Which lens is fast and which is not?

[HowardE]

I had this problem even when the VR was turned off. It was killing me shooting sports. It was especially bad on low contrast subjects. I mean, low contrast subjects are tough for any lens but my 70-200 VR was atrocious at this. My Canon is much, much better. Two other photogs at my paper turned theirs back in for an 80-200 AF-S. But I've heard from other people who don't have this problem. Who knows?

this is what I understand too about Canon vs. Nikon, that the canon's shoot better at higher ISO's and canon has a program with newspapers, thus making canon the obvious choice for photojournalists and sports photographers.

None of the pros I know use VR lenses for their photos either. Most of the pro scenic photogs I know use a tripod for scenic shots anyway, where you'd have to shut of the VR as well if you had it...

 

[bladephotog]

this is what I understand too about Canon vs. Nikon, that the canon's shoot better at higher ISO's and canon has a program with newspapers, thus making canon the obvious choice for photojournalists and sports photographers.

None of the pros I know use VR lenses for their photos either. Most of the pro scenic photogs I know use a tripod for scenic shots anyway, where you'd have to shut of the VR as well if you had it...

I do like Canon at high ISO's over Nikon. But I'm not aware of any Canon program for newspapers. There is Canon Professional Services, like Nikon Professional Services. But that only provides for quick repair service.

We switched for a couple reasons. We were having problems with a lot of our Nikons back-focusing, noise issues, and the service was lousy. Even using NPS the service was terrible. I even had our Nikon rep, who is a very nice, knowledgable person, telling me to my face that the reason I was having back-focus issues using AF was because I didn't have my diopters set correctly. When we ran tests with the rep right there they still thought it was user error. Nikon just refused to acknowledge they had a problem.

Every newspaper in our region that switched to Canon, including ours, did so at great cost, and because of the perceived advantages with the Canon system in photojournalism. That said, the newer Nikon's have closed the gap a bit.

And don't discount VR/IS for nature work. While this stuff works great for hand holding shots, it also works great with big telephotos on tripods. But no, you don't need to use it with wide angles on a tripod.

 

[stuartphotography.com]

I think its interesting that no one has mentioned how the camera itself also plays an integral role in the speed relating to auto focus. I'm a nikon guy, but hang out with mostly canon dudes, and the IS lenses are just as good as the VR lenses, and I dont want to get into a canon vs nikon war here, especially on my 2nd post, lol

anyway, what i wanted to point out is that a 70-200 or really any lens on say an older nikon body will be slower to autofocus than the newer bodies, simply based on the amount of af points available. In low light conditions, be it uw or topside, one should change their ISO level to gain back the speed needed for the desired photo. VR or IS should improve the 'shake' issue regardless of uw or topside.

Best,
Stu

 

[bladephotog]

I think its interesting that no one has mentioned how the camera itself also plays an integral role in the speed relating to auto focus. I'm a nikon guy, but hang out with mostly canon dudes, and the IS lenses are just as good as the VR lenses, and I dont want to get into a canon vs nikon war here, especially on my 2nd post, lol

anyway, what i wanted to point out is that a 70-200 or really any lens on say an older nikon body will be slower to autofocus than the newer bodies, simply based on the amount of af points available. In low light conditions, be it uw or topside, one should change their ISO level to gain back the speed needed for the desired photo. VR or IS should improve the 'shake' issue regardless of uw or topside.

Best,
Stu

With Nikon it was more of an issue with the older AF lenses on an older AF body. Nikon used to use motors in the cameras to drive the AF of the lenses. Those were dreadfully slow.

Even now it's more a question of which lens are you using. Slap an old AF lens on a newer body and it's not going to be as fast as a new lens.

As for ISO, increasing the ISO isn't going to increase the speed of the AF, if that's what you meant. Maybe you meant shutter speed instead of AF speed?

And I agree that VR or IS should work underwater. Just haven't tried it.

Nice work on your website BTW. Some impressive images.

Andy