Woe is me . . . wish I had IS

I bought a sigma 70-200 f/2.8 off of the forums here. After my first wedding with the lens (not my first wedding ever, that is) I see I need to be really careful with it until I can trade up to a 70-200 f/2.8 IS canon. I don't regret the buy, because otherwise I would still be on tri-pod with the 75-300 f/4.5 is, it is all I can do for now.

Those asking the recurring question: "do I need IS?"

The answer, if you are shooting inside without flash, is YES!

without flash your also going to need an ISO of 800 at f/2.8 to get a 1/60th of a sec shutter speed.

It's especially useful for longer focal lengths for sure, but even on a 17-50 zoom I find it helpful. I've been spoiled by modern lenses with IS enough to where I don't really want a zoom lens if it doesn't have IS. But you're right, the 2.8 on that sigma must be more beneficial than a slower lens on a tripod.

I have never had a zoom without IS so I suppose I don't know what I've got but I will say this. When I look down the 70-200 before I press the shutter and then after a half press the difference is indeed impressive.

Monopod?

steady your hands.....or a tripod/monopod

In the meantime just practice your technique

^^^^this

If you learn how to shoot guns it will help your photography. I know it sounds weird but I use the same breathing techniques when shooting a gun or a camera. Makes a big difference on how steady I am.

well played...I never thought of it that way. nice

do you really have a fast 996?

Sometimes f2.8 and IS doesn't help. Then what do you do in that situation?

Buy l primes and a high iso / low noise capable bodies. Can anyone say cha-ching?

I'm going to slap a monopod on the sigma ring mount along with practicing on my technique a lot more. I did a passable job on my first paid gig with it, but I definitely need to do better with it next time. I've got a few weeks off until then. Once a book another job Ill be trading up to the canon IS, so this Sigma will have seen a pretty short life in my hands.

Despite living in Texas, a few miles from Cowtown (Fort Worth) no less, I've never really shot guns much. I do definitely hold my breath and shoot as I slowly exhale, seems to help. Is that on the right track to what anyone else does?

Off to the shooting range, thanks PoTN!

Koshin wrote in post #10970203
well played...I never thought of it that way. nice

do you really have a fast 996?

I have a 996 Turbo with some work done to it. It's pretty quick but there are faster ones around. Mine is gathering dust though as it is in Miami and I am in Switzerland.

IS doesnt do a thing for you when shooting people. They move! IS only corrects camera shake and mirror slap. You can have the camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release but if the subject so much as twitches (IS or not) your getting a blurred image at low shutter speed. The only time IS really pays off is when shooting static subjects at a low shutter speed. Otherwise you are much better off investing in a body with better high ISO performance for shooting people.