75-300mm IS and a mono-pod?

[MrChad]

I'm trying not to spend any more cash and upgrade to newer gear this summer.

But I have a few more auto races I'll be attending for fun this summer (as a fan) and if possible I'd like to eek out everybit of performance I can from my 75-300 IS. I finally got panning down well enough I can crop my photos with crisp details, all this time I thought the softness was the lens, it's just the idiot using it :)

But I have a hard time even with IS holding the lens steady for shots coming out of the corners on the 300mm end w/ the Drebel, I'm hooked on the extra reach the crop factor gives me over my Elan body, when the camera is fairly stationary I still tend to blur the shots, I sometimes like to run slower shutter speeds then ideal to get as much wheel blur or motion else where in my shots. I figure I'll improve my odds and get a mono-pod. I know the IS goes goofy sometimes when I use the lens on a tripod. But do you think the mono-pod would be non-stationary enough that the IS could be used to eek that last little bit out of the sharpness from the lens? The view finder at the track isn't always the best for viewing results, I was planning to play around a bit on the tripod some at home to test this out after work.

I usually just turn the IS off at the track since it's fairly stupid being a gen 1 IS lens, but it sometimes ticks me off that I can't use the IS at the track, often I think wow, I should have just purchased the 75-300mm or 100-300mm instead at this rate :P At some point I will need to either part with this lens for one with faster glass or better IS, but I'd like to eek by for a bit longer if I could. Else for non sports use I've been very please with this lens. Sorry for being so long winded.....

[Jon]

Yes, you can use the IS on a monopod.

[Jon Foster]

Yes, it will work as Jon already pointed out but I have found that the lens when extended makes the whole thing very front heavy and the camera wants to swing from side to side. It's not a big deal but I notice it a lot when I use that lens on the monopod...

Jon.

[MrChad]

Thank you very much, I was feeling very disappointed w/ this lens over the last few weeks about ready to sell the thing for something else. After work I came home and took my Drebel, 75-300 IS, and my cheapy Sunpak tripod out to the back yard, it's a bit breezy in Chicago today, in my area.

Result...
IS worked fantastically, I don't usually do to many macro shots but I played around with some backyard targets on the fence and some potted plants in the yard the lens and IS worked much-much better then I recalled. Faith restored in my gear, I will definately be buying a new Bogen monopod instead of a new telezoom lens before my next spectator race. This makes me quite happy.

I was actually very impressed the lens's performance on my very light Sunpak tripod, it didn't freak out at all, it steadied shots in the wind perfectly. Suddenly the $400 I spent last year for this lens seems like a bargain :p

Thanks guys, I had thought the lens was soft on the long end (I need to quit reading so many reviews), turns out I'm more of an idiot then the lens is soft...the lens isn't so bad on the long end. Viewed 100% 300mm f5.6 crops in photoshop 7.0 and they looked very detailed, I just need to stop using fine JPEG and move to RAW and we will be all set.