Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: Isaac on August 07, 2015, 08:36:40 pm
-
"If you do a Web search on IS/VR, you'll discover that almost everyone has a different opinion as to what to do (https://books.google.com/books?id=TrOFBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=digital%20nature%20photography&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=%22almost%20everyone%20has%20a%20different%20opinion%22&f=false)."
Do you explicitly choose when to use stabilization and when not to, or mostly leave IS on?
-
Hi,
I have three presets. If I am hand holding the camera I have IS on, if on tripod IS is off.
- Preset 1: Auto ISO, wide focusing area, IS
- Preset 2: ISO 100, central focus area, IS
- Preset 3: ISO 50, AF off, IS off, self timer 2s
Would I be able to buy a camera/lens without IS I would buy that. IS adds complexity. I mostly shoot on tripod, so IS matters little to me.
Canon cameras/lenses may detect that the camera is mounted on tripod and disable IS automatically.
On my Sony cameras I have verified that using IS on tripod has a negative impact on sharpness.
Best regards
Erik
Do you explicitly choose when to use stabilization and when not to, or mostly leave IS on?
-
Like Erik I leave IS/VR/OIS/IBIS/etc. on when handholding and switch it off when tripod-ing.
-Dave-
-
Do you explicitly choose when to use stabilization and when not to, or mostly leave IS on?
It really depends on the lens focal length and lighting conditions. But I generally leave IS on except for when on a tripod. I'll also sometimes use the option to allow panning but that's image specific.
-
I
Do you explicitly choose when to use stabilization and when not to, or mostly leave IS on?
Yes, I turn it off when shooting at high shutter speeds (above 1/500) and on when a tripod since the lenses I have do not recognize it.
-
Like Erik I leave IS/VR/OIS/IBIS/etc. on when handholding and switch it off when tripod-ing.
Same with me. When handholding, the more stable viewfinder also allows better focusing and optimizing/framing the composition. On tripod I mostly switch it off, although the lens may autodetect tripod use. When on tripod, but with ground vibration (like on a bridge with heavy traffic), I may try if IS helps.
Cheers,
Bart
-
It really depends on the lens focal length and lighting conditions.
That's the level of selectivity I was wondering about. Like others I habitually turn IS off for tripod and try to remember to turn IS back on afterwards.
What I haven't tried to do is to only use IS when approaching the boundary of hand-held shutter speed for the focal length. With IS on, the Sony a35 shows a 4 bar camera shake indicator which I use to judge how still I'm holding the camera, and using that has perhaps become too much of a habit across situations when the shutter speed is already high enough.
-
A situation not commented upon thus far is what to do when the camera is on a tripod with a gimbal mount and not locked down so that one can easily tilt and pan. I am confronted with this situation with my Nikkor AFS 80-400 lens. The manual states that one can leave the VR(IS) turned on in this situation, but I seem to get more consistent results with VR off. When VR fails, it can make the image worse. Any opinions on this?
Regards,
Bill
-
Handheld I have IS on.
On a tripod I turn IS off if I am using remote release or timed release. Even if on a tripod I will set IS on if it is on a gimbal head that is not locked down, if it is on any type of head in windy conditions or on a ball head and I am holding the camera at the time of pressing the shutter for whatever reason.
I once did some macro with my 100mm LIS on a tripod with remote release and the photos were blurred when IS was on, and pin sharp when IS was off. So I suspect that their 'tripod detect' part of IS function is not quite perfect.
-
Canon suggests to turn IS off when using the 100-400 (first version) mounted on a tripod. But my results show that I get more consistently sharp results, leaving IS turned on. I’ve never noticed that with the 24-105 though and turn IS off when tripod-mounted.
-
I shoot a lot on a tripod but with significant wind and have wondered about using S/VR vs pushing up the shutter speed and ISO. Anyone have thoughts on dealingwith wind?
Chuck
-
I hang my rucksack from the tripod to weigh it down for more stability. Don't want the rucksack swaging with the wind though, so I keep it touching the ground. Wind can be annoying!
-
I shoot a lot on a tripod but with significant wind and have wondered about using S/VR vs pushing up the shutter speed and ISO. Anyone have thoughts on dealingwith wind?
