Telephoto Lenses

[Andrew Schreiber]

I do a lot of the photography for 397 and would like to be able to keep doing this during competition season, I was curious if anyone had any suggestions for what type of lense I should buy. Currently I have only my 18- 55 mm f/3.8-5.6 lense on the Cannon XTi (400D) body. For these type of shots I don't mind shooting at higher ISO levels because the team rarely needs the shots to be completly noise free, and the 400D doesn't seem to have that much of a problem with it. Of course I would like to shoot at the lowest possible ISO.

My question realy is, for most mid-sized competitions, what is a decent lense to use, currently I am looking at buying either a 28-200 mm f/3.8-5.6 or a 28-135mm f/3.8-5.6 IS.

Also, this is my personal camera so price range is that of a poor college kid basically, L-series or equivalent are pretty much out of the question. I also prefer to buy lenses new. Unless anyone really vouches for the place.