What's more important: Image Stabilization or a fast lens?

petrolhead wrote in post #2038936
Someone on this thread made a valued point. Use your primes if you need low light shots as getting f/2.8 zooms are heavy-ish.

24-105 f/4 IS is 83x107 and 670g
24-70 f/2.8 is 83x123 and 950g

So the IS is smaller and lighter making it easier to use long term

and you forgot to mention that the ef 24-105mm is only f/4 while the ef 24-70mm is f/2.8. that said, i would figure that say if a ef 24-70mm f/2.8 IS came out, it will be bigger than the non-IS version. look at the ef 70-200mm f/2.8s, and is the f/4 IS larger than the non-IS?

Jaetie wrote in post #2039203
primes!

Exactly.

IS + ultrafast (f/2.0 and faster) prime.

I want both IS & speed in my bag. At 300mm and up you can't get anything faster than f2.8

Aperture!

Great photographs were made before IS came along. So I would go for faster lenses any day.

Faster lens rather than IS any time!

Mark_Cohran wrote in post #2037806
Absolutely. I have both fast lenses and IS lenses. Different strengths and weaknesses.

Mark

That's about the best way I would have to put it... Depends on the situation at hand.

Tastes great!

Less filling!

A fast lens is useful All the time ... IS is useful only some of the time. (A fast lens is much brighter than a slower IS, weights less, a bit sharper and Canon cameras focus quicker and more accurately at 2.8.)

But it all depends on what you shoot also. If you tend to shoot action then IS is useless ... if you shoot static stuff .. then hey IS is very handy.

Color me confused, but can't you easily put in any motion blur you would get with IS panning in photoshop afterwards?

it's all about the speed

sWampy wrote in post #2039561
Color me confused, but can't you easily put in any motion blur you would get with IS panning in photoshop afterwards?

Sure. But what I have seen the PS blur looks just a bit odd ... and besides most of us would prefer to be photographers rather than digital artists.

Double Negative wrote in post #2039538
Tastes great!

Less filling!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2039408
Aperture!

Obviously it's all a matter of preference (since this thread, like all the others I've seen on this subject, is quite polarized)....except for the above two quotes...nice to see that there are some rogues out there who have their own way of evaluating things...

Lightstream wrote in post #2038962
IS above all. Forget the f/2.8 crap. It's never fast enough anyway.

Sorry, but that's absolute nonsense...

Higher ISO

(Everything else seems boring by now)

OK, ok, I'll play ... aperture over IS, every time.

Best regards,
Andy