Image Stabilization, how it works...how effective is it?

[rover]

This is not an in body vs in lens question. Photography survived over 100 years, but I think we all agree, though not necessary, IS if available is a nice feature.

My question is how effective is it? I see these measures saying that IS in a particular camera or lens can compensate for 2-3 stops in shake allowing use of slower speeds. Really?

I can believe that in a tele lens this can be the case. An f4 tele lens in a situation where you need to shoot at 1/125 to get an exposure, but you feel you need to shoot at 1/500 to hide camera shake, I can see this working.

But at real slow speeds, well the time difference is much larger, I don't see IS saving me shooting at 1/4s vs 1/15s or 1/8s vs 1/30s. Can IS really hold things together for 3/8 of a second? That is a long time, and depending on my caffeine intake, a lot of jitters to control.

I fully prefer IS and won't buy a digi thingy without it, but I am skeptical about the extent of its effectiveness in the situations I often am in.

 

[Roberto]

I tried it on a cheap 18-55 EF-S IS and it worked fine at 1/4 or 1/5 (also if it is working better at 1/10) gaining at least 2/3 stops..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roberto_carmeli/

 

[nemjo]

Hi,

not an exact scientific test but...
Just yesterday evening I made a comparison with the G1 kit lens at 25mm IS on against an Oly PEN 25/2.8. The kit lens at 25mm opens "up" to somewhere 4.8-5. It was indoors so the times came out really slow.
1/10 with the Oly and some 2/3 with the kit lens - and I had to be very careful to shoot with the MF equally. So IS works at least to me.

Regards,

nemjo

 

[bmattock]

I find that it works, no doubt. How many stops, I'm not really sure. Haven't tried to specifically nail it down.

However, for anyone reading this who did not already know, a couple things I've learned. First, turn it off if you have the camera on a tripod, and second, turn it off if you are doing panning.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Hey great tips I'm new to digital and pan at my sons hockey games!

Thanks.

I find that it works, no doubt. How many stops, I'm not really sure. Haven't tried to specifically nail it down.

However, for anyone reading this who did not already know, a couple things I've learned. First, turn it off if you have the camera on a tripod, and second, turn it off if you are doing panning.

 

[ulrikft]

Some IS-systems helps 2-3 stops, other some more, other less. It is a great technology for those that want to handhold either slow speeds in low light, or long, long lenses.

 

[oscroft]

I've been using IS on a Canon 24-105L lens, and it is very impressive indeed. I really am getting something like 2-3 stops with it, and getting sharp hand-held shots at the 105 end even down to 1/20th sec.

At short to mid lengths (24-50), it means that I can shoot indoors at around 1/10 - 1/15 very steadily, and I've shot slower at 24mm a couple of times quite successfully.

Best,

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

2-3 stops is accurate. It really works. It's pretty good on the LX3 and very good on the Pentax K20D and K-7.

I'm an in-body man, since i love to use old lenses--it's a real treat to get IS with them!

 

[StaaleS]

oscroft's experience tallies with my own. I've consistently gotten one sharp shot out of three at below 1/10 at 105mm with the 24-105 f/4L; sometimes two or all three. On digital, this is good enough to save the day though it would get kind of expensive on film 🙂 And it's certainly very handy indoors when you for whatever reason want to be at f/11 for depth of field on a static subject.

 

[Roberto]

Hey great tips I'm new to digital and pan at my sons hockey games!

Thanks.

Canon lens automatically detect panning

 

[StaaleS]

Canon lens automatically detect panning

No, only certain models of them. In effect, the longer IS teles.

 

[sojournerphoto]

I've IS on 3 canon zooms - 24-105 f4L, 70-200 f4L and 70-300 DO (now sold).

It is very impressive and I have hand held shots that are acceptable on a 5D and even 1Ds3 at 3 stops below the correct minimum shutter spped. Having said that, it won't compensate if you don't at least try to hold the camera steady - so no waving it around - and the results do vary shot to shot (this is also true of every other system).

My GX100 has is too, and that is pretty impressive. I've had sharp shots at 1/2 second

Mike

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I don't know about the the 4/3's lenses, but the Canon DSLR IS lenses have two modes, once which allows panning. They also not care if they are on a tripod or not. At least not the latest ones. Older ones did. But you really don't need IS on a tripod unless ore using really long lenses.

