ef 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II: Vibration

[YuengLinger]

I traded in my ef 400mm f/5.6L to finance an upgrade to the 100-400mm, a very good decision. I love the range and especially the MFD and IS.

My biggest challenge seemed to be on a tripod--when I almost always turn off IS.

I've had it roughly a year, but I'm just now learning how much attention I need to pay to vibration when the zoom tube is extended. I thought I was using pretty good technique, but I kept having blur even at shutter speeds a bit over 1/500th.

When AFMA'ing the lens on a new body last week, I saw I had been drastically underestimating the amount of time the zoom barrel takes to settle down after any movement whatsoever, including depressing the shutter button.

I'm hoping for advice. Do some photographers keep IS on when shooting at 400mm on a tripod? Do you use your hand or something else to dampen vibration while shooting on a tripod? Obviously, with wildlife, we can't wait for the vibration to stop completely, though I've seen some suggestions online about using a remote and live view. Pretty hard in bright light!

And, for discussion, is the design and construction inherently more prone to vibration because of the way the zoom barrel extends so far out beyond the main portion of the lens body? I don't remember encountering this issue to such an extent on the 400mm f/5.6L prime.

Thanks!

 

[monkey44]

My IS is always on - in the V2, the lens can "sense" when it's on a tripod or stable position and does not react to small movements (at least according to the literature) I don't recall where I read that statement. I do not turn IS off when on the tripod, altho I use a tripod infrequently, and don't notice any blurring - at least not from the IS ...

 

[Random Orbits]

I've never had a problem with the 100-400 II on a tripod on the few times I've used it on the tripod (i.e. moon shots), but I've always left IS on. I've used the 5DIII/7DII with the 100-400 with the 1.4x and 2x on the tripod for distant eagles, and I have more issues with heat waves than camera shake. My wife has used the 100-400 on a gimbaled head atop the tripod when I'm coaching soccer, and we haven't had problems in that scenario either.

I'd suggest testing your tripod setup with a 2 or 10 second delay to see if you're tripod is stiff enough. I don't think this is a lens extension issue, because we don't hold lens by the extended barrel when shooting handheld. I guess you can try it by shooting handheld at 1/500s with IS off to see if issue persists (while moving the left hand closer to the body to maximize the cantilever vibration issue). If you can get good results around 1/500s with IS off handheld, then I'd start looking at the tripod.

 

[YuengLinger]

I've never had a problem with the 100-400 II on a tripod on the few times I've used it on the tripod (i.e. moon shots), but I've always left IS on. I've used the 5DIII/7DII with the 100-400 with the 1.4x and 2x on the tripod for distant eagles, and I have more issues with heat waves than camera shake. My wife has used the 100-400 on a gimbaled head atop the tripod when I'm coaching soccer, and we haven't had problems in that scenario either.

I'd suggest testing your tripod setup with a 2 or 10 second delay to see if you're tripod is stiff enough. I don't think this is a lens extension issue, because we don't hold lens by the extended barrel when shooting handheld. I guess you can try it by shooting handheld at 1/500s with IS off to see if issue persists (while moving the left hand closer to the body to maximize the cantilever vibration issue). If you can get good results around 1/500s with IS off handheld, then I'd start looking at the tripod.

Hi, RO, thanks for the reply...I'm not understanding the hand position. Wouldn't closer to the camera body, as opposed to just where the zoom barrel emerges, make for a less stable hold?

I'm amazed how good this lens is handheld, as I never had much luck with the 400mm prime (with no IS).

I will definitely start using the IS while on tripod. Do you suggest Mode 1 or Mode 3?

 

[tron]

I've never had a problem with the 100-400 II on a tripod on the few times I've used it on the tripod (i.e. moon shots), but I've always left IS on. I've used the 5DIII/7DII with the 100-400 with the 1.4x and 2x on the tripod for distant eagles, and I have more issues with heat waves than camera shake. My wife has used the 100-400 on a gimbaled head atop the tripod when I'm coaching soccer, and we haven't had problems in that scenario either.

I'd suggest testing your tripod setup with a 2 or 10 second delay to see if you're tripod is stiff enough. I don't think this is a lens extension issue, because we don't hold lens by the extended barrel when shooting handheld. I guess you can try it by shooting handheld at 1/500s with IS off to see if issue persists (while moving the left hand closer to the body to maximize the cantilever vibration issue). If you can get good results around 1/500s with IS off handheld, then I'd start looking at the tripod.

Hi, RO, thanks for the reply...I'm not understanding the hand position. Wouldn't closer to the camera body, as opposed to just where the zoom barrel emerges, make for a less stable hold?

I'm amazed how good this lens is handheld, as I never had much luck with the 400mm prime (with no IS).

I will definitely start using the IS while on tripod. Do you suggest Mode 1 or Mode 3?

