[ygmt13]

hi, i have around an 1000 dollar budget, so i have deceided to forgo the Nikon D80, and instead by a D70s instead, to leave room for a lens.

the question is, is there a lens that is affordably priced that is good for sports photography? (300mm Fast Autofocus)

thnx

[lolyton]

DIfferent lenses for different sports! Telephoto is not always the way to go, we used to shoot football matches and horse jumping with wide angled slave firing slrs that gave some excellent results. Normally though you could assume a telephoto would be the best bet. It will depend on what type of sports you are shooting, but as a general rule you will want the fastest lens you can afford ie. f2.8 or f4 throughout the zoom range. And as you mentioned the fastest autofocus you can get too.
Worth remebering too that some cards are quicker than others and to save some lag time on writing the images from camera good money should be invested on the cards too.

[ygmt13]

what do you mean by cards?

also, i would be shooting the 4 major sports, Baseball, Hockey, Football, Basketball (mostly baseball though.

so do you know of any lenses that fit the category?

[lolyton]

Memory cards such as compact flash etc.
I have never done any Baseball photography, but you have to think about things like where you are going to be positioned whether it is in the stands, or down on the field. There would be an argument for both wide and tele. but depends on what images you are after.Crowd shots, the stadium and overall views would need a wider lens, whereas individual players and action shots etc you'd need to be in close.
You can get lenses that cover all from wide to zoom, but you can lose quality if they try to do too much, especially the cheaper ones. Which means you will then need to work out what image usage will be, if it is posting on the web and maybe doing the occassional small prints then there probably isn't a problem.
Fortunately there is such a huge amount of lenses made by Nikon and for Nikon cameras so finding the perfect one (possibly 2 will be easy) but more info is required.

[ygmt13]

thnx for the suggestions, i appreciate it.

btw, do you think it would be better to go for a cannon, seeing as they have more lenses generally with faster Auftofocus's?

[lolyton]

Thats a decision best made by yourself, but if what you say about them is true then that is one of the best reasons you could have to go for one. Also the majority of guys who shoot sports will be using Canon, and if you're shooting with them and using a Canon they may help you out with camera advice, and maybe let you play with one or two lenses for future purchase.

Can't be a bad thing to have a Canon, plus they are very good cameras, but nowadays most brands are.