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R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

Started 2 months ago | Discussions
timmie boy New Member • Posts: 19
R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

Anyone having the problem of the IS continually engaged after taking a picture or switching the R6ii on?

You can hear it engaged for around 60 seconds before it disengages. On my old 5Dii it would be only a matter of a couple of seconds and the IS would disengage.

This seems like an unnecessary drain on the battery. I've tried two different IS lenses and they both have the same characteristic.

Any help much appreciated.

Canon EOS R6 Mark II
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ld_bl Forum Member • Posts: 71
Re: R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

This is normal on R system cameras from what I understand. The IS is on as long as the camera is active (not in standbye). Not sure why Canon has decided to do it this way now but it is what it is. Your only option would be to reduce the standbye timeout. Or turning the IS on and off manually.

I always just turn the camera off between shots to save battery anyway. But of course if you need to ready to shoot quickly that's not an option...

Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

Stabilisation runs continuously on all Canon mirrorless cameras while the rear screen or the EVF is working as a viewfinder. Canon have the idea that if the EVF is running it's actually being used, and it really is more pleasant looking through a stabilised viewfinder. I switch the camera off when I'm not using it, as the EVF (in particular) uses a lot of the battery.

axlotl Senior Member • Posts: 2,273
Re: R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

timmie boy wrote:

Anyone having the problem of the IS continually engaged after taking a picture or switching the R6ii on?

You can hear it engaged for around 60 seconds before it disengages. On my old 5Dii it would be only a matter of a couple of seconds and the IS would disengage.

This seems like an unnecessary drain on the battery. I've tried two different IS lenses and they both have the same characteristic.

Any help much appreciated.

HI, This is one of the most frequently raised issues on this forum, as the stabiliser protocols on RF mount body/lens combinations are different from those on EF mount. I have no idea why and Canon frustratingly does not explain.

As to the two specific issues

Battery life must be impacted to some extent but maybe less than you might imagine. This YouTube video by Steve Perry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHd9K1aVJl0

is about Nikon Z mount but I believe the issues are similar.

He finds that battery life with VR on is about 5% less than with VR off, with newer Z mount lenses apparently having less energy consumption.

As to "wearing out" the stabiliser, I believe most IS systems use a type of voice coil motor which has no moving parts in contact  and does not wear out or fail in service unless there is some kind of fault.

I wish Canon would publish an information paper about this stuff, instead of just leaving new RF users to wonder what is going on.

Andrew

gipper51 Veteran Member • Posts: 5,901
Re: R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

ld_bl wrote:

This is normal on R system cameras from what I understand. The IS is on as long as the camera is active (not in standbye). Not sure why Canon has decided to do it this way now but it is what it is. Your only option would be to reduce the standbye timeout. Or turning the IS on and off manually.

I always just turn the camera off between shots to save battery anyway. But of course if you need to ready to shoot quickly that's not an option...

That's what I did.  I have my standby set to 5 seconds for LCD dimming, 5 more seconds it's off.  This will turn IS off after 10 seconds total. 
It is annoying though, and I wish Canon would offer the option to make IS behave like it does on DSLRs.

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OP timmie boy New Member • Posts: 19
Re: R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

Thank you for the info gipper.

OP timmie boy New Member • Posts: 19
Re: R6ii Image stabilisation on EF lenses, engaged for too long.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

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