VR and battery level

[armand]

Yesterday I was out shooting and I started with the 24-120 F4 on the D750. Battery was low but I wanted to use it until dead as I knew it has at least 100 shots at that level.
VR was enabled and exposure time was 1/FL. In the past I noticed that on D750 with a VR lens this is the exposure to get decent sharpness.

Well, 20-30 shots into it I felt compelled to check some of the lower exposure time shots, at 1/30-1/50 and to my dismay sharpness was not what I was hoping, looking more as the problem I had in the beginning when trying to shoot with D750 at 1/FL with non-stabilized lenses. Changed a lens, changed a battery, went back later the the initial lens, and things were closer to what I expected although I was definitely paying more attention also so not sure which one did it.

Did anybody else experienced this? Is the 24-120 F4 VR more sensitive to this?

[dwswager]

Yesterday I was out shooting and I started with the 24-120 F4 on the D750. Battery was low but I wanted to use it until dead as I knew it has at least 100 shots at that level.
VR was enabled and exposure time was 1/FL. In the past I noticed that on D750 with a VR lens this is the exposure to get decent sharpness.

Well, 20-30 shots into it I felt compelled to check some of the lower exposure time shots, at 1/30-1/50 and to my dismay sharpness was not what I was hoping, looking more as the problem I had in the beginning when trying to shoot with D750 at 1/FL with non-stabilized lenses. Changed a lens, changed a battery, went back later the the initial lens, and things were closer to what I expected although I was definitely paying more attention also so not sure which one did it.

Did anybody else experienced this? Is the 24-120 F4 VR more sensitive to this?

1/Focal Length is a general rule WITHOUT VR.  Depending on the situation, you should be able to do a little better than that.  If you're not getting good shots at 1/FL without VR either the lens has a problem, the camera has a problem or the user has a problem.  You might try putting it on a tripod without VR and getting a control.

With VR, depending on the lens, you should be able to gain 2-3 stops.  Nikon claims up to 4 stops on the AF-S 24-120mm f/4G VR, but 3 is more reasonable.  Obviously, it takes battery to operate so that can be an issue.