# Questions about IS and IBIS with various lenses on a R5



## edstiles (Sep 1, 2022)

A long post, I apologize in advance.

I have some questions about Lens IS and IBIS on the R5 - an EF lens with IS v.s EF lens -No IS v.s RF lens with IS.

I experimented using 3 lenses: a EF 85mm F1.8 which has no IS, a RF 24-240mm which has IS and an EF16-35mm F4 L with IS.

First, I added the IS menu option to the "Green" menu so that I could see it all the time. The Red 7 menu IS option is only shown with non IS lenses. Note: the menu only says "IS", not IBIS. Camera was in Manual mode at this time. Originally the option was only shown in the Red menu, page 7 with Firmware 1.6.0. if you had mounted a non IS lens.

I could see this on the menu with the 85 mm on both Red 7 and Green pages, giving me the options of IS mode On/Off. I assume this means In Body IBIS can be active with a non IS lens. 

Question 1: Does that mean that the in body IBIS will provide stablization for a non stablized EF lens?

I then switched to the RF 24-240mm having IS.

Red 7 did not show the IS option at all. On the Green menu, the IS option was grayed out but allowed me to chose and open it, saying "Not available with the attached lens". Why the words "Not available" ??? I know the lens has IS.

Question 2: Why is Canon hiding the menu if IBIS & Lens IS is on and why not state clearly whether IBIS and / or Lens IS is ON or OFF? Also given the differences between the EF and RF lens, state "Limited Stablization" or "Full Lens Stablization"

To me, this indicates that with this RF lens, lens IS and IBIS is on all the time and the only option is to shut it off by switching off the IS on the lens itself. However, when I switch off IS on the lens, I get the same message as above on the Green page - "Not available with the attached lens" and no entry on Red 7. I have read several times that switching off the lens IS disables all IS / IBIS functions yet this is not displayed on the menu.

Question 3: Why when you switch OFF the Lens IS is that not reflected in the menu? I would think with FW 1.6.0 that the IBIS option on Red 7 would reappear if the IBIS / Lens IS were switched off.

Finally, I put the EF 16-36 IS lens on using the EF-RF Control Ring adapter (as I did above with the 85 mm). Red 7 menu shows no IS /IBIS menu option. Green shows IS option "Grayed out" but when I open this it gives the same message "Not available with the attached lens"

I am assuming that when Canon says on the Green menu "Not available with the attached lens" or shows nothing on the Red 7 menu, it means that IBIS and lens IS is on given that this is the same message I get with the RF 24-240 having IS.

I would ASSUME that the message indicated that EF Lens IS is doing its thing while the R5 IBIS corrects the remaining settings. But this should be stated clearly. Given the RF 24-240 has the 12 pins, I can assume it has better communications with the lens and can co-ordinate all the IS / IBIS functions whereas the EF16-35 L IS can only communicate with 8 pins thus limiting what it can do. Note that the EF16-35 gives the same messages as the 24-240 whether the lens IS switch is On or Off.

So I am massively confused. Why doesn't Canon change its menu when you switch off IS on the lens? Why do they not make it obvious in separate fields that lens IS or IBIS is active or inactive and switch ththe appropriate entries when you turn off the Lens IS switch.? 

I would love it if Canon would 1) Change the verbiage to say "Stablization" on the entry on Red 7, having this shown all the time, with that entry stating clearly IBIS ON/OFF and Lens IS is either Enhanced (RF), Limited (EF) or OFF and 2) Change those settings when you switch off the lens IS switch.

Hopefully, someone here can clarify some of this for me. 

Sorry for the long post...


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## neuroanatomist (Sep 1, 2022)

edstiles said:


> Question 1: Does that mean that the in body IBIS will provide stablization for a non stablized EF lens?


Yes, if the IS menu setting is On. The ability of IBIS to stabilize non-IS lenses can be a big advantage, especially with wider lenses (IBIS loses effectiveness as focal length increases).



edstiles said:


> Question 2: Why is Canon hiding the menu if IBIS & Lens IS is on and why not state clearly whether IBIS and / or Lens IS is ON or OFF?


No idea. Canon does what they do. They’ve decided that the IBIS setting is only accessible with non-IS lenses.



edstiles said:


> Also given the differences between the EF and RF lens, state "Limited Stablization" or "Full Lens Stablization"


That terminology wouldn’t be accurate. For example, both my RF 24–105/4L IS and my RF 28-70/2L are rated for 8-stops of stabilization on my R3. But they could probably find a better way to clarify what’s going on in the menus.



edstiles said:


> To me, this indicates that with this RF lens, lens IS and IBIS is on all the time and the only option is to shut it off by switching off the IS on the lens itself.


That is correct. With an IS lens and a body with IBIS, the only control for IS is the switch on the lens barrel. Switch on means both lens and IBIS active, switch off means both off. You cannot independently control IBIS and lens IS. Why? Because Canon made it that way.

For stills shooters, it’s not really an issue – usually you want all the stabilization you can get. For video shooters it’s an issue, though, because with wider lenses IBIS imparts a ‘wobble’ at the edges of the frame, so lens IS without IBIS would be helpful (but not possible unless Canon changes that).


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