I've shot handheld at 1/4 second with my 70-200 IS at 200mm. IS really works!

 

[ethics_gradient]

I found it very useful on a telephoto (100-400L IS), fairly useless on a standard zoom (EF-S 17-85 IS). With the standard, I never saw it save a borderline picture and make it sharp, but rather made moderately bad pictures "somewhat acceptable". I would probably never buy another lens under 200mm with IS, but at the same time would likely pay the premium for it on a 200mm+ tele.

 

[pvdhaar]

Although VR really works, and I do get a couple of extra stops out of the 70-300, there are a couple of caveats..

VR is advertised to gain you something like 3 to 4 stops, but that is quite misleading. Yes, VR will allow me to shoot 300mm at 1/60 instead of 1/500, but it doesn't scale liewise to slower speeds. Below something like 1/60, the main movement I make isn't true shake anymore, it's more like waving the lens around too far for VR to compensate. So VR makes 1/60th look the same as 1/500th without, but it doesn't make 1/8th look anywhere near like 1/60th without.

Another thing is coffee.. or being tired for that matter. There are days when I can shoot 1/8th at 300mm and it looks like it's shot with a tripod, and then there are days when I'm able to out-manoeuvre VR @ 1/500..

And finally, there's handholding technique. You can get comparable results to VR by shooting a long lens over your shoulder while resting that long lens on it. Yes, it does look odd, and it's decidedly different from supporting/cradling a lens with your left hand, but it's a lot more stable..

 

[Disaster_Area]

This was shot at 300mm (480mm with crop factor) at 1/30sec at ISO 1600. I think I lost more detail from hi iso than I did from any camera shake. Without IS there's no way in hell I could have used such a slow lens (Canon 70-300 IS @f5.6) indoors in a nearly dark church. I find I get at LEAST 3-4 stops. If you consider that the 1/focal length rule says I should have been shooting at 1/300sec, this shot is a full 5 stops slower than that at 1/30... wow. Although I agree, you get more benefit from IS the longer the lens AND good hand holding technique is still a must.

You still have to be aware of the slow shutter speeds though as it gives you a false sense of security some times. You can see the movement blur on the hand on the left. There's no way I could have shot a concert with a moving subject in the same situation.

 

[Kin Lau]

Hey great tips I'm new to digital and pan at my sons hockey games!

Thanks.

If you're shooting Canon or Nikon and have one of the newer lenses, you might not have to. Some lenses have two modes for IS, including a setting for panning, so that IS only work on vertical motion. Some lenses can now also detect whether you're using a tripod or panning and adjust automatically. Your manual should tell you.

 

[bmattock]

The latest Canon lenses can help up to 4-5 stops. While obviously IS isn't critical it sure is nice to have. It works better on longer focal lengths for obvious reasons, but it doesn't hurt on the shorter ones. I'll choose a faster lens over IS though - case in point, the 24-70mm f/2.8L vs. the 24-105mm f/4L IS.

I only have IS on three lenses; 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS and 300mm f/2.8L IS. I wouldn't want to give up IS on any of these teles as it works fantastically.

I am very grateful to have my Pentax K200D. IS in-body is wonderful to have, especially since it works on every lens I can attach (even with duct tape) to the body. What's not to love?

 

[furcafe]

This is an important caveat to remember w/IS/VR technology: it doesn't compensate for subject movement (@ least currently, who knows what future technology may bring), so if your photography involves a lot of that, you may still need fast(er) glass &/or high(er) ISOs.

. . .

You still have to be aware of the slow shutter speeds though as it gives you a false sense of security some times. You can see the movement blur on the hand on the left. There's no way I could have shot a concert with a moving subject in the same situation.

 

[StaaleS]

While obviously IS isn't critical it sure is nice to have. It works better on longer focal lengths for obvious reasons, but it doesn't hurt on the shorter ones. I'll choose a faster lens over IS though - case in point, the 24-70mm f/2.8L vs. the 24-105mm f/4L IS.

Personally, I made the opposite choice. f/2.8 is neither here nor there for indoors work IMHO, whereas a 2-3-4 stop IS at f/4 can really save the day. So my 24-70L went out the door and the 24-105L stayed.

When I do need fast glass, I reach for FAST glass - as in f/1.something fast. f/2.8 just isn't enough to offset the loss of IS in my book.