Lens suggestions - outdoor hockey game

My wife and I are going to the NHL Winter Classic in DC on 1/1, and it just hit me that I could rent a lens. I currently have the Nikon 55-200 f4-5.6 VR, which would probably do the job...but, hey!

Restriction: The lens can't be longer than 8". (And, truthfully, I'd like to stay under that to avoid an issue. Going to the game is more important than getting my 7.99999" long lens through the gate. And we might be metro'ing, so if I do run into a problem at the gate, I won't have anywhere to put the rented lens during the game.)

The game is scheduled to start at 1:00 in the afternoon, so it should be in mostly daylight, but probably some light in the later hours (hockey games are traditionally about 3 hours long, sunset is around 4:50 p.m.). Of course there's always the possibility of overtime and even a shootout, during which I'll probably be freezing my buns off.

I'm shooting with a D7000. Can anyone suggest a good lens to rent for this event? Thanks!

Sorry, but the Tamzooka is probably too long....but would be great at 600 mm.

sonicbuffalo said:

Sorry, but the Tamzooka is probably too long....but would be great at 600 mm.

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Too long in more ways than one - the 55-200 will actually do fairly well, in terms of focal length, maybe a bit short but not too much. I think a 600 would be way too zoomed.

I think I was looking for something in a similar range as the 55-200, but a better overall lens - better glass, larger aperture, etc. It could be a bit longer and the lower end can be higher too (we'll have our p&s Canon along for shots like that).

Thanks!

skater said:

Too long in more ways than one - the 55-200 will actually do fairly well, in terms of focal length, maybe a bit short but not too much. I think a 600 would be way too zoomed.

I think I was looking for something in a similar range as the 55-200, but a better overall lens - better glass, larger aperture, etc. It could be a bit longer and the lower end can be higher too (we'll have our p&s Canon along for shots like that).

Thanks!

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Enjoy the game....will be watching on TV. Hope you have great weather!

How far back will you be seated? The rink will be situated in the middle of the field, so even from good seats, a 600 wouldn't be nearly enough lens for tight individual shots. The best you could hope for is an overview sort of image, so I'm thinking wide to normal...

skater said:

My wife and I are going to the NHL Winter Classic in DC on 1/1, and it just hit me that I could rent a lens. I currently have the Nikon 55-200 f4-5.6 VR, which would probably do the job...but, hey!

Restriction: The lens can't be longer than 8". (And, truthfully, I'd like to stay under that to avoid an issue. Going to the game is more important than getting my 7.99999" long lens through the gate. And we might be metro'ing, so if I do run into a problem at the gate, I won't have anywhere to put the rented lens during the game.)

The game is scheduled to start at 1:00 in the afternoon, so it should be in mostly daylight, but probably some light in the later hours (hockey games are traditionally about 3 hours long, sunset is around 4:50 p.m.). Of course there's always the possibility of overtime and even a shootout, during which I'll probably be freezing my buns off.

I'm shooting with a D7000. Can anyone suggest a good lens to rent for this event? Thanks!

Click to expand...

the 55-200 VR will do a good job IMHO if light is good - I would bring my D300 with that lens frankly if I were going....break it or get it wet don't care

If it's outdoors, consider a 70-300 Nikon. Being outdoors, f2.8 isn't a requirement

Thanks, all. I probably should've mentioned that this isn't the first time I've gone to an outdoor hockey game - we went to the one at Dodger's Stadium last January, and an AHL game in Hershey, Pennsylvania the year before that.

The Hershey game was at a football stadium, so we were quite a distance from the ice. Probably not comparable at all.

The Dodgers Stadium game is much closer to what we're doing here - in that case, we were sitting pretty much directly behind one of the goals. For the game this week (wow, it's here already!), we're going to be farther away and a few rows up, so the 600mm probably is in fact a good idea, except it wouldn't be allowed. Here's an example of the view I had at the LA game with the 55-200:


Because of the angles, the distance, and the arena itself, it's unlikely you're going to get any truly excellent shots. You can't see the puck for good portions of the games; the dasher boards are still opaque, and you're still looking through glass, with stanchions every so often - so even with a long zoom if you squeeze between the stanchions, your view is limited. You actually tend to be looking 'across' the rink, instead of down into it as in a purpose-built hockey arena. If you were in the upper deck, you'd be seeing down into it better, but then you'd be quite a ways away. As an example of the kinds of issues I'm describing, see the picture above and this one from the Hershey game (again, 55-200):


So why go? Because it's an amazing experience, an absolute blast.

I'm guessing I'll still be low enough in the bowl to have similar problems in this game. I'll go with the 55-200 and take a few pictures and just enjoy the game.

Hey @skater how'd this go?

Let's see some snapshots!!

hrstrat57 said:

Hey @skater how'd this go?

Let's see some snapshots!!

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It went well, actually. I'm working on pictures now, but my workflow involves a 5 year old Macbook Pro that's showing its age when it comes to displaying RAW - it takes a LONG time to display each one. It doesn't help that I took 300+ shots...

I'm going to have some questions about metering. I was taking pictures of people who were in shadows, with sunlight nearby (on something white that was standing in for snow). I set it to spot metering, center-weighted area 6mm and managed to pull out some decent shots from the shadows, I think. Some are going to require attention and may not be salvageable.

Of course, a longer zoom would've helped with the metering issue.

Here we go... be nice, I was REALLY far from all of this. And I couldn't exactly tell people or things to get out of the way.

Billy Idol performing:


Caps goalie Braden Holtby warming up:


Captains and goalies meeting about the ice conditions (decision: no delay):


First period puck drop:


Anyway, the full set of pictures I kept is here, if you're curious. Duff Goldman (of Ace of Cakes fame) puts in an appearance, as does former Caps player Peter Bondra. Gavin DeGraw (or something like that - I hadn't heard of him before) performed during the first intermission.

The Caps won, 3-2, by scoring on a delayed penalty, power play goal with 12.9 seconds remaining in the third period. It was a good day.

Ha Ha.It would have been a better day if the Blackhawks had won.