Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, Which One?

[Hippo_MC]

Hello All,

New to the forum and relatively new to photography. Looking to purchase a Canon 70-200mm f4 lens and was wondering whether it was worth paying the extra for the IS version?

Going to be use the lens out and about trying to get candid shots of people and scenic shots. Will the IS neagte the need for a tripod?

Apologies if this a daft/too generic a question :bonk:, but would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

 

[pete.rush]

Indoor or outdoor photography? and welcome to the forum

The IS will help for stationary subjects when the light conditions start to fall of. The 70-200mm f4 IS system is supposed to give the equivalent of 4 f-stops handheld and supposed to be the sharpest of the 4 models if you believe the reviews. Very happy with the f4 non IS version and the f2.8 IS versions I own.

Depends if you want to pay the £400 difference

 

[HoppyUK]

Welcome to TP

Not a daft question at all, but it has been asked before Run a search.

You will not get a consensus on this, but I'll give my own view. I have the IS version and am happy to pay for it. I think IS/VR etc is one of the single most important innovations ever. It makes a fantastic difference. I hardly ever use a tripod to steady the camera now, I use one because it holds the camera in position for me when I can't do that, for whatever reason, but rarely because of long shutter speeds.

There are some situations where IS is less beneficial, but I would say that camera shake never goes away, it is just reduced to acceptable levels. Modern digital sensors have elevated levels of sharpness to such a high point that, if you want to wring maximum definition out of something like a 50D or 7D, you need to use faster shutter speeds than ever before.