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IS on or off when changing

R

Richard McNeil

New member
I just got my first Canon IS lens (70-200mm f2.8L USM IS) and was wondering if it mattered if IS was on or off when changing the lens?

Richard
 
K

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Congratulations on getting one of finest long zooms on the planet, Richard.

Answer: No, it does not matter if the image stabilizer switch is on or off when changing lenses. (I do, however, recommend turning the camera off when changing lenses if practical.)
 
M

Mike Harrold

New member
Richard,

I would think you would want to turn off the IS on the lens, then turn off the camera when changing lenses. That is what my Nikon recommends. Once when I forgot to turn off the IS first and turned off the camera, the lens started making a noise that was enough for me to remember the next time to shut down the IS first.

Of course Canon could be different but since the power for the IS is coming from the camera and when dismounting a lens the contacts are being shifted, I would want to make sure that the power could not accidentaly go where it was not supposed to go.

Mike
 
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Nill Toulme

New member
Canon is different. I never turn off IS, and only rarely even power off the camera when changing lenses. (I read recently that the bit about the sensor being "charged" and attracting dust if the camera is powered up is a myth.)

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 
R

Richard McNeil

New member
Mike Harrold said:
Richard,

I would think you would want to turn off the IS on the lens, then turn off the camera when changing lenses. That is what my Nikon recommends. Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Even though Canons don't require it I think I will get into the habit of switching it off. It can't hurt!

Richard
 
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Nill Toulme

New member
Well it sort of could... you could easily forget to turn it back on when you remount the lens, especially if you're anywhere near as absent-minded as I am. Besides if you're powering the camera off, no power is going to the IS circuit in any event.

I actually have IS (and AF) taped in the on position on many of my lenses.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 
K

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Nill Toulme said:
Canon is different. I never turn off IS, and only rarely even power off the camera when changing lenses. (I read recently that the bit about the sensor being "charged" and attracting dust if the camera is powered up is a myth.)

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
Click to expand...
For the record, I did not recommend powering-off for lens changes on the basis of that charged sensor myth. My objective is to avoid the potential for shorting the lens circuitry during the process.
 
S

Sean DeMerchant

Inactive
Ken Tanaka said:
For the record, I did not recommend powering-off for lens changes on the basis of that charged sensor myth. My objective is to avoid the potential for shorting the lens circuitry during the process.
Click to expand...

If it shorts I am not concerned about blowing circuits, my concern would be having the mirror slap and strike anything. A badly misaligned mirror would ruin your camera until it is repaired.

some thoughts,

Sean
 
D

Dawid Loubser

Member
I should imagine that the EF/EOS circuitry has been carefully designed to not cause shorts, even with a powered camera, when removing or installing a lens. Similar to how you do not need to turn your computer off when plugging in a USB or Audio cable.

I've never heard of a EF lens short-circuiting because of this reason - has anybody here?
 
C

Charles L Webster

pro member
I try to remember to turn my camera off when changing lenses, but sometimes forget in the heat of a photographic moment. Hasn't caused any problems so far. I turn the IS off only when I put the camera on the tripod. I never have to turn AF off, because I never turn it on.

I think one of the nicest features about modern cameras is their robustness about such things as changing lenses with the power on. I even changed CF cards once with the power on and had no problems, but I don't think I'd trust my luck on that again.
 
S

Sean DeMerchant

Inactive
Charles L Webster said:
I think one of the nicest features about modern cameras is their robustness about such things as changing lenses with the power on. I even changed CF cards once with the power on and had no problems, but I don't think I'd trust my luck on that again.
Click to expand...


I do not think I have ever turned off a camera to change a CF card (I have changed CF cards with the camera off, but that was motivated by unrelated usage).

a data point,

Sean
 
nicolas claris

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Personnaly, due to myth, I do turn off the camera (then no need to turn of IS) when I change of lens or CF card.
This is easy.
I have then no doubt about the real need to to do it or not, and the small amount of time needed to shut off and on, brings me some very few but usefull tenths of second, to relax and think about what I'm doing...
 
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Nill Toulme

New member
The 1-series turns off automagically when you open the CF door. I don't remember whether the lesser cameras do this also, but I think they do. Yes, I just tried it on my cute little 400D, and it does it also. So I don't see the point of turning the camera off to change cards, other than perhaps to make absolutely sure that the write has completed, but I also don't remember what happens when you turn the camera off while it's still writing, so that might not help either. I just make sure the little red light is off.

Yanking one card out while the camera is powered on is also perhaps the fastest way to switch over to the other card in a 1-series. When you close the door and it powers back up, it automatically switches to the only card it finds.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 
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Erik DeBill

New member
I'm in the "leave everything on" camp. IS (mode 1) always on, camera always on. The only time I turn the camera off is when I put it in the bag - I had a string of blank exposures one time when a button got pushed while it was in the bag. The more recent Canons (starting with 20d) have an excellent sleep mode and I don't see any advantages to actually hitting power off unless you're worried about something accidentally pressing buttons.

Canons don't seem to have any problem with this treatment, and I don't remember seeing anything recommending shutting things off when changing lenses in the manuals.
 
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Will_Perlis

New member
I've been using IS lenses since the EOS3 came out in 1998 and have never turned the IS off (tripod use sometimes excepted). It's not something to worry about.
 
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Winston Rockwell

New member
i've never turned off my 30D to change lenses, much less turn off IS; i've had the camera over a year now, and never had a problem. frankly, i suspect the Canon engineers are bright enough to design the camera/lens contacts so that no damage would occur if lens is changed with the power on. it wouldn't be hard, and let's face it, we live in a society full of people who can't even remember to change the oil in their cars! i expect the percentage of people who even remotely pay attention to whether the camera is on or off is so small, if it really were a problem, we'd all have heard horror stories by now.

BTW, the 30D does turn off automatically when the CF door is opened.

Rocky
 
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