Chuck
IS is designed to deal with small regular motions such as handshake or (IME) vibrations set up my light to moderate breezes. IS is not deisnged to deal with significant translational movements (for example being a boat on gentle rolling motion) so some wind motion will not be corrected. But implementing IS surely cannot harm in those conditions so I would use it.
-
Like Erik I leave IS/VR/OIS/IBIS/etc. on when handholding and switch it off when tripod-ing.
Same here.
Except I'll sometimes turn it off for very high shutter speeds when hand-holding. Although I have to confess to not having done empirical experiments to justify this behavior.
-
Except I'll sometimes turn it off for very high shutter speeds when hand-holding. Although I have to confess to not having done empirical experiments to justify this behavior.
On the Canon, for example, the IS takes about half a second to stabilise and I have read comment that if you taking a quick-reaction shot this movement of the IS element while it is still settling down can reduce sharpness in the image. I honestly can't point to anytime I think it has happened but probably my technique is not such that the IS mechanism is the limiting factor.
-
Isaac,
Do you explicitly choose when to use stabilization and when not to...
Yes.
Chuck,
Anyone have thoughts on dealing with wind?
Put on a jacket/zipped-top but leave it unzipped. Stand between the camera and wind and flash (https://cartoonsbydouglasorleski.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/flasher.jpg) the former during capture in order to shield it from the latter.
-
Rob B. --- I think I most often shoot into the wind so the flashing approach might produce some interesting but not particularly attractive results. Of course I am also totally convinced that no matter which direction I ride my bicycle, I am riding into the wind and uphill as well.
Regardless, most of my landscape shooting is done on rocky, windy coastlines (often very cold wind) and the question of how to optimally deal with gusty wind (other than moving to a different climate) still bugs me.
Chuck
-
Hand Held = IS/VR on
Tripod = IS/VR off
As for dealing with wind during the use of a tripod. You really want a stable tripod to start with, lightweight travel tripods isn't always the best in my experience. Anyhow, You can hang your camera bag or backpack from the center of the tripod to help add weight...weight that pulls the center down. I generally use my tripod bag filling it with rocks. They also make cheap sand bag designed for sand or small rocks. I found some on Amazon for $5. Also, stand in a manor that helps block wind from hitting the tripod/camera setup while shooting.
-
Optical stabilization works differently on different lenses so there is no single rule for when to use it or which setting to use for every situation.
Something to be aware of is that a camera with an OS lens will wait for the OS to stabilize the image and shut off before the autofocus system will engage and adjust the focus and that has to complete before the camera will release the shutter.
When shooting a static scene with a lens this is not a problem but with moving subjects it slows down image capture. I have had OS fight the autofocus (resulting in chattering) and so have learned to shut off the OS on the lens unless it is needed. Where I use OS is with focal lengths greater than 100mm when using shutter speeds that are less than 1.5x the reciprocal of the focal length. For example with the 70-200mm at a 200mm zoom focal length I want 1/320s for sharp hand held shots with the OS/VR turned off. If for whatever reason I want to use a slower shutter speed then I know that I need the OS turned on and the autofocus performance will be degraded. I have to decide which it more important at that time.
Some lenses have a OS setting designed for use when the camera and lens are mounted on a tripod. This allows the OS to ignore horizontal movement as when panning but provides some level of OS for vertical micro movement of the lens.
-
Using Sony bodies, I never bother turning off the IBIS even though most of my work is tripod mounted and I do long exposures fairly often. It makes no difference to me and I get critically sharp images. Wind is an entirely different problem and I've seen some good suggestions above on combatting that.
My engineering take on the reason is that, if there is no input into the IBIS system, then there should be no reason for an output to move the sensor. if there is, then the system may damp the response but then that same gust of wind that caused the input would have displaced a non-stabilised sensor from zero as well, with the net result that it makes no difference.
-
Do you explicitly choose when to use stabilization and when not to, or mostly leave IS on?
Guess I'm in the minority. I leave VR (Nikon shooter) off, unless I am in a situation where I think it might be help. I view it like adding a filter. Unless I can articulate a reason to use it, I leave it out of the equation.
There are 3 modes of VR now. Normal, Active (moving platform) and Sport. So it will depend on the lens and the modes it has.
Also, there is indication that in the Nikon system with shutter speeds over 1/500th or so, it might impart a negative effect. As the systems get better and processing timelines decline, this probably becomes less and issue.