Shooting from upper deck?

[Bodhi395]

I go to a lot of baseball and football games, and sometimes my seats are not the closest to the field, sometimes even in the upper deck level. I'm a bit new to photography but just bought a Nikon DSLR and am wondering what would be a good lens to use to get good shots of the field from fairly far away?

I don't want anything too big, and the smaller and lighter the better, but I want something that can zoom fairly far.

 

[Edge100]

I go to a lot of baseball and football games, and sometimes my seats are not the closest to the field, sometimes even in the upper deck level. I'm a bit new to photography but just bought a Nikon DSLR and am wondering what would be a good lens to use to get good shots of the field from fairly far away?

I don't want anything too big, and the smaller and lighter the better, but I want something that can zoom fairly far.

Considering that the guys who shoot from field level are mostly using focal lengths from 200-400mm, you're going to need one heck of a long lens to get shots from the upper deck.

A 70-200 could be good from up there, but you're not going to get a close-up, if that's what you're after.

Frankly, from the upper deck, I'd be trying to get nice wide-angle shots. Scott Kelby posted some nice WA and fisheye shots he took at Wrigley Field a few weeks ago. That's the type of thing I think you'll be happy with from the upper decks.

 

[Bodhi395]

Considering that the guys who shoot from field level are mostly using focal lengths from 200-400mm, you're going to need one heck of a long lens to get shots from the upper deck.

A 70-200 could be good from up there, but you're not going to get a close-up, if that's what you're after.

Frankly, from the upper deck, I'd be trying to get nice wide-angle shots. Scott Kelby posted some nice WA and fisheye shots he took at Wrigley Field a few weeks ago. That's the type of thing I think you'll be happy with from the upper decks.

No, I know I wouldn't get a close up, but just wanted to get as much zoom as possible without having a some huge lens.

I do like the wide shots, but they can get boring if you've already taken a few of them at a previous game.

 

[steviem]

I went to a Mets game with an 18-70 and was on the upper deck. I think I would've been able to get in with the 55-200 but was worried it would've been too big a lens to take in.

As a consequence, the pictures weren't as awesome as I would have liked. Was still brilliant and the photos are a good memory of my first ever baseball game...

 

[Wacky Jackson]

I took 15-55 and 55-200 and it was a perfect combo for the baseball game. The 55-200 gave me a pretty good close up. But I was on the lower level.