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soft focus problems with 70-200 2.8 lens

anguslincoln
Apprentice

I am wondering if I am expecting too much image clarity and focus from my 70-200 mm 2.8 lens. I have been shooting a lot of birds with it from as close as 2 meters out to 50 meters.I have some fantastic results, but focusing seems to be inconsistant . I use it hand held mostly with good support at fairly high shutter speed when the natural light supports it. I was hoping to have less soft focus at the longer distances of 20+ meters. Is this lense capable of sharp focus at those distances if propper exposures are used ?

20 REPLIES 20


@ebiggs1 wrote:

Quoting me:

"Well, I just bought the new 16-35mm f/4L IS lens (not even out of the box yet). You can't turn off the IS, so I hope it knows whether it's hand-held or on a tripod! (As it happens, I have three tripods and a monopod, but I rarely have occasion to use any of them. So maybe it won't matter. 🙂 "

 

Well, Bob from Boston, I bet it is new enough that it does have the intelegent IS.  It is a great lens, BTW, and you will love it.

Actually the vast majority of lenses that do have IS do not know when to turn themselves off.  Despite the post by the Canon rep.  The fact of the matter is a significant number of photographers use lenses made by other manufactures and their lenses have no clue.  It is a wonder that any of them work at all. 

 

I doubt IS on a 16-35mm is as big a helper as it is on a 500mm lens.  That must be taken into consideration.

 

My recommendation to you is the try it both ways.  Get out your biggest tele put it on a tripod and shoot (a lot of photos).

Keep track.  Back in the day we had to learn by trial and error as there was no internet to tell us every little nuance of photography.

And I still believe it is the best way to learn.  If you don't like my thoughts on the subject, you will quickly decide for yourself.

It's what makes photography so interesting, isn't it?  Smiley Very Happy

 

I am turning green with eny Smiley Wink of your new 16-35mm, please let me know how you like it.


So far, so good. The lens appears very sharp, with good color.

 

But the reason I'm writing is that what I said above is wrong: There is a switch to turn IS on and off. I was going by a review I read before I bought the lens. Possibly the reviewer had used a prototype that lacked the switch. Anyway, I'm much happier that it's there. Some things should be automated, and some shouldn't. My new Toyota has automatic headlights, and I've found it a very useful feature. But I like being able to control whether IS is in effect, so I think Canon got it right in the end.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
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