Shooting Motorcycle Road Racing: Does IS Help Me, Hurt Me, Or Have No Effect On Me?

Discussed before, I'm sure. But enlighten me.

I shoot a lot of sports photography, mainly motorcycle racing. When I shoot these kinds of shots, am I helping or hurting by using IS, or is IS even doing anything at all? Depending on where I am on the track, some of these shots are taken with the subjects moving basically towards me (or away from me), and I move the camera very little (but I do move). These are taken with a faster shutter and larger aperature. Here I feel like IS might be doing something helpful, although I don't know what or how much. Other shots are panning shots, where I feel IS isn't doing anything at all, and may even be hurting me. I move the camera a lot, of course, and use a slower shutter and smaller aperature (of course).

Here are some examples taken with a 40D and a 100-400 L with IS on...

It may come in handy if you get a very dark day and you can pan with the bikes....otherwise not so much.
Great shots.

Wow...been reading some of the other threads here, and this question is all over the place. I really should have looked harder. Or simply looked.

But, that said, I see where someone said that using IS sometimes screwed with his AF. When I used the 100-400 L mentioned above, I wasn't in love with the results in many cases. Some of the pix seemed a little soft focus. Maybe, just maybe, the IS on and in Mode 1 was part of the issue? Or am I just making excuses?

Also, I concur with someone said about IS (since I am contemplating buying a new 70-200 f/2.8 IS). He basically said "You probably won't need it for sports shooting, but sooner or later you're gonna want it for something, and when you don't have it, you're gonna cry." Since I do shoot other things, including people and landscapes, he's probably right.

Racing motorcycle as seen through an XTi and a Canon 70-300mm image stabilized lens with two-axis stabilization on.

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Helps with panning, but it´s better to have just one way (vertical) stabilization. And monopod helps a lot.

DC Fan wrote in post #10198012

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2009 USGP, eh?

And it's interesting, but the image of Rossi doesn't look as sharp as the flat tracker. I'm starting to feel that IS isn't a huge thing in following moving subjects.

The IS helps a great deal in low light situations. I would invest on a good monopod strictly for these shots. I enjoyed the pics...

DC Fan - that number 27 machine shot is stunning ! Very cool.

Apexer wrote in post #10210670
DC Fan - that number 27 machine shot is stunning ! Very cool.

I concur, excellent shot.

I use it if I've got it. But as I've only got the one lens with it (100-400L) I can operate without it if need be. I always use a monopod, which I think helps steady the shot.

If you use IS, you want to be in Mode 2.