Canon 70-200mm F/4 vs. F/2.8 for Ceremony

[Adrian Tan]

I tend to leave IS on when I'm on sticks, and haven't had any problems that I've noticed... except for the sound of the IS, in cases where I've had to use in-camera sound.

My friend uses a 24-105 on a steadicam occasionally, and does sometimes turn the IS off, because he finds it can fight his framing.

Definitely makes a difference to monopod usage... and you might say now that you're not intending to use it on a monopod, but who knows in future?

I think whether there's a difference to tripods partly depends on the quality and type of your tripod and how prone it is to small shakes. For instance, if it's light, has a centre column, or is made of aluminium, then it'd be more prone to vibrations than a heavy tripod made of carbon fibre with a ball head.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Michael Silverman

I've heard some people say that it's best not to use IS while on sticks while other people say that the IS helps reduce vibrations and any "unsmooth" movements while zoomed in really far.

That depends how effective the IS is, I have a sony cx730 which has a very good IS (the lens itselfs also moves around to filter out any vibration) and I always have to deactivate the IS when I shoot on a tripod, if I zoom in and make a panning motion and when I stop the IS of the camera tries to compensate for that sudden stop and then you see your image bouncing around making it useless. Most other camera's don't have such effective IS but especially at the long end of the lens that stabilisation might give you unwanted movement on a tripod, so in some cases you are better off disabling the IS.

[Alex Harper]

I have both the Canon 70-200mm F4 IS & F2.8 IS - 80% of the time I use the F4 leaving the F2.8 in my bag. F4 is such a brilliant, light weight, sharp lens the only reason I have the F2.8 is for when I need to use an extender which drops it down to F4. I always have a portable LED with me for fill light I am yet to encounter a ceremony/reception too dark for the C100 to handle.

My advice is buy the F4 IS. Image stabiliser is a must, micro vibrations are all over the place if you have no IS. I'm even thinking about selling my F2.8 to get another F4 or the newly announced 100-400. The F2.8 is heavy plus I don't film F2.8 during the ceremony or speeches anymore. The F4 has definitely become my little darling.

[Michael Silverman]

Originally Posted by Alex Harper

My advice is buy the F4 IS. Image stabiliser is a must, micro vibrations are all over the place if you have no IS.

Alex, I've definitely been at receptions where I've felt vibrations in the floor from dancing. At ceremonies everything is usually exceptionally still. Are the micro vibrations coming from people moving around, from having one hand on the tripod handle, or is it something else?

The reason I'm asking is that there's a $500 difference between the lenses from B&H and I might end up buying two for the next wedding season. If I can save the $1000 and not regret it then I will certainly opt for the non-IS. What I may do is see if I can rent my friend's 2.8 non-IS for a wedding next month and see how the shots look without IS. However, I'm pretty confident that I will go with the F/4 version as it just seems like a better fit for me.

[Alex Harper]

Michael the vibrations come from touching the camera mostly. If you want to make any adjustment, check focus, the slightest touch will cause the image to vibrate. If you buy a non IS you'll end up selling it for a IS eventually. I only switch off IS for a time-lapse but I won't touch the camera then. As mentioned, IS is brilliant for monopod shots or sliders. Think long term, the IS might seem like extra money right now but you'll end up buying two lenses (the IS to replace non-IS) if you don't go for IS from the start. If budget is tight try finding them 2nd hand? I'd recommend having two 70-200 in your kit brilliant for weddings.

[Robert Benda]

Michael,

we get micro-vibrations from 1) touching the camera, 2) walking near a camera with certain floors, and 3) using the auto-focus and non-STM lenses.

For instance, I have two different wedding trailers I posted recently where you can clearly see the lens glass shake. I was using regular USM lenses instead of STM on our 70D. The shake is from the camera trying to nail the focus.

