People Don't seem to get IS

well some people.

i understand IS is not for everybody's style of shooting, nor do i think if you dont have IS you should go home.

but people constantly give terrible advice about IS. i read it all the time.

they say it is only good for indoor shots. they say what is the point you can just use a tripod, or lean up on something. they say it is unnecessary for wider angle shots where handshake is less of an effect than telephoto.

well all this is not good advice. it is downright wrong advice.

for shots outdoors where it is getting darker out, you can stop down 3 stops to get a nicer dof and sharper shot with IS. or, if you still want a faster aperture, you can now save yourself 3 steps of ISO. and not every lens can have f2.8 that people can afford or want to carry around. so that isnt always an option to just speed up your aperture.

sure you can use a tripod, but a lot of people A) dont always haev a tripod handy or B) cant set it up for a shot, or dont have the time to constantly set a tripod up or C) for quick street shooting in lower light (and i dont mean suepr dark) D)want to carry around a tripod while onvacation or just walking around

yes we know IS cant stop action, but it also lets you delve into the world of motion blur creativity with a handheld shot. once you explore that, you may find it becomes another weapon in your arsenal, i know i have.

think of your shooting styles, and then figure out if IS can help you in any of these situations. obviously people were shooting fine before IS, but does that mean we have to dismiss newer technology as unnecessary? not at all. understand it, and utilize it if it can make your photography work in situations where it would not normally. if not, then by all means, that is just great too.

i am just annoyed by people that say IS is only useful for telephoto or museum shots.

it is just thinking and advice that is limiting and narrowminded, and misinforming people that are new to the photography world. at least let people have the proper information, the whole picture, and then decide if those situations suit them or not.

end rant
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. . . as to the meaning of "IS".

Best regards,

Doug

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'Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler.'

I shoot a lot at the long end of my 70-300 IS, and I find IS helpful in composing "tight" shots. I give the shutter a quick tap to kick in the IS before I really work the composition in the viewfinder.

Also: Anyone who claims a tripod is a real substitute for IS doesn't get it. Life doesn't stand still for any length of time, and for my type of shooting a tripod is more hindrance than help. I simply can't envision use of 100mm+ without IS, yet I have 3 tripods gathering dust in a closet. Sez sumfin'...

--
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I too use the IS just for looking through and composing with the 70-300. It makes life a lot easier. I want a set of those IS binoculars now!

And I'd find a lot of use for IS on a wide angle lens and use it outdoors a lot!

Think of the dawn and twilight landscapes you could shoot at nice small apertures and at low ISOs to get great DOF and fine details if you had a 10-22mm IS lens!

Think of those times you're shooting a babbling brook and want to shoot at a long shutter speed to get that blurred water effect.

Think of the times you're indoors and a nice shot showing some motion-blur of the people (or other moving things) while keeping the fixed-objects sharp would be just the ticket.

People who dismiss the utility of IS just don't get it.

And people who suggest using a tripod obviously don't go to the places I go. If I had to pack a tripod, set it up, fight with it to get the point of view I wanted, and be limited in just where I could have the camera for a shot, I'd miss out on a lot of photos.

Tripods have their uses, I guess, but boy do they limit your possibilities and restrict your ability to find "just the right" point of view.

For me, IS is a BIG consideration when I think about buying any lens.

--
Jim H.

Yep, my sentiments precisely.

I always laugh at the "IS doesn't prevent motion blur..." criticism - whenever I ask if their tripod does , things go very quiet..!

;0)

The combination of IS and high quality mid-to-high ISO capabilities of today's DSLR cameras has made my tripod collect dust too. The only time I really pull out the tripod is for very long exposure shots.

IS used with a monopod is also an excellent combo.

Joe Reilly said:

I shoot a lot at the long end of my 70-300 IS, and I find IS
helpful in composing "tight" shots. I give the shutter a quick tap
to kick in the IS before I really work the composition in the
viewfinder.

Also: Anyone who claims a tripod is a real substitute for IS
doesn't get it. Life doesn't stand still for any length of time,
and for my type of shooting a tripod is more hindrance than help.
I simply can't envision use of 100mm+ without IS, yet I have 3
tripods gathering dust in a closet. Sez sumfin'...

--
http://www.pbase.com/misterpix

Click to expand...

Afterall, most people that own SLRs don't really need them for the types of pictures they typically take.

Yes IS is great. My minolta A1 has a similiair technic and I like it.

The only shame is that canon only offers the 17-85IS with has 5.6 with IS I can afford. That doesn't create greate background blurrs. The other's like the 17-55 are amazing I must say but way to expensive for me.

But if possible before my holiday in september, I willl buy the 70-300IS but I start with tamron's 17-50 2.8.If not it will be the 70-200L4

I have the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and the 70-200 f4L and while no IS, they make a great combo.

And people who think IS is the Holy Grail of phtography just don't get it for those people who thik IS is a waste of money. I shoot event photography, usually shoot in continious mode, and use flash 90% pf the time. I have it turned off on my three IS lenses. If I need to have IS, I just as soon as put the lens on the tripod.

