Posted: 1/4/2007 2:39:25 PM EDT
|
Yes, more inane questions from me. As I ponder plunking down multiple K on camera stuff, how important/how useful is the Image Stabilization feature? how often do you find yourself using it? For the L series, is it worth the scratch? For example, I look at the 70-200 2.8 and figure I won't use it that often unless with a tripod/monopod, with a flash or outdoors with good lighting, which negates the IS (doesn't it?)? I like it as a general purpose portrait lense and with a 1.4 a little wildlife action. Doesn't the 2.8 provide enough light to give you what you want? Just curious |
|
almost all of my lenses have it but I rarely use it. it sucks battery power too. that might matter if you spend a lot of time in the field. (the canon manuals say that using a tripod turns off IS, but I don't see how it possibly could. There's no connection between the collar and the lens on the 70-200) |
|
IS allows you to haldhold longer exposures then you normally could. I have heard reports that some IS lenses give you as much as 3 stops of extra exposure (8 times brighter) without camera shake blur. Obviously if your subject is moving then you can't use IS to get a clearer picture. IS only corrects the photographer's shake. On long lenses I would think it is important. I used to have to crank down exposure times by a stop or two when going from a 50mm lens to a 135mm lens. That would limit my light to only 1/125th or 1/250th at most. If you need the light, it helps to have your extra stops of light gathering. |
|
I couldn't live without IS (well, I guess I could, but I wouldn't want to). For weddings, the IS of the 24-105 f4 and 70-200 f2.8 let me shoot the ceremony without flash (with the exception of processional / recessional... IS doesn't help with moving targets). The 70-200 in particular comes in very handy when I banished to the back of the church, and I also use it almost exclusively to shoot the medical conventions I do a couple of times a year. In short, if you're shooting low-light where the subjects aren't moving much, IS is a godsend. --Mike |