Best Value Lenses for Sports Photography
Sony's G Master lenses are superb, but they can cost a small fortune. Everything in my bag is third-party glass that costs noticeably less while delivering professional results. Here are the six lenses I shoot with on my Sony full-frame camera, covering 10mm to 600mm, what each does best, and why it earns its place.
1. Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF: Making Features Look Huge
Best for: ultra-wide drama, big scale, and getting the viewer into the action.
This is the lens behind those shots where a rider seems to launch straight out of the frame. At 10mm on full-frame, you can crouch a metre from the lip of a jump and still fit the rider, the feature, and the sky in one image. The wide angle stretches the foreground, so a modest table-top looks like a massive gap, and the rider appears to hang over the viewer.
Details: An autofocus 10mm f/2.8 that keeps straight lines straight. "Zero-D" means jump lips, tree trunks, and trail edges stay true instead of bending like they would with a fisheye. Autofocus lets you focus quickly as a rider approaches, and if you'd rather pre-set it, zone-focusing at around f/8 keeps everything from a metre or two out to the horizon sharp.
Why I use it: It's my "look how big that feature is" lens. Get low, get close, and tilt slightly up. Always talk to the rider first and stay well clear of the landing zone.
Reviews: OpticalLimits tested the Nikon Z version of the same lens and said, "The AF is pretty fast and silent." The centre was sharp wide open, but the corners were soft until stopping down to f/4 to f/5.6, and it scored 9/10 for both build quality and price-to-performance. Read the full review.
2. Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD: The Compact Wide Zoom
Best for: flexible wide-angle framing without the extreme look.
The Laowa is dramatic, but sometimes 10mm is too much. At 17mm, the rider stays the clear subject while the trail, berm, or mountain still adds context. At 28mm, you can tighten up for a group ride or a gear check. Because it zooms, you can change your framing instantly as a rider approaches.
Details: A constant f/2.8, small and light for a full-frame zoom, with fast, quiet autofocus that suits unpredictable action.
Why I use it: It's my everyday wide: smaller and lighter than the Laowa, and the zoom lets me reframe quickly as a rider approaches. It barely registers in the pack on long hikes in.
Reviews: Admiring Light's conclusion lists "Very good image sharpness right from f/2.8" among its pros, alongside quick, accurate autofocus and an extremely compact, lightweight build. On the downside, the reviewer found the bokeh slightly rough and noted that the lens relies on software to correct distortion. Read the full review.
3. Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art: The Storytelling Prime
Best for: environmental portraits and low light.
Primes force you to move, and that makes you a better photographer. At 35mm, the field of view feels natural, so it's perfect for capturing a rider with their bike, the trailhead, and the crew around them. The f/1.4 aperture gives you separation from busy backgrounds and handles dawn, dusk, and shaded forest light that zooms struggle with.
Details: Part of Sigma's Art line, known for excellent sharpness wide open and for rendering that feels more premium than the price suggests.
Why I use it: For the moments between the action: pre-ride nerves, gear checks, and post-ride celebrations. These images make a gallery feel like a story rather than a highlight reel.
Reviews: Cameralabs called it "capable of attractive rendering and sharp results," though in its tests the autofocus wasn't quite as consistent as Sony's own 35mm lenses. Read the full review.
4. Sigma 105mm f/2.8 DG DN Macro Art: Details and Close-Ups
Best for: details, textures, and tight portraits.
This is my detail lens. Fill the frame with a muddy tyre knob, a chain, a chalked hand, or a rider's eyes behind their goggles. As a true macro, it focuses extremely close for tiny details, and as a 105mm it also gives beautiful compression for portraits that isolate the subject from the background.
Details: A 1:1 macro lens with f/2.8 and fast autofocus for a macro, so it works for moving subjects too.
Why I use it: Gear stories, rider profiles, and the small things that sell a brand's product. It pairs with the 10mm so I can go from epic scale to intimate detail in one shoot.
Reviews: Photography Blog gave it five stars, praising its "outstanding edge-to-edge image quality." At the time of testing, it was sharper than Sony's FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro at f/2.8 and in the corners, while costing about two-thirds of the price. Read the full review.
5. Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD: The Workhorse
Best for: nearly everything, especially events where you can't swap lenses.
This lens does the job of several primes and the classic 70-200mm. At 35mm and f/2 it's a low-light storytelling lens. At 150mm and f/2.8 it picks riders out of a corner or berm from a comfortable distance. A rider can go from close to far during a single run, and this lens follows them.
Details: Fast across its range, with quick autofocus and a more compact package than a 70-200mm f/2.8 plus a wide prime. It's still a substantial lens, so bring a good strap.
Why I use it: If I could only bring one lens to a race or event, this would be it.
Reviews: Australian Photography tested the Nikon Z version and reported that "the sharpness was excellent," with no obvious distortion or chromatic aberration. It suggested this could be the only lens many professionals and keen amateurs need. Read the full review. Imaging Resource, meanwhile, found it felt slightly front-heavy on a Sony A7R IV, so balance matters on long days (hands-on review).
6. Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports: The Big Lens
Best for: candid moments, distant action, and compression.
At 600mm, you capture honest moments without the athlete noticing you. They aren't posing or reacting to the camera, so you get natural expressions: the focus before a drop, the exhale after a clean line, the laugh with a friend.
There are other reasons to go big:
Safety and access: Shoot steep terrain or hazardous features from a safe distance.
Compression: A long focal length stacks the background right behind the subject, so a rider on a ridgeline can look dwarfed by towering mountains.
Isolation: Pick one athlete out of a crowd.
Wildlife bonus: The same lens photographs eagles and bears along the Sea to Sky.
Details: Native mirrorless design with image stabilisation and Sigma's Sports build. It's heavy, around 2kg, so a monopod helps on long days. Aim for 1/1000s or faster and plenty of light.
Why I use it: It gets shots no one else at the event is getting, and it's far less expensive than most native super-telephotos.
Reviews: Digital Camera World gave it five stars and called it "hard to beat" as a super-telephoto zoom, citing excellent image quality, weather sealing, and a wealth of features. It lists the weight at 2,100g, which is the main trade-off. Read the full review.
Which Lens First?
Dramatic MTB shots: the Laowa 10mm
A do-it-all event lens: the Tamron 35-150mm
Stories and details: the Sigma 35mm and 105mm
Reach and candids: the Sigma 150-600mm
Good sports photography is about positioning, timing, and light. Start with one lens, learn it well, and let your kit grow with your style.
Looking for an action sports photographer in Squamish, Whistler, or the Sea to Sky corridor? Get in touch at jbwphotos.ca.