I received this e-mail:

Trust this finds you well. I am hoping I can impose upon your photography expertise with a question. My wife has been shooting our son’s high school football games (played at night under the lights) with our basic Cannon SLR rebel and using a borrowed Sigma telephoto lens that I think is an 18-200mm and there were some other specs but I can’t find my notes.

Anyway – knowing that the prime purpose is to shoot football games at night where the lighting is ok at best – and wanting a good amount of zoom capability – can you recommend some options in the $500 – $750 price range for me? Also a good retailer or place to buy such an item?

There are really two questions here: what is the ideal lens to buy for night (from the stands) night sports photography, and what is the best lens to buy in a given price range. The answer to the second question may be…nothing at all.

You can read on, or read an four-year-old article on the subject here.

Continue reading about sports lenses and lens rentals after the jump