IS On/Off for Sports ?

I was at a recent sports event (indoor track cycling) and one of the more experienced shooters there (using a Nikon VR lens) told me that he turned off VR for anything over 1/500, as camera shake isn't an issue at those speeds, and suggested that I turn off IS on my 70-200 f4 if I was shooting at the same, or quicker speeds.

Unfortunately, he didn't share this until after the event so I haven't yet tested his 'theory'

Can anyone offer a comment/enlighten me, as it does seem to make sense

If you are using a monopod, you really don't need it. It can help using mode 2, which helps with panning.

The IS might interfere with your shooting in mode 1, since it tries to counter for hand shake. Why drain your battery when the IS is not even going to be used?

If you are purely trying to freeze subject motion and are using high shutter speeds you could turn IS off. Also if you are tracking a subject then IS can get confused and try and correct for the motion of you lens following the subject.

However - you can still benefit from stabilisation when tracking a subject by using Mode 2 on the IS and this would be ideal for getting some motion blur in the background whilst panning a subject.

Hope this helps

Phil

Only turn it on for panning. If you don't let the IS settle, or are moving the lens around, IS may actually make your images worse. It needs to have time to settle and the IS is only designed to correct small shakes, not the movement that usually happens when traking sports subjects.

You may not need it, but it won't (in Canon gear) adversely affect your picture taking unless you love to just punch the shutter, in which case you should never use it. If you're tracking with focus and/or metering active IS will also be spun up and working. If you punch the shutter release, not only will you jolt the camera but IS will still be spinning up when you take the picture.

Yep what Derek said^^^

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your feedback - it looks like, for track cycling at least (and maybe football etc) that when you're tracking and panning, IS may not be of much use (and may adversely affect the final image).

Only way to find out for sure (in my case) will be to give it a go

Yes, give it a go. It all depends on your shooting style whether IS should be left on or not.

CB357 wrote in post #6991399
Thanks guys, I really appreciate your feedback - it looks like, for track cycling at least (and maybe football etc) that when you're tracking and panning, IS may not be of much use (and may adversely affect the final image).

Only way to find out for sure (in my case) will be to give it a go

You got that slightly wrong. It is useful for panning in Mode 2 of IS.