Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS EF USM LENS

Angelica Jackson

I just got this lens yesterday and have been fooling around with it this morning; I realize there is probably a learning curve with the IS technology (never had one before). I'm having some issues with focus and I'm not sure if it is a problem with the lens function or me.
I was outside in bright sun taking pictures of some goldfinches in a tree, with the lens zoomed all the way out to 300. I took some with the IS enabled and allowed some time for the IS to settle before taking the picture (like the manual says to do), but the photos taken without the IS turned on actually look better. The settings on my Canon 350D were in sports mode, at 5.6 aperture and shutter 1/1000 for both shots.
The same focus problem happened when I was indoors taking a photo in natural light, with completely different settings on the camera. Any tips on getting the hang of this technology, or do I need to send it back to see if this one is defective?

davev

Angelica Jackson wrote:

I just got this lens yesterday and have been fooling around with it this morning; I realize there is probably a learning curve with the IS technology (never had one before). I'm having some issues with focus and I'm not sure if it is a problem with the lens function or me.
I was outside in bright sun taking pictures of some goldfinches in a tree, with the lens zoomed all the way out to 300. I took some with the IS enabled and allowed some time for the IS to settle before taking the picture (like the manual says to do), but the photos taken without the IS turned on actually look better. The settings on my Canon 350D were in sports mode, at 5.6 aperture and shutter 1/1000 for both shots.
The same focus problem happened when I was indoors taking a photo in natural light, with completely different settings on the camera. Any tips on getting the hang of this technology, or do I need to send it back to see if this one is defective?

Hi Angelica.
I don't normally ( almost never ) shot in sports mode, but if I understand it,
it moves the camera to ISO 400, and opens the aperture wide open. All of
that shout be fine for your shot.
Let me ask you this. Do you have the I.S. set on mode 1 or 2?
Mode 2 is for panning along with a moving object. I have mistakenly put it
in mode 2, thinking it was mode 1 (where it helps vert. and horz.).
The only other thing I can think of, is you're not waiting long enough before
you take the picture. I look through the viewfinder and wait till the image
settles down before taking the shot. i know the manual says 1/2 second.
I go till I need to, and the image is pretty darn still in the finder.

At 1/1000 of a second at 300mm, if you're fairly steady, you really don't
need the I.S. I have it on all the time while shooting, whether it's 1/30 or
1/4000 of a second shutter speed.

If you can, post the shots so we can see what's going on.

DoctorIt

davev wrote:

Hi Angelica.
I don't normally ( almost never ) shot in sports mode, but if I understand it,
it moves the camera to ISO 400, and opens the aperture wide open. All of
that shout be fine for your shot.

Blah, automatic modes give me the willies. Outside, wildlife, shoot Av.

Let me ask you this. Do you have the I.S. set on mode 1 or 2?

Dave, don't confuse the poor soul! The only modes this lens has are IS ON or OFF.

TristanP

Actually, looking at my 70-300, it has both IS modes. Were you shooting in portrait orientation? There are reports of softness when the lens is in portrait vs landscape between 200 and 300 mm. Canon may be looking into it.

DoctorIt

My bad, I was thinking of the older non-DO IS lens. That one is a 75-300, not 70-300 like the DO. I thought they were the same focal length, so without the distinguishing DO in there...

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0401/PMA/Canon/ef70300mmvs01.jpg

Well anyway, I know nothing about the newer 70-300 DO lens.

Angelica Jackson

Yes, I was using mode 1 for all the shots. As to the waiting for it to settle down, I did wait for that to happen but there did appear to be a tiny bit of residual oscillation---which is why I wasn't sure if it was me or the lens acting up. I did get some lovely photos of the cat when she obligingly stood still, so it occurred to me that perhaps it was just having trouble focusing on the quick little birdy movements. However, the indoor shot of an inanimate object showed the same problems so there went that theory.
I don't have very steady hands naturally so I was hoping to eliminate the tripod for some shots. I will try to post the photos tomorrow night. Thanks for the help so far.

davev

Angelica Jackson wrote:

Yes, I was using mode 1 for all the shots. As to the waiting for it to settle down, I did wait for that to happen but there did appear to be a tiny bit of residual oscillation---which is why I wasn't sure if it was me or the lens acting up. I did get some lovely photos of the cat when she obligingly stood still, so it occurred to me that perhaps it was just having trouble focusing on the quick little birdy movements. However, the indoor shot of an inanimate object showed the same problems so there went that theory.
I don't have very steady hands naturally so I was hoping to eliminate the tripod for some shots. I will try to post the photos tomorrow night. Thanks for the help so far.

BINGO.

When in sports mode, the camera uses AI servo for auto focus. That means
it is constantly trying to focus as if it was a moving object.
If you're taking a shot of a (more or less) non-moving object, go to a
different mode.

Erik. Both the 70-300is (non DO) and the 70-300is DO lens have modes 1 & 2.
The non-DO is the replacement for the 75-300is.

erich6

TristanP wrote:

Actually, looking at my 70-300, it has both IS modes. Were you shooting in portrait orientation? There are reports of softness when the lens is in portrait vs landscape between 200 and 300 mm. Canon may be looking into it.

I haven't seen any differences between the two landscape and portrait. Also, Bob Atkins states (http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/digital/rumors.html):

"I've also seen rumors that the image quality of the new EF70-300IS lens is worse in portrait mode (vertical) than in landscape mode (horizontal) when zoomed out. I checked mine, vertical, horizontal, autofocus, manual focus, upside down - all the same. I saw no difference in image quality at all and I was shooting resolution test targets at 300mm, which should show up even small differences in sharpness. "

Erich

erich6

davev wrote:

BINGO.

When in sports mode, the camera uses AI servo for auto focus. That means
it is constantly trying to focus as if it was a moving object.
If you're taking a shot of a (more or less) non-moving object, go to a
different mode.

That's what I thought when I first read this. Not sure how well the IS can do when in AI servo and Mode 1....

Angelica Jackson

Okay, I went back and checked the details on the indoor shots (they were different settings than the outdoor ones because I wanted to see what the macro did). So the blurry shot taken with the IS turned on did use the sports setting, although I did use a different mode for the others once I noticed it. So that was not a fair comparison for the indoor shot of an inanimate object. I'll try it again with a more careful setup.
Something interesting happened today, though. We went up to Tahoe and although I mostly used my other lens, I decided to try the 70-300 again. I got some great shots of a Stellar's jay using the IS, and the interesting thing was that it sounded completely different.
When I was using it the other day in IS mode, the lens made a very loud noise. But since I'd seen this complaint in many reviews of the lens before I bought it, I just thought, "Wow, that is loud." and kept working with it. This was noticably quieter operation today, plus better performance, so I'm not sure what the difference was. I highly doubt I suddenly got the hang of it in my sleep! I'll keep trying it to see which is the more common level of loudness.

wxwax

BTDT with AI servo.

Also, if you're shooting at 1/1000 with a 300mm lens, you really don't need to use IS, unless your hands are shaking violently.