Radio Controlled Helicopters

It can but you’d have to set the speed to like 1,000 or something, as well as high ISO and low aperture to compensate for the speed. In theory, you can take pictures of an RC chopper with that lens. But having IS is always a plus- and almost absolute necessity, so get that one instead.
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Photography Hobbyist/Amateur

The answer is a qualified ‘yes’ because IS/VR usually doesn’t help with shooting a moving subject like an RC helicopter. So it really depends on your skills as a photographer. Don’t know if you’ve spent any time birding with a shotgun but shooting moving subjects in flight with a camera involves the same skill sets used to bring low-lying ducks and dove home for dinner. The key is smoothly tracking your subject and continuing that smooth track during and after shutter release. If you stop moving or stop tracking because you think it over the instant you hear the shutter release, chances are you will be disappointed by a blurry mess in the resulting photo because you moved the camera off target before the shutter’s cycle was complete. This has been my experience at least. So when trying to take pictures of birds in flight or shooting at an airshow, I apply the same skills I learned to catch dinner as a child. Track smoothly, follow through and continue tracking after the shot until the image returns to the viewfinder and your sights/AF points are back on target. The only difference is, you don’t have to calculate lead like you would have you needed to bring that bird down.
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You’re talking about radio controlled helicopters ? Maybe. It will depend on how far away it is & how fast it’s moving. Not really an easy task. I’ve taken pics of a real helicopter in flight with my Nikon P 90 that turned out ok.One thing you have to deal with is shutter speed. You don’t want to freeze the action because it will look like the blades aren’t moving.
Yes, the camera can do this. But it will take skill to pull it off.
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Image stabilization does not help with moving subjects. It only corrects camera shake (the movement of your hands). I am not sure that you really want a 300mm lens though. You might find it difficult to keep the fast moving helicopter framed in such a tight field of view. Depending on the pixel count of your camera, you might find it easier to use a high quality zoom lens and crop the pictures in post processing to make the image of the copter larger for prints.
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Yes, even the lowly 70-300 III can do this, if you can.

What Eclipse is describing above is called "panning" your shot. This applies to a subject moving across your field of view. It is not terribly difficult, but it does take practice to get decent shots using the technique.

With the helicopter hovering, it is even easier.

You don’t need IS for this, you just need good technique.
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It should. That being said, are you trying to freeze the rotors, as if that is the case you will need a shutter speed of 1/200-1/4000 or so to do that. Also different lenses have different quality just like cameras do. You might have to adjust your ISO to make sure you are getting a high enough shutter speed. Your best bet is to put the camera on AV mode and set your Aperture to the lowest # you can get, ie F4 or F2.8 or F5.6 and then see what kind of shutter speed you will get. Also remember that the lower end lenses will have a varible aperture, ie F4-5.6 for example and that means when you zoom in on a subject the Aperture will change.

The IS is really designed to help cancel out your hand shake. BTW hand shake is more common on the lighter weight lenses over the heavier ones. IS does not help keep a moving subject in focus.

The Canon 300 F4 L series is a great lens! The IS version is even better, but it is about 2x the the price as well. Also the Canon 100-400 L IS zoom lens is a very nice lens. I have owned or currently own all those I mention and I have liked them all. Keep in mind that most Digital cameras are a 1.6x crop so a 300mm on a canon digital is like a 480mm on a film camera. So if you had the 70-200 F4 L series for example it would be wide open @ F4 at all focal lengths and the 300mm would be equal to 320 on a film camera.

Hope this helps. Any ?? send me a PM. I got some good shots of Helicopters in air, with the rotors stopped this past winter while shooting at the Iditarod.
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http://AkPhotos.zenfolio.com/

Yes, since it doesn’t depend on image stabilization but more on shutter speed and aperture.

Image Stabilization corrects the image when your hand is shaking and it creates a stabilization effect.

Action shots involving quick objects such as an RC helicopter whizzing by you or maneuvering or even jinking (assuming the controller is so skilled) requires a fast shutter speed and at least 1/60th of a second to ensure your own hand and body movements don’t blur the shot.

If you’re trying to capture fast action such as the jinking or fly by, you may need to set your shutter speed to 1/90th / 1/120th of a second to even enter the threshold of clear and blurry free pic.

The challenge of photogrpahing helicopters either large or small is the the rotor blades can be frozen to where it appears the copter is just danling in mid air since the fast shutter speed will ignore the blurring "buzzzing / flying disc" saucer effect the fast moving rotors project to the human eye.

Since you’re shooting in daylight and depending on whether it is sunny or cloudy, you can depict the moving rotors with a high f/Stop (aperture) and a slower shutter like 1/60th or even 1/30th if you can take the picture like a rifle sniper:

1. Frame the shot
2. Take a deep breath and from your diaphragm / suck your stomach in while breathing in, not sucking your stomach out
3. Let out half of the deep diaphragm breath
4. Release the trigger

Failing that, a handheld shot at 1/30th of a second will be just as blurry as our economy.
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