> Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 01:51:47 -0300
> From: "Luiz F. Coimbra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: re: technology IS [v04.n253/3]
> Message: 3
>
> Hello folks
>
> >Tuan wrote:
>
> <<one area where canon has still a lead is stabilized lenses. the importance
> of that innovation seems to have been overlooked. you gain 2 shutter speeds.
> this is very significant, when you think whayou pay in terms of price,
> weight, and bulk, for a f2.8 lens as opposed to a f4 lens.>>
>
> IMHO, IS is not such a thing. Just think about it a little. Imagine
> you're taking pictures of birds in flight with your nice (and a bit soft)
> 300mm f/4L IS (maybe with the TC1.4 attached, yeah, this makes me envious).
>
Makes me envious too -- this past weekend my fiancee' and I were
up at Tule and Lower Klamath Nat'l Wildlife Refuges. I'm slowly
easing the truck over rough dirt roads in the fields, and she's
shooting hand-held out the window with the 300/4 IS and 1.4x TC.
Got most of the slides back already, and she got _sharp_ results
(it is NOT a "soft" lens) at 1/250s no problem (shooting E200
and PKL).
Make no mistake (like Tuan did) -- IS does one thing and one
thing only -- it allows you to handhold a lens at slower shutter
speeds. If you need shallower depth of field, or a certain (high)
shutter speed to freeze action with a given ISO film, it is no
substitute for a faster lens.
BUT, it does have wonderful applications, and it WORKS.
Canon has a 28-135 zoom lens with IS. What a *great* travel
lens! Think of all those places where you're not allowed to
use tripods (interiors of cathedrals, etc.) and being able
to hand-hold at 1/8s (at the 28mm end). Or being able to
stop down a couple stops to get more DOF and better sharpness
(if the light levels said 1/30s at f3.5, you could actually
get a *sharper* result by shooting at 1/8s and f7 -- more DOF
and better optical performance).
I certainly hope Nikon comes out with VR (and not just in
macro lenses, like someone posted about a patent disclosure).
Regards,
Chris
--
Once I lay without moving for days until, \ Christopher Somers
mistaking me for driftwood, birds landed nearby \ Rise Technology
and began speaking in murmurs of Pythagoras + www.rise.com
and winds that blew in the Himalayas. /----------------------------
-> Barry Lopez / Gallery: www.flash.net/~jboy
