Photography Forum | canon 70-200 f4.0 L USM (NO IS)

Hi
Does anyone have any experience with this lens - without IS? It seems to get good reviews for the cost but I wonder about IS. That version seems to be twice the price - is it worth it? I am not considering other brands by comparison. Thanks
Brian

hello brian i have this lens and use it on a canon 450d and 5d it covers most situations around the two
sites i visit( leeds and manchester)i find the colour and sharpness to be of a very high quality and the build is first class
i dont miss the is feature at all .on the 450d the 200mm end becomes a 320 mm and on bright days have no problems maintaining shutterspeeds of around 1/640 @ f8 (easily hand holdable). if the weather
becomes dull i find both my cameras still produce files of very good quality up to 400 asa. i do have the canon 70-300 is lens that rareley finds its way into my bag just my two pennerth but my experience with is lenses as not been good

Thanks bluechalk, very helpful especially as you are using a similar camera to myself and not a top end job. Much appreciated

Think bluechalk talks a lot of sense there, I don't bother using the VR (IS) feature at all on my lens for plane shots as it just sucks up battery life and for planes I personally think it's next to useless.

Sorry if I'm teaching you what you already know but IS/VR etc is there only to help with camera shake and not freeze motion, in other words the system helps you to hold the camera steady at low speeds or speeds too low generally accepted for a particular lens.

As a rule of thumb, the minimum speed you should use is the focal length of the lens, so when shooting at 200mm for example you should be using 1/250 - but you also need to factor in the sensor multiplier (if applicable), which with Canon is 1.6x. As bluechalk mentions above your 200mm then becomes 320mm so for stationary subjects you need 1/350 as a minimum but when taking shots of planes on the move you need to consider that as well so your speed will need to go up.

Below is something regarding the Nikon system, it's not acknowledged by Nikon so can't be confirmed but I think it makes sense and the reason why I personally believe you don't need these systems to shoot moving vehicles like planes etc.
Again I agree with bluechalk when he mentions a 1/640 speed, I always aim for speeds in this area and I don't have any major problems with the stabilisation system off.

http://www.bythom.com/nikon-vr.htm

Whichever lens you choose Brian, good luck with it.

Thanks Dad - it does make a lot of sense and equally equates to Canon. As you will know, the IS version of the lens is quite a bit more expensive but it was a thought that if the technology is available, it may be wise to take advantage of it. Still food for thought and thanks again

From what it says (I be a Nikon user so bear with me) it is a decent lens.

f4 is one stop up from f2.8 so if it can hold f4 throughout the range that's not a bad bit of glass. L to Canon is what ED is to Nikon, and Nikon's 70-200 f2.8 was a legendary lens for spotters.

Image stabilisation is great to have but isn't vital. Plenty of people took great pictures before it was even thought of so don't get hung up on that.

It does seem to get good reviews and my experience(s) with some other independent makers has not always been good over the years so its going to get bought I think. Thanks to all who responded

Buy it,you wont regret it,love mine and cant ever see myself selling it.
Tango

Lens is in the post as they say! Thanks for the votes of confidence!

Nice one Brian am sure it will be a great buy for you.

Remember you can always provide a cheaper solution for IS by getting a tripod or monopod. I use a support with mine and it's been well worth it.