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L Series Lens with no IS, Why?

penderphoto
Apprentice

I'm a Canon shooter and in particular L series lenses. But I have a question and it's also be discussed in a few fb groups that I posted the same question in. But I really would like to know from a Canon Rep what Canon the manufacturer has to say about this question that I have.  

Does anyone know why Canon put out there 24-70 2.8L with no IS? Its a Pro L lens. Why would they not add that feature? I've always wondered this, so I needed to calm my thoughts.  If your paying for L glass. I would assume you would get all the options available. If you use it or not. Now the tilt-shifts. I understand why those wouldn't have IS because there generally on a tripod anyways.  

I would love a Canon rep to chime in on this.  

Out of 27 L lenses. 

14 have IS.

4 are Tilt-shifts. 

Thank you for your time

Canon 80D ~Canon 5D Mark IV ~Canon 18-55mm 3.5 IS ~Canon 100mm Macro 2.8L IS ~Canon 24-70mm 2.8L ~Canon 70-200mm 2.8L IS
2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

p4pictures
Authority
Authority

This will be a decision made by Canon considering various factors.

  1. Size of the lens will increase with adding IS as some of the glass elements need to be slightly larger
  2. Weight will increase with adding IS
  3. Will IS be really beneficial since 1/25th to 1/80th would be hand holdable normally depending on zoom position
  4. Price
  5. Complexity of the lens - may impact ease of servicing, or fragility / reliability

The EF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM was 150g lighter and 11mm shorter than the older EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM that it replaced and the optical performance was significantly improved.

Moving to the RF mount means that the lens design can take advantage of the shorter distance between the rear lens groups and the sensor, this changes the constraints and gives the lens designers additional options to explore. They chose to include IS, but in doing so the weight increased from 805g to 900g and the length also increased from 113mm to 126mm compared to the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM. It looks like they readjusted the priority to include IS, over size and weight.


Brian
EOS specialist trainer, photographer and author
-- Note: my spell checker is set for EN-GB, not EN-US --

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Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

Welcome to the forums!

I would agree with Rick’s observation that you should not expect a response from a “Canon rep” in these forums.  I would suggest that you contact them in writing.  Yours is a highly technical question pertaining to design decisions, so I would not expect any company to reveal proprietary information regarding intellectual properties.

We, as users, can only speculate on the reasons.  I do not think Image Stabilization is really needed in wide aperture lenses shorter than 100mm, because your shutter speeds would typically be faster than 1/100 of a second.

Under some shooting conditions and scenarios, having IS enabled could create undesirable effects such as soft images or even pulsing.  One frequent scenario that I’ve heard people complaint about with the R5 when shooting video is how the image shifts.  When they post examples of the issue, they are focusing on fairly distant objects, like hundreds of yards away, if not miles away.  They are most often shooting video handheld, which is why they feel that they should have IS enabled.

This brings me to my next point.  The primary job of IS is not to minimize motion blur in your photos.  The primary job of IS is to provide a stable image in the EVF/OVF for the photographer, but more importantly for the AF system.  

It only takes a small fraction of a second to capture most images.  This means that the IS system probably spends more than 99.99% stabilizing the image for the AF system.  If your shooting conditions warrant the need for IS because of slow shutter speeds, then you probably need a tripod and should turn off the IS, anyway.

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10 REPLIES 10

ebiggs1
Legend
Legend

"Not a Canon choice to leave IS out of the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM ..."

Whether it was or wasn't isn't the point, the fact is a lens does not have to include IS to be considered and "L" lens.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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