I had some serious issues with IS on a tripod but it was an older lens: 70-200 f/4 L IS and I was shooting for many seconds. I turned it off and it went from shaky to great. But I have found a related warning in the lens manual. But that incident (and warning) referred to a very slow speed of many seconds (about 30). 1/500 on a latest generation lens is a totally different storry. But of course comparison tests with IS on and off will tell you the truth. On the other hand I had discovered that IS set to ON helped a lot even with my system on a tripod when that involved big telephoto lenses (400 and 500 with or without tc) so I keep it to ON.

 

[Loswr]

On the other hand I had discovered that IS set to ON helped a lot even with my system on a tripod when that involved big telephoto lenses (400 and 500 with or without tc) so I keep it to ON.

Beyond just detecting when you're on a tripod, the supertelephoto lenses have a secondary IS mode that damps mirror/shutter vibrations at certain shutter speeds when tripod mounted. I don't think the 100-400 II has that feature, but it certainly detects when you're on a tripod.

 

[Random Orbits]

Hi, RO, thanks for the reply...I'm not understanding the hand position. Wouldn't closer to the camera body, as opposed to just where the zoom barrel emerges, make for a less stable hold?

I'm amazed how good this lens is handheld, as I never had much luck with the 400mm prime (with no IS).

I will definitely start using the IS while on tripod. Do you suggest Mode 1 or Mode 3?

Experimenting with the hand position will tell you whether or not it's the extended barrel that is flexing that is causing your issue. If you get much better results with your hand forward near the extension joint, then that may tell you something. If you get similar performance with the hand in the less stable position (further back), then I'd take another look at the tripod.

Typically, I leave IS in Mode 1 unless I need to change it to something else. Experiment and find what works best for you.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Using a long AS plate and balancing the lens-camera combination at your expected focal length can help. IS works, Canon usually recommends leaving it on for long telephotos, just being on a tripod is often not enough. Were you hanging a weight on the tripod underhook? That helps a huge amount, assuming the lens is first balanced.

 

[AlanF]

I always leave IS on and I use silent mode at low speeds. There is very slight mirror/shutter shock at shutter speeds below 1/100s and silent. With standard mode, there is noticeable mirror shock up to 1/200s or so, depending on the lens (I used to have two copies).

 

[dcren123]

Have you tried using different heads or maybe try tightening the friction locking mechanism to see if it reduces vibration?

When I first got my 100-400mm I used it on a manfrotto 494rc2 (the only one I had at the time which worked fine with my 70-200 f4 and other lenses) and it vibrated a lot. I ended up buying a manfrotto mhxpro.

Since vibration still occurs at high shutter speeds it is most likely a different issue but it is still worth testing out.

 

[Otara]

Try the type III IS option, thats my preferred default.

 

[Maximilian]

Hi YuengLinger!

I suppose I cannot add more information on IS on tripod as already said.

...
And, for discussion, is the design and construction inherently more prone to vibration because of the way the zoom barrel extends so far out beyond the main portion of the lens body? I don't remember encountering this issue to such an extent on the 400mm f/5.6L prime.

On your second question "zoom more prone to vibration?" I'd say that of course you can built a non-extending lens barrel more stable and low vibration than something that extends and has more moving parts.
When I look at Rogers teardown at LR https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/02/canon-100-400-is-l-mk-ii-teardown-best-built-lens-ever/ I believe Canon did a lot to built the 100-400 II very solid.
Roger stated:

... just how robustly engineered this lens is. I will say that the insides look more like what we’d expect to see in a 500mm f/4 or 600mm f/4 lens, rather than a telezoom. It’s by far the most heavily engineered zoom lens Aaron and I have ever seen; and we’ve seen the insides of dozens of lenses in this range.

Reading this I'd expect it to be maybe even better built than the 400/5.6 ;-)

 

[Hector1970]

I haven't experienced your problem.
I leave IS on always.
On the tripod I use the lens hood and rest my hand there.
I was shown this by an expert wildlife photographer.
I've no idea if that is a better position for the hand but given his work is stunningly good and sharp there must be something to it.

 

[YuengLinger]

My chance to get out to a wetlands preserve has been pushed back another week, but thank you all for the suggestions, each of which I'll try with hopes of getting better and more consistent results at 400mm when on a tripod.

 

[Loswr]

I haven't experienced your problem.
I leave IS on always.
On the tripod I use the lens hood and rest my hand there.
I was shown this by an expert wildlife photographer.
I've no idea if that is a better position for the hand but given his work is stunningly good and sharp there must be something to it.

Depends on the steadiness of your hand. Set up on a tripod, 10x mag on live view, and see if the image settles with your hand on the lens.

 

[Grant Atkinson]

My chance to get out to a wetlands preserve has been pushed back another week, but thank you all for the suggestions, each of which I'll try to get better, more consistent results at 400mm when on a tripod.

Hi YuengLinger, I always keep IS on when using my 100-400ii, whether on the tripod or not. Any of the 3 modes should be helpful. Just some questions - are you mounting your 100-400 via the lens collar itself to the tripod head? I also use a long(ish) lens plate as recommended by another poster in this thread, and get the setup rougly balanced. Placing a hand on top of the lens is one way to help dampen vibrations.
Cheers
Grant