Dear all, I am a beginner, and I am mainly taking pictures for our figure skating club. The pictures turn out ok but I am wondering how to do better. My camera is the Canon Rebel T7, sens is EF-S 5.6 mm f/4-55 IS STM I used 1/400 and ISO 1600. Pics are ok, but I am of course not using an ideal camera for it...If I would go for an upgrade, what would you suggest?
not so much the camera but the lens, try getting a lens thats got a brighter aperture like ƒ2.8 or ƒ1.4 etc, if you want a zoom with auto focus you probably looking at an ƒ2.8 like the sigma 17-50mm ƒ2.8 OS EX, the sigma 18-35mm art is an ƒ1.8 but no IS but its a fair bit brighter other way to go is to see if you are happy to use a prime lens and get a faster one there, you'll be able to tell from using the current lens what framing (focal size in mm you like / need)
Camera will handle whatever lens you put on it that is made for that mount. The small number for aperture is how wide the lens is able to open inside the barrel when the pic is taken. Every fstop 2.8 v 4 v 5.8 allows twice as much light at the sacrifice of DOF which is how much of the image is in focus, aka you see portraits with really creamy blurred background. Being able to use 2.8 for example will make a difference in the ISO needed. You may not need to use 1/400 for skating, you could try 1/200 ish and see if that freezes the motion that will also allow more light to keep the ISO down. You could also eventually upgrade to a camera where iso performance is not terribly noisy at 3200 but that would be an option i would explore if you had better lenses first. If you think you may get a better camera someday I would also consider EF lenses over EF-s as the EF will mount to about anything canon where the ef-s is only for your crop sensor bodies. Can I ask what you are looking for in the improvement? Do you need a longer lens to get closer to the skaters or you just hate the ISO noise at the 1600? I should point ISO noise can get very noticeable at higher iso if your exposure is not spot on. You may notice that both of us are assuming you need more light since skating rinks are a bit dark inside from a photographic standpoint.
My I suggest you take your camera along with you and try the lens out on your camera before you make your purchase, that way you will comfortable with the purchase knowing if it does what you want.
firstly can we see some of your results you are not so happy with and explain why, two reasons for this, 1 to see what you are getting and 2 to see if what you think the problem is is the correct issue one of the lenses i recommend beginners getting is a wide to medium zoom lens, not only does it make learning easy without constantly fussing over changing lenses but it also makes for a great framing tool for future prime or faster short range zoom lenses i still use this method when i'm shooting a new project, i'll scout out with the 18-150mm and see what frame (focal in mm) what primes i may want to use if the subjects you are shooting are in low light and fast moving to which they can be both of these things one of the newer RF full frame bodies may well be a good option, these newer cameras do handle low light much better than cameras of 5 years ago if you not fighting fast moving subjects and low light your current body may be capable with the right lens
Can I ask what you are looking for in the improvement? Do you need a longer lens to get closer to the skaters or you just hate the ISO noise at the 1600? I should point ISO noise can get very noticeable at higher iso if your exposure is not spot on.
