Quote Originally Posted by Dumien


hem...yes, but I'm seeing it from the consumer side, not the marketing side... I mean, if i'm a beginner i'll go for the lens with IS cause i think it'll improve my photography...i believe this is the first step, THEN marketing sees that consumers want the IS and gives it to them


maybe i'm just not suited for econ...haha
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<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]You could also say that beginners go for sensors with higher megapixels counts because they think they'll take sharper pictures. IS may be a good gimmick to get beginners interested in products but there are lots of other gimmicks that do the same thing. That doesn't mean that they are all dubious attempts to get the consumer to spend more money or without value. IS is a powerful tool and like any other too it has limitations. The fact is though that I can take a candid portrait of my son with my 70-200 f/2.8 IS on my 50D at 1/100 and not concern myself with camera shake. The rule of thumb would dictate that I would need a shutter speed of 1/360. That's an incredible difference. Assuming a full 3 stop gain in hand-holdability I could technically shoot with that same set-up at 1/45. I would be fairly comfortable saying that would be extremely difficult without IS.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]The last time I shot sports (minor league baseball from the stands) it was a bright sunny day and I really wanted to stop the dramatic action so I turned off my IS on my 100-400L because I was shooting at speeds of 1/1000 or more but with that same lens if I'm trying to shoot a bird on a feeder I always have it on because I may not be able to obtain shutter speeds of over 1/250 without using ISOs over 1600. When I am shooting at 400mm (640mm on 1.6X) I can easily shoot at 1/250 and have a sharp image. Again, I would dare say that would be extremely difficult without IS.