Turning off the IS

Photodiva

Photodiva

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Carol
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Hi. I read somewhere that by turning off the IS on your lens you somehow enable the autofocus to work quicker or more efficiently. Does anyone know if this is true? I haven't had an opportunity to try it out for myself yet, but something makes me wonder if this is just nonsense.
 
I'm not sure about that but I have read many times that it reduces your battery life less.
 
bigrob said:
I'm not sure about that but I have read many times that it reduces your battery life less.
Click to expand...

Battery life hasn't really been an issue up until this really cold spell - I can shoot 16gb+ of images on one battery. Its the cold that has drained them! Just lately I've had to swap batteries in the second half. Perhaps I'll try it and see if it makes a difference to my battery.
 
Hi Carol, if shooting sports where a fairly high shutter speed is required, ie over 1/500th IS is a waste of time and money except for the possibility of horizontal panning shots

Bear in mind that while trying to AF and capture quick moving subjects the IS can take about a second until the Gyros stop spinning, if you fire the shutter during this time there is a chance the spinning gyros can throw the AF out as there is internal movement within the lens.

Ive never seen the need to use IS unless im shooting long lenses hand held on static subjects or at very low shutter speeds of 1/60th or less

For me and what i shoot (Rugby and other field sports) IS is just an expensive folly.
 
Photodiva said:
Hi. I read somewhere that by turning off the IS on your lens you somehow enable the autofocus to work quicker or more efficiently. Does anyone know if this is true?
Click to expand...

I always looked at it the opposite way...My lens have IS and its nearly always off.. Howeverv I do turn it on now and then for static shots.. crowd shots in dark places under floodlights.. or manager shots in dark dugouts under floodlights... if lighting is bad..

On a canon lens.. the 300mm or 400mm I can hear the IS kicking in and for me it is notably slower to af and thus less responsive..

Some things only sports shooters can tell.. with years of shooting sport and requiering fast AF its more noticable for me.... example i can tell having an extender on slightly slows the AF but its so slight non sports shooters dont notice...

I absoloutly definitely never use IS for actual fast moving sport as its slower to AF as far as I am concerned...
 
Right, then. I'll remember to check to turn it off. I bought my lens before I got so involved in sports shooting, and I figured the high ss would probably render IS a bit unnecessary for things like football. Next game is Saturday. We'll see. Thanks for the tips.
 
Carol, I shoot Sony and I always turn off Steady Shot when shooting football. The odd time I forget to to turn it off I do get a higher percentage of shots out of focus.
 
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