Thank you guys, LOVE my 70-200!!!--and question

All of you recommended 70-200 f/4 L IS for me. After my first neurotic experience with it (hearing IS motor work and worrying like an idiot it is faulty) I now report it is PERFECT and I just love images. You guys really know your stuff and what I appreciate is that you listen well and ask so many questions before recommending anything. I just love this lens! I spent some time with it again yesterday and learned to appreciate it's sharpness and beautiful images it takes.


Question: There is not much in terms of manual for a newbie included with the lens. How do I know when to use what setting on the lens? Is there anywhere any type of "Cliff notes"?


I noticed when I played with the lens, that it does make a bit of a difference in the focusing (speed, although it is a laughable matter, this sucker is fast), depending how I set the stuff on the lens. But honestly I do not know what I am influencing much and I would like to understand it. Any pointers?


Any help would be greatly appreciated. Again, thanks for all your great advice, you are the best![Y]

Auto Focusing should be more of a difference of lighting conditions, and how the image lines up with the autofocus points.


Manual focusing is all of you [:)]


The depth of the focus will depend on distance and aperture settings, which depend on your position and the camera setting, which controls the aperture of the lens.


There's not much to control the lense with the exception of IS.


Auto Focus/Manual focus should be pretty self explanatory. Unless your camera is in AI servo mode, you can always override the initial autofocus with the focus ring.


Image Stabilization on/off. Image stabilization helps the lens hold steady optically. It's very visible through the viewfinder, if you turn it on or off. It's really handy, though it can have a startup jump to position that may mean you want it off if you're taking quick shots and have plenty of light for fast exposures anyway.


Mode 1 is image stabilization for stationary shooting. You press the camera picture taking button down halfway to engage the image stabiliztion and autofocus. When you've got what you want squeeze.


mode 2 is for panning, following a moving object. You press the button down (and probably have AI servo auto focus on), and squeeze when you want your shots.


That's really all there is to it, in terms of lens controls, I think.

The focus limiter switch is useful if you're shooting longer distances in lower light - if focus needs to hunt around, it won't hunt around in the 1.2m-3m range, only in the 3m and longer range. You can still manual focus to the shorter range, but AF just won't go there. I'd suggest shooting in a familiar environment with this switch set to 3m sometime, so you learn to recognize the behavior if the switch ever gets bumped.


The two IS modes change how the IS unit behaves: mode 1 is for times when you're static, mode 2 is for times when you're panning/following the action. Mode 1 stabilizes two axes, mode 2 doesn't stabilize the axis of panning. Using mode 1 when panning usually causes a viewfinder that tries to lock to one position and "un-pans" you until it surrenders to reality.


You may want to disable IS when working on a tripod for longer battery life, but the lens is reportedly tripod-sensing and it may help clean up mirror slap and other vibrations.

This is great explanation, thanks guys, as always[Y]