135L and AI Servo

I'm loving my EF 135mm f/2L..

Since getting it I've been mainly shooting in AI Servo with it.. I mainly shoot in low light/high ISO conditions with large apertures where often fast shutter speeds aren't possible.. Street candids..

What I've noticed lately I've been able to drop my shutter speeds down to well below the recommended shutter speed for this lens on an APS-C sensor camera.. I usually shoot with a 50D..

I'm nailing focus again and again at shutter speeds of around 125th, resulting in sharp images.. This is the case with all focus points..

Here is the $64,000 question.. The 135L focus is lightning fast even in dim conditions.. Is the quick focus acting like a defacto IS, counteracting any slight movements of the camera?? Or am I dreaming or just being lucky??

Here are two pics taken at 125th sec both at 800 ISO.. The pic of the girl at f2,,the man at f/2.8.. Both pics have been cropped a bit for aesthetic reasons..

EXIF is intact..

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Mate, you shouldn't sound so surprised.
I don't reckon it's any of the above.
I just think it's your exeprience which enables you to hand hold at slower than 1/focal length.
I would have expected you'd be able to go slower than 1/125.

philwillmedia wrote in post #10328896
Mate, you shouldn't sound so surprised.
I don't reckon it's any of the above.
I just think it's your exeprience which enables you to hand hold at slower than 1/focal length.
I would have expected you'd be able to go slower than 1/125.

Hahahaaa,, thanks Phil.. I'm not as steady as I used to be..

On occasion i've managed 1/60th @ 500mm with no IS ( I used to shoot the 500mm SIGMA )
When I shoot indoor events in low light, I use 24mm -200mm on various lenses with apertures from 1.8 to 2.8
I'm lucky to get 1/125th on any of those FLs.

Your just getting good at hand holding and timing the shots with the subjects movements to get the sharpest results.
IMHO, the most important thing is the timing thing. For Ballet for instance, If one sprays and prays,. you need shutters as high as 1/1000th to stop the action, in low light 1/1000 is hard to come by. Timed correctly, you grab the pauses or the end of the arc,. and 1/125 or lower can often work.

The 1/1 shutter/FL ratio is just a rule of thumb,. helpful for beginners to get a good idea of what they should expect, but has no bearing on subject motion, or skilled steady hands.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #10330850
Your just getting good and hand holding and timing the shots with the subjects movements to get the sharpest results.

I used to be better.. I could hand hold my 20mm Nikkor shooting film down to 1/8th with sharp results.. 1/60th with a 200mm wasn't too much of a problem,,remember I'm talking manual focus here.. My old Nikon F2AS Photomic with MD-2 was the easiest.. One heavy beast of a camera which was beautifully balanced with a longer lens..

Nowadays,, there is a lot to recommend grips for the same reason..

I just got the 135L this week and loving it, too!
First photo I took with it, I bo-gasmed from all the smooth and buttery goodness it puts out.

What you do is exactly what I do.

I keep it on AI SERVO and use back button focusing so it'll keep focusing on something until I want to recompose and shoot. Works extremely well and my focusing technique and the results have shown so much more improvement!
Now only if I can make my photos interesting and attention worthy...

As for shutter speeds, I feel comfortable shooting well below the ss/fl recommendation and I agree with Phil that it's more your skill & technique than the lens.

Technique has a lot to do with it ,,and breathing..

I tend to breathe out slightly as I trip the shutter..

Probably technique and how the body/lens combo balances in your hand.

I did some quick tests last week shooting passing cars/trucks, cyclsits in AI Servo, f2 and they all came out right on. This on a 5DII.

btw. This was one of my tests just after the 135L hit the tiles

Back in the day I could handhold a Pentax 67 at 1/10 sec. on horseback smoking a Marlboro & having a quick snort of Jack Daniels with a half-naked woman at my side and still get photos so sharp they would cut 'yer eyes out.

yogestee, i find with servo mode it's easier to keep a slower shutter speed in the day but in dim conditions it's not so easy

confirmed it's definitely me. Man, those are sharp! Color, exposure, WB ... all nailed.

Back the drawing board for me, I guess.

dave