IS on or off when on Tripod for 300 f2.8?

[CCRII]

The manual says off, but I read something from a famous photographer that say not to turn it off. Somehow though I think it being on has resulted in some blurred photos I took recently of a roosting owl on a tripod with the IS on. Also I noticed that when in the car and have the lens mounted on the Passenger seat, or through the sun roof resting on the rims, I get blurred photos. This is a bit weird because the shutters speeds are 1/750 - 1/1000 sec. at f/8. Could this be the reason for the slightly blurred photos?

Thanks!

[Markulous]

Also I noticed that when in the car and have the lens mounted on the Passenger seat, or through the sun roof resting on the rims, I get blurred photos.

Slow down to 70 mph and maybe motion blur will disappear! |=)|

Have to say that if lens is firmly on tripod then IS has got to be a favourite for causing the probs. Must admit that I switch IS off on my 300mm F4 and 100-400mm when fixed to tripod and only switch it on when I'm resting it and panning/following action

[mike from ebbw]

A mate of mine was having problems with blurred pics even in sunshine.He had the IS switched on his 100-400.After switching it off his pics saw a vast improvement.

[Dave Hutton]

The manual says off, but I read something from a famous photographer that say not to turn it off. Somehow though I think it being on has resulted in some blurred photos I took recently of a roosting owl on a tripod with the IS on. Also I noticed that when in the car and have the lens mounted on the Passenger seat, or through the sun roof resting on the rims, I get blurred photos. This is a bit weird because the shutters speeds are 1/750 - 1/1000 sec. at f/8. Could this be the reason for the slightly blurred photos?

Thanks!

Had the same problem myself & after consulting some of the other more knowledgeable photographers around was told too switch it off unless you are panning etc on the subject

Cheers

Dave

[postcardcv]

I'm not sure about the 300 f2.8 but I leave the IS on my 500 f4 on when using it one a tripod. The best bet is to read the book and see what it recommends. The older IS system as used in the 100-400 and the 300 f4 should be switched off when using a tripod, but I didn't think this was the case with any of the big primes.

[Ragna]

I also leave the IS switched on on the 500 f4 and i am fairly sure the IS is the same on the 300 f2.8. I think the manual says that the lens senses when its on a tripod.

[CCRII]

I'm not sure about the 300 f2.8 but I leave the IS on my 500 f4 on when using it one a tripod. The best bet is to read the book and see what it recommends. The older IS system as used in the 100-400 and the 300 f4 should be switched off when using a tripod, but I didn't think this was the case with any of the big primes.

Yeah as I mentioned in my first post it says to turn it off when the lens is tripod mounted. I think the 500 f/4 has the IS that works with a tripod. Although I was told by an expert photographer who has been using canon since the early 80s that it should be left on no matter what the manual says.

[a.dancy]

Why don't you upload a picyure or two of the roosting owl. indicate distance and let us know how you focused and provide other exif data.

[CCRII]

Why don't you upload a picyure or two of the roosting owl. indicate distance and let us know how you focused and provide other exif data.

What is the best way to extract and share the exif info?

Thanks.

[Markulous]

What is the best way to extract and share the exif info?

With Photoshop, when you've resized an image, you "Save As" rather than "Save for Web" the EXIF data will remain with the pic

[CCRII]

With Photoshop, when you've resized an image, you "Save As" rather than "Save for Web" the EXIF data will remain with the pic

So you'll be able to download the pic to your desktop and then view the exif?

Thanks.

[CCRII]

I read my manual a little more carefully and it actually says that you do not need to turn IS off and that there is a tripod sensing switch that will automatically disable the IS but that this will cost you 20% more of your battery which is why they recommend that you turn it off manually if you have the lens tripod mounted. I wonder if that tripod sensing switch is not work to the best of its ability.

[CCRII]

Okay here is one. Note I want to be able to print my pictures at 100% of my cameras capabilities in this case 9.7 x 14.6 or 8.5 x 11 since I do not believe they make paper sizes in the native 100% uncropped image size.

This image has only had the resolution lowered to 72 dpi and the image size changed to meet the 800x800 bf rule.

Also this was on a tripod and I used the timer mode for the shutter release button.

Im not sure this is so noticeable looking at this image at 800x800 but if you look at the birds breast it is blurred and slightly out of focus which is weird because I shot at f8. The head is in focus.

Okay another is this Merlin taken with the 2x tc EF II. I am including the uncropped shot and a cropped version to show the blurriness I am talking about when viewing the image at 100% in photoshop. This shot was taken with the lens resting against the rim of my sunroof.

[CCRII]

Here is another example of a peregrine. This was again resting on the rim of the sun roof. The car engine is completely off in all of these examples by the way. Note the bird takes up a pretty good portion of the native image resolution and yet still blurred.

[CCRII]

Another owl shot. Mounted on tripod and timer set for shutter.

[CCRII]

Slow down to 70 mph and maybe motion blur will disappear! |=)|

Have to say that if lens is firmly on tripod then IS has got to be a favourite for causing the probs. Must admit that I switch IS off on my 300mm F4 and 100-400mm when fixed to tripod and only switch it on when I'm resting it and panning/following action

Hey! You went through the trouble of converting KM to MPH. I am touched! :-O ;)

[a.dancy]

Difficult to say without seeing full size image. However you are going to get image degradation on the larger crops. I wonder if you might also have a bit of atmospheric distortion. As for the owl shots you have some stray light coming in since you are photographing,it seems, with bright light in front of you. I have to say the pics are not as bad as I expected they might have been. A more expert eye might be able to help here. However as with the owls you have taken shots at 1/10th sec and 1/125th sec shutter speeds. I imagine mirror slap is going to affect sharpness at around 1/10th sec and even at 1/125th sec there is never going to be a guarantee of sharpness. Gentle breezes going through the most delicate feathers,slight but undetectable movement of a bird's body, slight sway of the branches, slight movement of the rig will all play a part in images being a bit soft.


You may wish to try mirror lock-up when you have incredibly slow shutter speeds and you may need to firm your rig up with weights (bean bags) by putting them over the camera and lens to increase their combined mass and help keep the tripod a tad more rigid. I have had people laugh at me when I have done this but I had the last laugh with getting sharper pics with inferior equipment to theirs! but that's just my ego creeping in3:-)

[CCRII]

Difficult say without seeing full size image. However you are going to get image degradation on the larger crops. I wonder if you might also have a bit of atmospheric distortion. As for the owl shots you have some stray light coming in since you are photographing , it seems, with bright light in front of you. I have to say the pics are not as bad as I expected they might have been. A more expert eye might be able to help here.

Aye, good points. I would be happy to email you the full size pics if you want to give me your email address. It is much more noticeable in the originals. Yeah the owl I knew was going to be a bit weird because of the light behind it but it was a once in a life time shot since these owls are incredibly hard to find. Although I have just come to find out that this particular owl returns to the same roost, so maybe I will try again earlier in the day when the sun is facing the owl. One thing that was a tad annoying about that owl is that it was in a tangle of vines which had many branches and twigs in front of the owl it was really difficult to find an opening.

Thanks.

[a.dancy]

Sent!

[spike38]

I'm sure that i read somewhere that the lens is tripod sensing, so if it detects that its attached to a tripod it turns itself off. Having Said that Mines on all the time as i forget to turn it off!