IS Woes ....Aaagh!

A brief recap:

I bought a S/H Canon EF 75-300 IS which had a duff AF motor.
I sent the lens to Canon RCC for a new USM motor, paying £120.00 for a fixed
price service..
When it came back the I tried the lens. The AF was perfect but the IS was
causing horisontally displaced double exposures.
I returned it to Canon RCC who "Dismantled, reset the Image Stabiliser &
Checked."
I just got the lens back and it's exactly the same.

Am I going mad, or what?
Or am I missing something?
(I've not used IS before so I don't know what to expect)

I've just taken some test shots on my 300D, using the IS lens set at 300 and
also a 90-300 zoom set at 300 to compare.
This is what I found:
1/60 : both IS & Non IS lenses reasonably sharp, but switching on IS gives
severe double image.
1/80 : both IS & Non IS lenses reasonably sharp, switching on IS gives
double image.
1/100: both IS & Non IS lenses sharp, switching on IS softens the image.
1/125: both lenses sharp, switching on IS image is equally sharp.
Above 1/125 images are all sharp.

Do IS lenses cause double images at very low speeds. If they do, what
benefit do I get from IS if I can hand-hold and get sharp images anyway?

Please help me - I'm going out of my mind with frustration (

Are you using a tripod with IS on?

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message
...
A brief recap:

I bought a S/H Canon EF 75-300 IS which had a duff AF motor.
I sent the lens to Canon RCC for a new USM motor, paying £120.00 for a
fixed
price service..
When it came back the I tried the lens. The AF was perfect but the IS was
causing horisontally displaced double exposures.
I returned it to Canon RCC who "Dismantled, reset the Image Stabiliser &
Checked."
I just got the lens back and it's exactly the same.

Am I going mad, or what?
Or am I missing something?
(I've not used IS before so I don't know what to expect)

I've just taken some test shots on my 300D, using the IS lens set at 300
and
also a 90-300 zoom set at 300 to compare.
This is what I found:
1/60 : both IS & Non IS lenses reasonably sharp, but switching on IS gives
severe double image.
1/80 : both IS & Non IS lenses reasonably sharp, switching on IS gives
double image.
1/100: both IS & Non IS lenses sharp, switching on IS softens the image.
1/125: both lenses sharp, switching on IS image is equally sharp.
Above 1/125 images are all sharp.

Do IS lenses cause double images at very low speeds. If they do, what
benefit do I get from IS if I can hand-hold and get sharp images anyway?

Please help me - I'm going out of my mind with frustration (

"Will" wrote in message
...
Are you using a tripod with IS on?

Nope.

Tumbleweed wrote:

"Will" wrote in message
...

Are you using a tripod with IS on?


Nope.

Is the IS in a panning mode? (Is there a switch for panning?).

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"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
Tumbleweed wrote:

"Will" wrote in message
...

Are you using a tripod with IS on?


Nope.

Is the IS in a panning mode? (Is there a switch for panning?).

No, the 75-300 was the first IS lens from Canon and was quite crude.
It's either on or off - no frills for sports photographers like panning etc.

As you have answered no to being on a tripod or in Mode 2 (yes I know, the
75-300 IS has no mode 2) it really sounds as if you have a lens failure of
some kind.

If IS at 1/60 shutter gives you a double image this is indicating a quite
rapid motion in the IS system. This would be visible to your eye in the
viewfinder. This is also not normal at all.

Your shutter speed examples, and the fact that the motion gets less as
shutter speeds get faster also seem to indicate some kind of IS induced
motion, again quite out of the ordinary.

I have gotten good hand held slow shutter speed shots down to around 1/2 sec
under many conditions using IS, the same generation IS you have on that
lens. I have gotten good results down to 1.5 seconds with IS but that is
the exception, and also takes a bit of luck. I have both the 28-135 IS and
the 75-300 IS, I also have the 70-200 f2.8 L IS and the 100-400 L IS, and
what you are describing just flat out is not normal for any IS lens. Except
in the case of Generation 1 IS on a tripod IS reduces motion at all shutter
speeds, not induces image motion.

C!

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message
...
This is what I found:
1/60 : both IS & Non IS lenses reasonably sharp, but switching on IS gives
severe double image.
1/80 : both IS & Non IS lenses reasonably sharp, switching on IS gives
double image.
1/100: both IS & Non IS lenses sharp, switching on IS softens the image.
1/125: both lenses sharp, switching on IS image is equally sharp.
Above 1/125 images are all sharp.

Do IS lenses cause double images at very low speeds. If they do, what
benefit do I get from IS if I can hand-hold and get sharp images anyway?

Please help me - I'm going out of my mind with frustration (

"Colic" wrote in message
news:WmSfe.70369$c24.47005@attbi_s72...
As you have answered no to being on a tripod or in Mode 2 (yes I know, the
75-300 IS has no mode 2) it really sounds as if you have a lens failure of
some kind.

If IS at 1/60 shutter gives you a double image this is indicating a quite
rapid motion in the IS system. This would be visible to your eye in the
viewfinder. This is also not normal at all.

Your shutter speed examples, and the fact that the motion gets less as
shutter speeds get faster also seem to indicate some kind of IS induced
motion, again quite out of the ordinary.

I have gotten good hand held slow shutter speed shots down to around 1/2
sec under many conditions using IS, the same generation IS you have on
that lens. I have gotten good results down to 1.5 seconds with IS but
that is the exception, and also takes a bit of luck. I have both the
28-135 IS and the 75-300 IS, I also have the 70-200 f2.8 L IS and the
100-400 L IS, and what you are describing just flat out is not normal for
any IS lens. Except in the case of Generation 1 IS on a tripod IS reduces
motion at all shutter speeds, not induces image motion.

C!
Thank you so much!
That's an excellent and informative reply - exactly what I need to encourage
me to take on Canon again )