[Michael Silverman]

I think at this point I'm confident that I can live without the extra stop of light from the F/2.8 version and go with one of the F/4 versions. I think that in order to decide between the IS and non-IS I will rent the IS version to see the difference in person. I'm usually not a fan of renting gear but in this case it's a pretty big purchase (potentially two big purchases) and it should be very easy to do a test to see if the micro vibrations are an issue for me. I am one of those people that tends to always have their hands on the camera to make minor adjustments, so after a test shoot I should be able to make a firm decision.

Thanks for all your help everyone!!!

[Leon Bailey]

If the ceremony is outside the f/4 would be perfect, but for inside I would definitely stick with a 2.8. I've trued the f4 and it was basically worthless inside. :(

[Michael Thames]

Concerning the IS on a tripod. The manual for the 70-200 f4 IS simply advises to turn off the IS while on a tripod to save battery life. There is no mention of other problems if left on. Some of Canons recent lens recognize when it's on a tripod and turns off the IS, or something like that.

I use my 70-200 f4 IS on a tripod all the time and have never turned it off and have never had a problem with it.

Many reviews I've seen say the the 70-200 f4 is actually sharper than the f2.8.

I also bought the 70-200 f4 non IS...... and literally within a week sold it and bought the IS version.

I would never buy a zoom without IS.

[Adrian Tan]

Filmed an awesome wedding yesterday where the ceremony was held on a racetrack, and the bride and groom went drifting instead of doing a photoshoot. Since we couldn't get close to the action, part of our setup involved a 100-400 with a x2 extender. I was grateful for the IS when I had it on a monopod, but my second shooter preferred to turn it off when on a tripod -- said it was more responsive.

[Brian David Melnyk]

I personally think more options are better. You can always turn off IS or stop down if you want, but you can't turn it on or open it up to 2.8 if you don't have it. Why limit yourself?
The weight is not a factor if you are mostly on a tripod, anyway.
I bit the bullet on the 2.8 IS and think it is a great investment, and have long forgotten the extra money I spent...

[Michael Silverman]

I just purchased the Canon 70-200mm F/4 for my C100 and I've shot a very small amount of indoor test footage in a room with plenty of light. This first test was to see how much of a difference the IS makes with the camera on my tripod using a rod system with a lens support. So far I've noticed that when I'm zoomed in quite pretty far, if I touch the camera with the IS off I do notice the microvibrations (they're actually very noticeable and could really affect the shot). When the IS is on, these vibrations seem to be far less noticeable or even non-existent. So I'm very pleased with the result of using the IS and at this point I am definitely glad that I spent the extra money to go with the IS version.

My next test will be going to one of the darker churches in this area (which is also very popular) and shoot some test footage at F/4 to see just how high I have to raise the ISO to expose the image properly. I'm crossing my fingers that the footage will look good because I really want this lens to work and would prefer not having to return it to buy the 2.8 IS version due to the increased cost. I'm planning to buy a matching lens for my b camera, so if the F/4 IS version works well then I will be quite pleased. I'll post an update once I've done more testing but right now I'm pretty excited as I like everything about the lens so far.

[Mitch Phillips]

Really looking forward to your thoughts on the church footage at f/4 Michael! I'm in a similar position so would be great to know just how well it goes. Obviously your C100 will be superior for low light compared to my 6D, but would still be a great insight to have!

[Michael Silverman]

I just wanted to give an update that I just shot a wedding with my new Canon 70-200mm F/4 on my Canon C100 and the footage looks very good. I also did a low light test in one of the churches around here that is very popular and quite dim. I found that when shooting wide open at F/4 I was able to raise the ISO up to 5000 on the C100 and then run the footage through Denoiser II while still maintaining a nice looking image. While the F/2.8 version has an extra stop of light, I think I can get away with the F/4 version at ISO of 4000-5000 and still produce great footage. I also like how when shooting at F/4 it's a little easier to get multiple subjects in focus when zoomed in quite a bit. So at this point I'm quite pleased with the F/4 version and plan to cut out my UPC code from the box and send off the rebate, which means that I'm keeping it :)

[Jeff Cook]

Try the Tamron 70 - 200 mm 2.8 A great lens. It comes with and without stabilization. Without it cost is $760. Very sharp great colors.