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Lens Tests

| EF 28mm f1.8 USM | EF 50mm f1.4 USM | EF 100mm f2.8 Macro USM |

| EF 180mm f3.5L Macro | EF 180mm f3.5L Macro + EF 1.4X II  | EF 180mm f3.5L Macro + EF 2X II |

| EF 200mm f2.8L II | EF 200mm f2.8L II + EF 1.4X II | EF 200mm f2.8L II + EF 2X II | EF 200mm f2.8L II + EF 1.4X II+ EF 2X II |

| EF 300mm f4L IS | EF 300mm f4L IS + EF 1.4X II | EF 300mm f4L IS + EF 2X II | EF 300mm f4L IS + EF 1.4X II + EF 2X II |

| EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 | EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM | EF 17-40 f4L USM | EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM |

| Primes | 17mm Region | 24mm Region | 28mm Region | 35mm Region | 50mm Region | 100mm Region | 300mm Region | 400mm Region | 600mm Region |

| EF 180mm f3.5L Macro + TCs | EF 200mm f2.8L II + TCs | EF 300mm f4L IS USM + TCs | Tests With the Kenko TC | Macro Tests |

| Filter Effect on Sharpness and AF | Flare and Filters | Image Stabilizer Tests | TC Sharpness | Best of the Best | Method | Understanding the Results | Real World 100% Crops | Tripod Tests | L-Plate Test |

Image Stabilizer Tests

| EF 300mm f4L IS | EF 24-105mm f4L IS |

EF 24-105mm f4L IS

| At 24mm | At 105mm |

These tests were conducted at the extremes of the zoom range, 24mm and 105mm. Select the focal length of interest from the above.

The results are summered below normalized to the ideal shutter speed of 1/(focal_length X crop factor) in stops. So for a 100mm lens on a 20D the "safe" IS off speed is 1/160 which will be labeled 0 stops. +1 stops above this speed is 1/320 and 1 stop below (-1 stop) is 1/80. 

Both the data and a piecewise linear regression trend to the data are shown. 

The actual stops advantage of IS depends on the sharpness required in some cases, this is shown on the next two plots as a function of the MTF 50% point in line pairs per millimeter. Note that 30 lp/mm is very soft and 50 lp/mm is close to the lenses optical performance on a tripod. The advantage can only be estimated for sharpness values where data exists for both the IS ON and IS OFF cases.

It can be seen that the Canon specified handheld 3 stop advantage only occurs at relatively soft sharpness levels for the 24mm case, a more useful expectation is 2 stops but only 0.5 stop to get close to the lenses capability. For the 105mm case an almost constant 2 stop advantage is seen.

Canon do not say much about the performance of IS on a monopod. Here it can be seen that a monopod is a good aid to maintaining sharpness throughout the focal range and IS generally is beneficial.

Last Updated 05/06/2008

All Content © 2005-09 Lester Wareham All Rights Reserved     

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