Quote Originally Posted by neuroanatomist


Quote Originally Posted by scalesusa


F:/2.8 is generally too slow for indoors. If you are using a crop camera, large aperture prime is best.


I think this depends on the subject. An f/2.8 lens with a 3-stop image stabilizer allows you to shoot at shutter speeds you'd need f/1.0 to achieve on a non-IS lens. Canon doesn't currently make a prime with an aperture larger than f/1.2. As long as the subject is immobile (I don't mean people posing - I mean static exhibits like art and sculpture, architecture, etc., and theOP is going to a museum), you'll be better off with f/2.8 + IS. Certainly, if you are shooting people or anything else with the ability to move, IS will not help and in that case, a large aperture prime is best. (That's one reason the 35mm f/1.4L is on my wish list.)
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Also: the 50 1.8 at 1.8 isn't tack sharp--and that's a tricky DOF, too. You almost need to use that lens at 2.0 or 2.8 for sharpness if you're shooting objects at some distance.


Also: ya'll might be asking for better quality images than I'm achieving, but I've taken tons of photos in a dim chapel of moving subjects with the 24-70 2.8, which has no IS, and with a Rebel XSI, which has only the unusable ISO 1600 (and so I use 800), hand held. Not all of them are keepers, but many turn out beautifully. I would think the IS would be a huge advantage in the case of still objects in dim light. When I've used the 50 1.4 in the same conditions, again, I've had to stop down a bit to avoid soft images or blurriness.