hello, i just bought my first L series lens, the 100-400mm but i am a bit disapointed about the IS sistem which is garbage.i also have the 70-300mm IS and the IS works amazing,i know is not the same IS but still......i mean i can see it working (i can hear it also -it is clicking and humming for a while)but the amount of correction is neglijible.is my lens broken or this is how it works?
thank you
Originally Posted by adrian mandea
I have never had a complaint about mine. It should give you about 2 stops below your normal hand held threshold. I've gotten good results @ 1/80 of second with mine zoomed all the way which is just over 2 stops slower than the 1/focal length rule of thumb.
thank you for the fast reply ,i think is something wrong with mine because it doesn;t work as i was hoping.the 70-300mm IS beats it hands down IS-wise
1) The 70-300mm has a newer, 3-stop IS system, compared to the 2-stops of the 100-400mm.
2) The 70-300mm is lighter.
3) At maximum zoom, the 100-400mm has a 33% longer focal length.
All of that means the IS on the 70-300mm will be relatively more effective than on the 100-400mm, especially at maximum zoom. But, you can certainly have the 100-400 checked out, just in case...
Yeah, the IS works but just not as well as the newer version of IS. I have the 100-400 and am VERY pleased with it. Did you hear that www.canonrumors.com has something saying they THINK the 100-400mm has been discontinued... hmm... maybe a new version or a different lens that covers a very similar focal length? Can't wait to see! in the meantime, I love my 100-400! Especially at the zoo!!!
thank you all for finding the time to answer this,is just like i said, the IS works but is not so good.i have to get used to it or sell it...
ok guys, new development in the IS story....i did one test because i am still not satisfied with this lens.so here goes:
canon 40D ,canon 100-400mm IS iso 100 f8 (don't know if it is important ) ,i set them on the table to be perfectly still (don't have a good tripod so this is much better) and using the wire remote I began to focus on some things in the house WITH the IS ON in position 1 .(all 9 focus points were selected)Looking thru the viewfinder but being carefull not to touch the body I can clearily see how for 3-4 seconds the image shifts from left to right slowly and then stops.I did the same test at 2m and 7-8 m ,the same thing happened.Is this normal?can someone do the same test (maybe with a similar body)and post the results?
thank you very much
Not a good test of IS. The point of IS is that it's designed to stabilize a moving camera. The IS in the EF 100-400mm is tripod-sensing, meaning if the camera is very still (as it would be on a good tripod, or sitting on your table), the lens actually turns the IS system OFF.
What you want to do to test IS is take a picture of something with IS off at a shutter speed which you can (barely) hand-hold the lens, e.g. at 400mm and 1/500s, and take a picture. Then, adjust your ISO setting so your shutter speed is 2 stops slower (1/125s in this example) and take another picture - it should be significantly blurry. Then, turn IS on and take the same picture. If it's as sharp (or nearly so) as the picture at 1/500s, then your IS is working as it should.
thank you very much for the tip,i'll do that .i know the IS is not supposed to work in this case that's why I think is not working well.my lens was made in 2006 so maybe it is an old tipe of IS, i don't know.it's true that the weight factor counts a lot in this case, the lens is HEAVY,is not fair to compare it to the 70-300mm IS which is very light and easy to use, but I still think the lens can do better.
thank you all for the advices
adrian mandea
I do believe you are wrong here, this early system isn't actually tripod sensing, though most of the newer ones are. According to the manual included with the 100-400, shooting on a tripod with the IS system engaged can "introduce errors". I totally agree with your recommended test, just thought I would clear this up.
Jordan
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