EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS Question

IanH

IanH

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Ian Hathaway
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My partner (bless her) has heard me banging on about the above lens and has bought me a used one. :love::love:
Firstly, how do I check its OK, I've checked the glass and it seems fine, I ve never used this lens before so I'm very green.
It has no instructions so I'm a bit confused with the IS mode 1 or 2 switch and the 1.4m/2.5m switch.
My apologies for bein ignorant:shrug::shrug:

Cheers
Ian..
 
Wish my Mrs would buy me one!!! :bang:

I'm assuming it's the same as my 100-400, so the IS switch is 1 for full IS, 2 for partial IS, which you use when you're panning horizontally, ie motor racing.

The 1.4m/2.5m switch sets the minimum focus length to infinity... stops the lens searching lower than it needs to. i.e set it to 2.5m and it will only focus from 2.5m away from you to infinity....

I hope that's all right, but I'm sure someone will be along to correct me if not! Either way, that's a great present! :D
 
First off- congratulations - this is one superb lens. :clap:

The best way to check it's OK is to use it, but if the AF is working OK you'll soon know when you couple it to the camera and half press the shutter button.

If the IS working, again - you should be able to tell. There's a slight noise and you can feel a sort of nudge when it kicks in. You'll also see the image steady up appreciably in the viewfinder.

IS Mode 1 is for all normal photography and you'd usually use it in that mode

IS Mode 2 is for panning shots where the system just eliminates up and down movement of the camera.

The two focus limiter ranges are simple enough...

1.4 metres to infinty is the full focus range of the lens.

2.5 metres to infinity is for when your subject isn't any closer than 2.5 metres, which reduces any hunting, and makes the AF system quicker. FWIW I have this lens and I've never moved the IS Mode switch off Mode 1 anyway.

Hope that helps.:)
 
Thanks guys.
I do feel like I've just passed my driving test and been given an Aston Martin:eek::eek:
I've been able to have a little play today ( to make sure it works ie af,zoom, is, etc but now its gotta go away till xmas.
I can't wait:):)
Thanks for the info, I'm on such a learning curve and it's murder down at the bottom:shrug::shrug::shrug:

Ian..
 
That's torture!! Looks like she's having the last laugh after all :D
 
What a lens to be bought, jealous! Going for the F4 non IS vers myself and even that is at the top of my budget.
 
Congrats - very nice lens!(y)

Right cruel of her to make you wait till Christmas:LOL::rules:
 
Weggy said:
That's torture!! Looks like she's having the last laugh after all :D
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Mikharper said:
What a lens to be bought, jealous! Going for the F4 non IS vers myself and even that is at the top of my budget.
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I don't mind waiting Weggy, Roll on Xmas I've got a 17-85 IS to open too:D:D:D

It's way over my budget too Mik, She got it from the States, well cheap over there at the minute due to the £. ;);)
 
Hi Kerioak, and welcome !!
Have we met before someplace..?

OK, a question - why ?
What difference does IS make when a lens is on a tripod ?
I have an IS lens, have not used it on a tripod, and can't understand why it will give an out of focus image ??
 
There was some problems with the early IS lenses on tripods particularly the 100-400. The IS was constantly trying to stabilise a stabilsed image. Dumb electronics.

Canon claim to have cured this some time ago. I use my 100-400 on a tripod and never had any problems with the IS, but then I tend to use the tripod as rest, with the head unlocked, rather than a solid fixed platform.

However this being a secondhand lens you don't know how old it is. Simple test. Do a side by side comparison, one shot on the tripod IS off the other on. With a bit of luck you'll see no difference.

Nice lens.. Enjoy Christmas
 
OK. I just consulted the handbook for my 70-200 2.8L IS.

Generation 1 of Canon IS wasn't recommended on a tripod at all.

Geeration 2 IS, which will be all newer lenses, can be used on a tripod with the following provisos.

1. It should not be used on a tripod with long time exposures (on 'B' setting) which may result in IS errors.

2. All the instructions say on the subject of using the lens on a tripod with the head locked, and hands off the camera, is that IS should be turned off to conserve battery power, so presumably no harm will come from using IS, but obviously it would be pretty useless with a locked head.

