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I just recently purchased a canon (70-300mm)telephoto lens with an image stabilizer. My pictures are coming out soft and often blurry. I thought that the point of having a stabilizer was so you wouldn't have to use a tripod, but the camera could be hand held. Maybe I am wrong...any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Lisa
Andy! Be nice.
Lisa. I know on the 100-400 there are 2 IS modes....
1 - for subjects that aren't moving
2 - for panning with a moving subject
.....might be the same.
IS will give you a few extra stops, but if your shooting wildlife in shade or something, then ISO will have to be bumped up also to shorten shutter speeds.
Also depends on your AF system....might be in AI Servo & be loosing your subject......
Just guesing here. Hope you get some help out of this.
Trevor.
dont forget, there really is no substitute for a tripod if you need one. IS at best gives you about 3 stops advantage.
ie. if you have a 300mm lens, then remember the 1/focal length "rule"
so........ 1/350, minus 3 stops = 1/45 sec or there abouts. less than that, and its likely to be shakey.
The IS reduces the effect of camera shake by 2 (older lenses) or 3 stops (latest models), so for the long end of the lens being an equivalent of 480mm (300*1.6), without IS you would need a shutter speed of 1/480s or faster, with IS you should be able to go down to 1/120s or 1/60s, at the short end you might be able to go down to 1/30s or 1/15s.
Of course these are only a guidline, it depends on how steady you are (windy day, stable ground, good stance, caffeine intake etc. could all affect this).
Bernard
EDIT: *Three* overlaping answers, and I'm the slowest typing ...
Quote: I thought that the point of having a stabilizer was so you wouldn't have to use a tripod, but the camera could be hand held.
Doesn't remove the need to be aware of your choice of shutter speed...
you have to hold the shutter button halfway down for approximately a second before it starts to work
Quote: You have to hold the shutter button halfway down for approximately a second before it starts to work
Does that mean it could still be adjusting, if the shutter button is pressed straight down.
Or does is disable it.
I'll read up on it, because i need to know to use the 24-105 mm IS. I thought that all i needed to know, was to switch it off when using a tripod.
Col
the is will blur the picture if you press it straight down, press halfway and watch the view finder until the picture steadies then fire, its only for use when you can not get the shot without it and is best left off as a default setting.
Quote: You have to hold the shutter button halfway down for approximately a second before it starts to work
???? In the meantime, the shot's gone...
Technology eh!
Never got into it CB.
I'm sure there's a justification for it somewhere, but I worked on improving my skills with a standard fast lens - and put the money elsewhere.
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