how I feel about a non-canon branded lens, ya know?

The images I've seen from all 3 lenses I've looked at, the 50mm canon f/1.8 and those 2 above, they all seem amazing compared to what my current ones will pull off.