Best lenses for indoor sports on a budget in 2023
We’ve talked about the best way to choose your next lens for indoor sports, now it’s time for some actual recommendations! Here they are, sorted by focal length and alongside them their strengths, weaknesses and apertures.
For every lens (or type of lens) we’ll give you a short overview and then get right into the specs of the lens or lens type. If this helps you in any way please order through one of the links provided as this will help support this platform!
Don’t know which lens to get? Check out our guide to choosing a (sports) lens:
Wideangle
Sigma 16mm F/1.4 Contemporary
While 16mm on an APS-C camera can be too wide to get good isolated shots of athletes this focal length is very useful for venue shots or group shots. The aperture is amazingly bright but the lens is for APS-C cameras only.
Format: APS-C
Mount: Sony E / Nikon Z / Fujifilm X
Focal Length: 16mm (equates the field of view to roughly 24mm on a full frame camera)
Aperture: F/1.4
Good: Very bright aperture, Autofocus, Price/Performance, Sharpness
Bad: Price for mounts differ, pretty large lens
Price: ~ $370
The focal length of 23mm on an APS-C camera is comparable in terms of field of view to a 35mm lens on a full frame camera and is super useful if you can get close to court or can stand behind a goal. Especially in sports like volleyball or badminton or other sports like boxing where you can get close to the action this lens will shine with it’s bright aperture!
Format: APS-C
Mount: Sony E / Nikon Z / Canon EF-M / Fujifilm X
Focal Length: 23mm (equates the field of view to roughly 35mm on a full frame camera)
Aperture: F/1.4
Good: Bright aperture, Price/Performance
Bad: Not the sharpest wide open
Price: ~ $300
Just like the Viltrox 23mm F/1.4 on an APS-C camera, the 35mm focal length really is amazing when you can get close to the action. You can generate images in which the athletes really seem to jump at the viewer! The F1.8 aperture helps with seperating your subjects from the background.
Format: Full Frame
Mount: Sony FE
Focal Length:
Aperture: F/1.8
Good: Price, image quality, size
Bad: Only available for Sony cameras as of late 2023
Price: ~ $300
Of course there are other 35mm lenses, but those are usually not as affordable:
Canon 35mm F/1.8
Canon 35mm F/1.4
Sony 35mm F1.8
Sony 35mm F/1.4
Nikon 35mm F/1.8
Sigma 35mm F/1.2
Sigma 35mm F/1.4
Samyang 35 F1.4
Normal:
50mm F/1.8
The classic 50mm is really awesome for indoor sports, when you can get pretty close to court but don’t want to photograph what’s right in front of you, think about receiving a shot in volleyball or a big smash in badminton or a handball player throwing with you behind the goal. The 50mm is usually also one of the cheaper lenses, especially in the F/1.8 variants which we will link here. If you’re looking for F/1.4 lenses, check out this link.
Format: Full Frame
Mount: Sony FE / Nikon Z / Canon RF
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: F/1.8
Good: Usually quite cheap (except on Nikon Z-mount), fast aperture
Bad: Not the sharpest tools in the shed
Price: ~ $200 depending on the mount
If you want to get the same field of view on an APS-C camera you’ll want to get a 35mm lens, as listed above or a specialized APS-C lens like the following:
The Samyang 45mm F/1.8 lens does everything the native Sony lens does and more! It’s sharper and smaller and has faster autofocus while still being pretty affordable.
Format: Full Frame
Mount: Sony E-Mount
Focal Length: 45mm
Aperture: F/1.8
Good: Size, Image quality, aperture, price
Bad: Calibration needs a dock that’s sold separately
Price: ~ $330
Standard Zooms
Fast standard zooms can be the bread and butter lenses of the indoor sports photographer - but those usually come at a price. The native options for Nikon F, Nikon Z, Canon EF, Canon RF, and Sony E-Mount usually go for more than $2000. They are of course amazing lenses but we’re of the opinion that you can get 95% of the performance for less than half the price with other variations of the lens. We also think that you can get even better results with prime lenses: Faster aperture and usually lower prices!
