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What Canon lens do I need to capture a decent picture of a graduate on a football field? I could end up being at the other end of the field in the seating.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You'll need to adjust your question to include what camera you are using, what time of day it'll be, have you tried anything like this before...? \$\endgroup\$
    – Flying Trashcan
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 14:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ I feel you have a specific case of some familiar or something. Talk with the directives and other graduates to have an oficial photographer that can be in the field. He can take photos of all graduates, and "behind the scenes" photos, etc. You can pay the photographer between all the graduates to reduce costs, and not having a crowd of paparazzi. If you are on the other side of the field you need a really large telephoto. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rafael
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 14:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ Lets asume that you buy a $120,000 dolar lens. You probably will have a bunch of people infront of you, so you probably won't take a nice picture... Hire an "oficial" photographer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rafael
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 18:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ "A decent picture of a graduation on a football field" is a fairly nebulous description. Do you desire an isolated portrait? Or a group shot that includes several students or a student and the faculty as the degree is awarded, etc? Is this graduation in a high school stadium where the stands are typically closer to the sidelines or in a larger college facility that would normally have the stands set further back from the field? Is the ceremony during daylight or in the evening under the lights? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:11

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Focusing solely on the question of focal length: a football field is about 160 feet wide.

  • Simply assuming you're on the edge of the field and the graduate is straight across on the other side, assuming you're using a full frame camera you should be able to get a fairly tight shot of the individual with a 2700 mm lens (on a 1.5x crop camera you would only need about an 1800 mm lens).

  • Unfortunately, you'll likely be in the stands and likely not able to get that close, so lets say you're another 50 feet away for a total of 210 feet from the subject, if the graduate is directly in front of you. You'll need a lens of roughly 3500mm on a full frame camera to get the same fairly tight shot. On a 1.5x crop camera you'll only need about 2400 mm.

  • Both of those are likely ideal scenarios: with many graduates and families around you likely will be farther away and see many spots you wish you could get to for a photo. Let's round that distance up to 300 ft -- full frame: 5100 mm; crop sensor: 3400 mm.

Canon did make a 5200 mm lens, but it's minimum focus distance is about 400 feet, so that won't work for you. More readily available is Canon's 1200mm. Nikon made a 1200-1700mm zoom lens if you prefer zooms, and also made a 2000mm lens. You may be able to carry some of these by yourself, but probably not when you include the required support equipment. And I'm ignoring costs completely!

Thinking more practically, a 300 or 400mm lens will let you get some nice group shots of the many graduates in the field from those distances. Focus on getting a shot of the graduate with diploma after the ceremony where you can pick a location, control the lighting, and prod them for a happy smile.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Typically, graduation ceremonies in football stadiums do not place the action on the other side of the field. Rather, they generally place the platform in front of the stands on the edge of the field on the same side as the stands. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 22:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ The other most common setup is to place the platform halfway between the two sidelines near one end of the field with the graduating class seated on the field facing the podium and at at a 90° angle to the spectators in the stands. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 22:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ I kind of thought that's how it'd work, too, but since the OP said they could end up at the other end of the field I figured they must do it some other way. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan Wolfgang
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:57
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I think the practical answer here is "nothing that you'll be allowed in the stadium". Any lens long enough to pick out the details you're looking for is going to be so big that it will annoy other members of the audience. This goes doubly for any suggestion of using a tripod.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I agree with the "nothing that you'll be allowed in the stadium" comment for sporting events, but for a graduation they probably won't be checking lens length. A monopod would make a suitable substitute for the tripod when shooting from the stands. So long as the families around you aren't alphabetically close to you, they probably won't mind you standing for a minute to get a few shots of your offspring, so long as you're not complaining about them standing for their shots. \$\endgroup\$
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 18:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ It really depends on the type of institution in question. I've been to high school graduations in stadiums where attendees were allowed to bring whatever they wanted. I've seen college graduations where limits on lenses were set at the same size as for that college's sporting events. I've also heard of college graduations where the limits were published but not enforced at the event. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:04
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Lots of factors at play here. Know what the lighting will be like will be very hard to know ahead of time. Professional sports photographers use large aperture zoom or fix long focal length lens that can cost several thousand dollars or more.

Depending on the cameras abilities, you'll probably need to set your ISO up pretty high, your aperture very large (smaller number), and your shutter speed to accommodate the other settings. I would suggest a slight negative exposure compensation to help speed up the shutter and reduce blur as your subject will likely not be completely stationary.

As for the lens, you'll want to use the largest zoom lens you have, or can afford. Also one with IS (image stabilization) will help. Shooting with a tripod or monopod is a must, and will get you almost as stable as IS.

Something like THIS has decent zoom, and is pretty cheap, but doesn't have a very large aperture at 300mm. Anything with more zoom or a larger aperture is more money. It vastly depends on how much you are willing to spend.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure about this particular scenario, but a monopod is oftentimes just as good as a tripod for trying to avoid camera shake. \$\endgroup\$
    – osullic
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 14:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ From across the field, 300mm will not capture a decent picture of a graduate. 300mm on a crop-sensor camera at an optimistic 160 feet away is likely to contain the heads of perhaps a few dozen seated graduates. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan Wolfgang
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 15:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ There are lots of lens rental places for short-term use of a very expensive, very long lenses. \$\endgroup\$
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 18:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DanWolfgang And who is to say how many heads have to be in the photo before it is no longer considered decent by the original poster? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelClark, I think we're focused on different words. :) You italicized decent, while I should have written "...decent picture of a graduate." \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan Wolfgang
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:58

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