Hey,

IS really isn't THAT important, it is a relatively recent development in photography - Certainly people took lots of photographs before ANYTHING was image stabilized.

That said, IS will buy you a couple of stops of handheld stabilization - if the standard rule of thumb to prevent camera motion blur is to shoot at (1/focal length) or faster for handheld shots, that means maybe 1/60s on a 100mm IS lens, or 1/30s on a 50mm IS lens. That might be a make or break difference for shooting herps in the wild, where lighting is unpredictable and you might not be able to carry/set up a tripod, or the situation may be too tight for one.

If ball pythons in captive environments are your subjects, IS will not be important at all. You can set up a tripod, light the scene properly, and shoot at any speed you want. Certainly 1/100s is very possible with a dSLR handheld indoors, and I doubt you will need a lens longer than 100mm to shoot ball pythons.

If I were you, I would consider lens cost too, Nikon lenses tend to cost more than the competition. The D80 and the XTi are both capable cameras, you will be very happy whichever way you go. Of course, IS is a nice perk, but both nikon and canon offer IS lenses.


-----
Erik Williams

fattailed geckos, western hognoses, and a bunch of postage stamps.
Contact me
www.chicagoherp.org
Chicago Herpetological Society

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