JimH said:

People who dismiss the utility of IS just don't get it.
And people who suggest using a tripod obviously don't go to the
places I go. If I had to pack a tripod, set it up, fight with it
to get the point of view I wanted, and be limited in just where I
could have the camera for a shot, I'd miss out on a lot of photos.

Tripods have their uses, I guess, but boy do they limit your
possibilities and restrict your ability to find "just the right"
point of view.

For me, IS is a BIG consideration when I think about buying any lens.

Click to expand...

sound great. So the tamron works nice on the 30D!!!
I will order it tomorrow.

I just ordered the 17-55 & 24-105 lenses which have IS and will add that to my already has IS 70-200 F2.8L. Yes, they are more expensive. I do wish Canon left it in the camera so all lenses could have IS but sincce they don't, I'll buy it in the lenses.

I too don't like to trot out my tripod all the time. I much prefer to hand hold unless doind some form of group shooting where you put up the tripod and keep passing people in front of the lens or of course long exposures.

Long live IS!
--
Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan
See my profile for equipment list

I use IS all the time. It allows me so many more chances for shots I would otherwise miss. In all types of conditions...

Jon.
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And check our photos out @
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I use it on my 20D, but it should work equally well on the 30D.

"NT" means no text.

Joe Kurkjian, Pbase Supporter

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SEARCHING FOR A BETTER SELF PORTRAIT

Re: People don't seem to get IS

idiotekniQues said:

Guilty as charged

Click to expand...

because I'm relatively new to digital photography, so this has been an enlightening thread for me.

Based on what I've gleaned here and elsewhere, here's my take on when IS is useful and not so useful:

Useful:

• Low light situations (in general) to buy a couple of stops via slower shutter

speeds

• In capturing intentional motion blur, e.g, waterfalls, streams, through lower

shutter speeds

• Long and/or tightly cropped telephoto shots to counteract camera shake

Not so useful:

• For subjects whose motion you don't want blurred, e.g., auto racing, action

sports

HELP ME OUT... Am I kind of getting it?

idiotekniQues said:

What else would you add to either category?

Click to expand...

TIA...
DannyR

jrscls said:

I have the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and the 70-200 f4L and while no IS,
they make a great combo.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but as good as the 70-200/4L is, it would be even better with IS. I've had the 70-200/4L for several years, and I often wish it had IS. The 4L is long, light, and slender, which can make it a bit tricky to hold steady when the light gets lower and the shutter speeds get slower. If it had IS, I think that would greatly increase the 4L's versatility.

You are getting it. IS helps whenyou need to hold the camera steadier to keep away camera movement. If you want to freeze movement of the object you are shooting then you need a faster shutter speed in which IS will not help.

An example of this is I shoot a Cabaret show every year. I have to shoot as wide open as possible so I can freeze the movement of the singers and dancers. In this scenario, IS does not help as it is not the camer movement that would cause the blur.

In this shot you can see no blur where you have good focus as the shutter speed used was fast enough to freeze it completely (1/1600s f/1.4 at 50.0mm iso800). The parts that are frozen are clear as I was shooting fast enough to stop any camera movement. IS would not have helped in this instance.



In this shot, my 70-200 F2.8L IS helped me get a shot I would not have gotten nearly as good without it. This was shot at 1/13s f/2.8 at 70.0mm iso400. 1/13th at 70mm means I should have been at least at 1/60th of a second to freeze movement and that is if I had a steady hand yet with the IS, it is pretty sharp.



--
Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan
See my profile for equipment list

brianric said:

And people who think IS is the Holy Grail of phtography just don't
get it for those people who thik IS is a waste of money. I shoot
event photography, usually shoot in continious mode, and use flash
90% pf the time. I have it turned off on my three IS lenses. If I
need to have IS, I just as soon as put the lens on the tripod.

Click to expand...

LOL. You would rather have to haul out a heavy tripod, set it up, mount your camera, then adjust the tripod head to frame the shot, than simply flicking a switch to turn on IS? I usually bring a tripod to event shoots, but it usually sits unused in the corner of the room, folded up, in its shoulder pouch, out of the way so that no one trips over it. Tripods are simply incompatible with many scenarios and many environments simply because they take time to set up, let alone time to retrieve (unless you are constantly carrying your tripod around with you, which I would not recommend for event photography), and they take up space to set up. Yes, flash can be a great tool to get around low light situations, but sometimes being able to catch an intimate and fleeting moment with just existing light can be tremendously effective, and typically those moments don't wait around for you to set up your tripod. It's times like those that IS is a huge asset. I can't imagine anyone actually prefering to "just as soon put the lens on a tripod" in a situation like that rather than just using the IS capability that his or her lens already has.

I only use a tripod for very long exposures (of 1 second or greater) where IS is not effective. But there's a considerable range of photography between those tripod-necessary shots, and those shots where the shutter speed is so fast that IS is un-necessary, that greatly benefit from the extra added stability that IS offers.

--
Juli
http://www.pbase.com/julivalley/galleries
Canon FiveDee, 2oD, Canon Gee3, and Canon S7o, Fuji Eff30.