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Action Photography IS on or off?

bhundtbhundt Registered Users Posts: 122 Major grins
edited March 23, 2011 in Technique
I shoot lots of sports photography (mostly hockey, football & wrestling) and birds in flight. I own both IS and non IS lenses. I've gotten mixed results when I hand hold and shoot with IS on. I've seen arguments for and against using IS in these situations. What's your opinion? I'm also starting to shop for a Canon 70-200 2.8 and I'm not sure I need to spend the extra cash for the IS version.
Thanks!

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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited March 22, 2011
    I do use IS for panning in switch position 2, especially if my shutter speed will be below 1/100th or thereabouts.

    For shutter speeds above 1/500th I think it is superfluous.thumb.gif


    Try it yourself, and see what works best for you. Digital Pixels are cheap, right?:photo

    IS is more important for "stationary" hand held lenses, than for panning as you alluded to. You will get folks who swear you do not need IS for sport shooting, and those who swear by it. Neither group is 100% right ( My opinion only )

    All of my lenses are IS if IS is offered. I think it is well worth the price. You can never have too steady a lens. If all your shooting is done from a tripod, then IS is useless, and unnecessary.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

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    QarikQarik Registered Users Posts: 4,959 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    not a sport shooter but IS is typically used for slow shutter speeds. sports = fast shutter speeds. I wouldn't think you would need it at all. that said..it's good to have on a lens anyway.
    D700, D600
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited March 22, 2011
    Even at 1/4000th of a second shutter speed, the shutter is actually open as a slit somewhere in front of the sensor for almost 1/250th of a second or so. The very brief shutter speed is because the shutter is not fully open but only a narrow slit passing across the sensor. That travel across the sensor takes time - about 1/250th second.

    So IS potentially can help stabilize a lens better than without IS, even at higher shutter speeds. More theoretical than real world, but even at high shutter speeds the shutter aperture never fully closes faster than about 1/250th of second. (This is true of DSLRs with focal plane shutters, but not true with internal iris shutters in medium format cameras.)

    Sports shooters who do not like IS, usually complain that it takes longer for AF to lock if the lens is IS enabled, and the IS has to spool up, so to speak.

    But you can always turn IS off when not needed, on an IS lens. It is much more difficult to enable IS on a non-IS lens..........
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

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    bhundtbhundt Registered Users Posts: 122 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    I can agree with the statement that AF has trouble locking when the lens is IS enabled. I was out shooting a couple of eagles in flight a couple days ago while using a Canon 100-400mm with IS enabled and was having a heck of a time locking in with AF. I turned off IS and had better results. Although my best results were probably with IS and AF both turned off, or maybe I just need to have the lens checked out.
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited March 22, 2011
    I found micro adjusting the AF in my 7D with my 100-400 IS L made a significant improvement in the focusing accuracy.

    I like using my 7D with 3 AF point grouping selected for wildlife shooting - it really helps the camera grab on to something that is moving quickly - like here

    1092323082_uUk2K-XL.jpg
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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    bhundtbhundt Registered Users Posts: 122 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2011
    How do you micro adjust the AF?
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited March 23, 2011
    Start here

    You do not have to use a tree though, there are numerous commercial devices, and on line images to print for focus targets.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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    kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited March 23, 2011
    pathfinder wrote: »
    [...] Even at 1/4000th of a second shutter speed, the shutter is actually open as a slit somewhere in front of the sensor for almost 1/250th of a second or so. [...]
    That's a very interesting observation, Jim. Using your example, any given row of pixels will see 1/4000s, but the overall image sees 1/250s. I'm trying to get my head around what kind of distortion that could produce across the overall image. I guess there could be a registration skew from top to bottom of the rows of the image. But can one actually see that kind of distortion?
    Moderator of Landscapes forum
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    bhundtbhundt Registered Users Posts: 122 Major grins
    edited March 23, 2011
    Found a great article about micro adjusting. http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html That's what I love about photography. You learn something new everyday.
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