Some examples for good standard zooms are the following:
Telephoto
The holy-grail of indoor sports photographers is usually the system-native 70-200mm F/2.8 lens. For Nikon F, Nikon Z, Canon EF, Canon RF and Sony E-Mount these lenses are more than $2000.
Sigma 56mm F/1.4
This Sigma lens for APS-C cameras is super sharp, super tiny and also super affordable! Every shooter with a crop-sensor camera should have it. For sports it gives you the equivalent to an 85mm lens on a full frame camera and due to the larger aperture the background separation will also be pretty similar. What’s not to like?
Format: APS-C
Mount: Sony E / Nikon Z / Fujifilm X / Canon EF-M
Focal Length: 56mm (equates the field of view to roughly 85mm on a full frame camera)
Aperture: F/1.4
Good: Everything really: Size, Image quality, Aperture, Price
Bad: Nothing of note.
Price: ~ $400
85mm F/1.8
Just like the Sigma 56mm F/1.4 on an APS-C camera, the gold old 85mm F/1.8 is a must for consideration for indoor sports. Quite affordable on most systems but gives you great light gathering capabilities and quite some reach while also doubling as a lens for beautiful portraits or headshots.
Format: Full Frame
Mount: Sony E / Nikon Z / Nikon F / Canon EF / Canon RF
Focal Length: 85mm
Aperture: F/1.8
Good: Usually small, lightweight, sharp and pretty affordable
Bad: A lot of choices depending on the system
Price: ~ $350 - $800
Alternatively to the native lenses there are a bunch of third party options:
Viltrox 85mm F/1.8 Mark II STM for Sony E-Mount
Samyang 85mm F/1.4 AF Series II for Sony E-Mount
Tamron 85 F/1.8 Di VC for Nikon F and Canon EF
The big three also make faster versions of the lens:
Nikon AF-S FX Nikkor 85mm F/1.4G for Nikon F
135mm F/1.8
Now we’re getting in the territory of really special lenses. The 135mm focal length gives you some serious reach indoors while also being a bokeh-machine! The background blur is just really amazing with these lenses. You’ll also get a lot of light at a pretty long focal length. In Badminton the 135mm focal length is perfect for photographing players on the opposite site of the court getting you amazing shots of action and also facial expressions. This lens is really unrivalled in the images it can get you. In terms of versatility it’s only beaten by the following zooms.
Format: Full Frame
Mount: Sony E / Nikon F-Mount / Canon RF
Focal Length: 135mm
Aperture: F/1.8
Good: Super-sharp and great image quality, reach, aperture
Bad: Size and price
Price: ~ $2000
But hold on, there must be a cheaper option? Indeed there is one amazing option for the Sony E-Mount: The Samyang 135mm F/1.8. It comes in at around ~ $850 but gives you all the goods. The autofocus is not as good as the native options but that’s a pretty steep discount for basically the same image quality. We’ve taken some amazing sports-images with this lens and would always recommend the Samyang 135mm F/1.8!
70-180mm F/2.8
The small brother to the big 70-200mm F/2.8 zooms (Sony 70-200mm F/2.8 GM II, Nikon NIKKOR 70-200mm F/2.8 S, Canon RF 70-200 F/2.8 L IS USM) made by Tamron (also the Nikon Version) is a real steal for what you’re getting. It’s just as sharp and fast focussing as the other native lenses but at half the price. You’ll give up image stabilization but that’s rarely needed when shooting sports with high shutter speeds.
Format: Full Frame
Focal Length: 70mm - 180mm
Aperture: F/2.8
Good: Size, Image quality, autofocus, price
Bad: Lacking a little reach, focus while zooming unreliable, no image stabilization
Price: ~ $1000 - $1200
There is one more lens that’s brand new and also heralded as the lens that revolutionizes portrait and wedding photography: The Tamron 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD for Sony E-Mount! This lens has basically the perfect focal range for indoor sports while also having a really bright aperture. It’s sharp, quick to focus, weather sealed, rugged, customizable and much more. There are basically only two downsides to this lens: It’s huge and not the most affordable option. But if we had just one lens for indoor sports? This would be it!