3. It goes on to say that IS can be used as normal when using a monopod.

Pretty well all my shots are taken with the camera tripod mounted on a gimbal head but with one hand on the camera and one on the lens, with IS enabled, and I've never experienced any problems with any of my IS lenses, but using the tripod and head in that fashion is very similar to using a monopod anyway, in that the IS system is still detecting movement through your hands.

Hope that helps. :)
 
It sort of does - I have never understood why one would want to switch it off, unless battery power was a problem - it reduces shake, so if there is non, it shouldn't be working, or is that too simple ?
The focusing bit is clear to me - to stop too much hunting in low light - a sort of apology for slightly hijacking the thread - sorry IanH !
 
steveinspain said:
It sort of does - I have never understood why one would want to switch it off, unless battery power was a problem - it reduces shake, so if there is non, it shouldn't be working, or is that too simple ?
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I'm no expert on this, but my understanding is that IS needs to able to detect some movement to work, and when it cant, damage can be caused to the system as it still tries to work. This was the situation with Gen 1 IS which seems to have been remedied with Gen 2 IS.
 
On another, still IS related, note... was chatting with a press tog on Saturday who mentioned that he didnt think an IS lens worked well with an extender... any truth in this?

He had a 70-200 with a 1.4x attached....
 
Weggy said:
On another, still IS related, note... was chatting with a press tog on Saturday who mentioned that he didnt think an IS lens worked well with an extender... any truth in this?

He had a 70-200 with a 1.4x attached....
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I'd have to say that's rhubarb unless he has some problem peculiar to his lens or converter. IS works equally well with my 70-200 2.8L IS, with the 1.4X TC and the 2X TC - no different in fact to not using an extender at all.

Mind you, the lens draws it's power from the camera, so it only needs a dirty connection on the converter contact I suppose?
 
I had a feeling it was 'rhubarb' but didnt feel I was in a position to say that to him, with him being a pro and me and Kelack being the amateurs...!

The kit he had did look well used but I couldnt notice if it was IS or not
 
I have to beg to differ on the rhubarb theory....sorry.

The IS is attempting to correct the movement of the image on the sensor caused by small angular changes at the front end of the lens. If a t/c is being used then the correction factor applied by the IS will be incorrect by the same factor as the T/C's magnification.

The IS may still be beneficial but could make things worse in certain circumstances.

Bob

PS...this is based on some technical bumf I read which detailed the workings of IS in a lens based system as opposed to a body based system
 
Well my response wasn't based on technical bumf, it was based on everyday experience of using both converters with all my IS lenses. Regardless of which lens and which converter combo I use, the steadying effect of the IS can clearly be seen in the viewfinder as the IS system kicks in.

I might be tempted to read the technical bumf if and when I get a problem. ;)
 
Canon Bob said:
I have to beg to differ on the rhubarb theory....sorry.

The IS is attempting to correct the movement of the image on the sensor caused by small angular changes at the front end of the lens. If a t/c is being used then the correction factor applied by the IS will be incorrect by the same factor as the T/C's magnification.
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Canons lenses don't use the sensor at all for stabilisation, here's a Canon article to clear it up.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/infobank/lenses/image_stabilisation.do

A lot of early lenses relied on feedback from the sensor but canons do it all 'In-House'
 
CScottMcQueen said:
Canons lenses don't use the sensor at all for stabilisation, here's a Canon article to clear it up.
Click to expand...


Sorry, it was badly worded in my post. I was trying to imply that the IS was trying to CORRECT the image on the sensor...ie, keep the image position fixed.....and had not intended to imply that it was USING the sensor for this.

Bob
 
But in this case wouldn't the IS be correcting the image projected onto the teleconverter rather than direct to the sensor? Then all the teleconvertor does is project the already stabilised image.

*boggle*
 
Back again....I've had time to do a bit of surfing research.

Modern bodies and the 1.4xII and 2xII do support IS whereas the earlier bodies and version 1 extenders didn't.....sorry if I caused confusion with my outdated information. :(:(
(Modern bodies would seem to include anything 300D and later)
As the info came from Canon then it doesn't state whether Kenko and Sigma T/C's will allow correct functionality but I suspect they might.

Bob
 
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