How important is in-lens image stabilization?

[MICKEY88]

The shutter speed for this shot is 1/160 & f/13.0. Although this is a prime lens and it is a very sharp lens. Faster glass do makes a different.

FAster glass definitely makes adifference, but if your'e shooting at f 13 or f 14 it really doesn't matter if it's a fast lens or not, because you aren't using the f 2.8 or f 1.7..

 

[MICKEY88]

this was shot with my 100-300 lens, handheld , no image stabilization

 

[NostalgicDad]

I absolutely love my 70-300VR. A general rule of thumb is to keep your shutter speed at least equal to the focal length of your shot.......Shooting at 200mm then you would prefer at least a 1/200 shutter speed. But, keep in mind that your DX sensor has a crop factor of x1.5. The shot below is at 300mm which is equivalent to 450mm on full frame 35mm. Therefore you would typically prefer a shutter speed of at least 1/500 for this shot. However, I shot this using a wide open aperture (f/5.6) which resulted in a 1/320 sec. shutter speed. ISO 200. VR was on. This lens is incredibly sharp even wide open. Well worth the price you pay if you choose to do so.

 

[annnewjerz]

I absolutely love my 70-300VR. A general rule of thumb is to keep your shutter speed at least equal to the focal length of your shot.......Shooting at 200mm then you would prefer at least a 1/200 shutter speed. But, keep in mind that your DX sensor has a crop factor of x1.5. The shot below is at 300mm which is equivalent to 450mm on full frame 35mm. Therefore you would typically prefer a shutter speed of at least 1/500 for this shot. However, I shot this using a wide open aperture (f/5.6) which resulted in a 1/320 sec. shutter speed. ISO 200. VR was on. This lens is incredibly sharp even wide open. Well worth the price you pay if you choose to do so.

Ack! Too many decisions...that is very nice and sharp though. Definitely puts another tick mark in the side of "GET VR" rather than "WHO NEEDS IT?"

All of these great photos and suggestions that the VR is worth is are definitely not helping me stick to my "one large-ish photography related purchase" agreement that I made with DH for the year. It's only the beginning of February!!!!!

 

[Steve's Girl]

Ack! Too many decisions...that is very nice and sharp though. Definitely puts another tick mark in the side of "GET VR" rather than "WHO NEEDS IT?"

All of these great photos and suggestions that the VR is worth is are definitely not helping me stick to my "one large-ish photography related purchase" agreement that I made with DH for the year. It's only the beginning of February!!!!!

Ahhhh....you start the year with "no large photography purchase", come February, "one largish purchase", just wait until March or April - you'll have a nice big ole shopping cart at B & H! Oh, the possibilities with more stuff....

 

[GrumpyOne]

If you use the gov't. fiscal year, the year is almost half over!

 

[YesDear]

Ann I think the bottom line is if it is really in good condition and mechanically sound, $75 is a great price for the lens. Are there limitations to it? Is there a lens that does not have a limitation!!!!!!!!

Would I rather have a VR lens for a focal length that long? Yeah, Would I buy that lens at that price? Probably.

 

[annnewjerz]

Ann I think the bottom line is if it is really in good condition and mechanically sound, $75 is a great price for the lens. Are there limitations to it? Is there a lens that does not have a limitation!!!!!!!!

Would I rather have a VR lens for a focal length that long? Yeah, Would I buy that lens at that price? Probably.

You're right, you really do like helping people spend their money.

That was my thought initially, that for $75 even if I could ONLY use it in daylight and even if I could ONLY use it with a monopod to get decent shots, for $75, why not? I'm sure the 75-300VR is a spectacular choice for most, but I just don't see myself using the 300 end enough to make it worth almost 5X the money.

 

[handicap18]

I'll throw in a few images I've taken with my 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 ED-IF AF-S VR lens:

D50, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/80th, 240mm:

D50, ISO 400, f/8, 1/400th, 98mm:

D300, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1600th, 210mm:

D50, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/40th, 116mm:

 

[Suburbanmom]

I don't know how I missed this thread.

I had a Tamron 70-300mm (no VR) and used it a lot. I got some very nice photos, handheld, with it. I took it to football games and the beach. It was not good indoors, but I didn't expect it to be. I also got some blurry shots because it wasn't fast enough or I didn't hold it steady enough at the long end.

Then one day last summer I picked it up and heard something rattle. I have no idea what happened to it. I didn't drop it. No one in my family claimed to have dropped it either. But nonetheless, it would no longer focus-auto or manual.

I went online and discovered that to replace the Tamron lens would be about $150. I had a little money saved up for photo equipment and decided to spend $550 and get the Nikon 70-300mmVR instead.

I still get blurry pictures, but they are fewer. My photos are sharper overall as well, and think that is because the glass is better. I don't really think the VR is responsible for that. I'm kinda glad the Tamron broke 'cuz the VR is very nice. But when I didn't know what I didn't have, I was pretty happy too.

Later, I also ended up getting the 70-200mm f/2.8. Now that is a beast of a lens and there's no way I could hold it still without the VR. But I think for the 70-300mm, you can definately manage and will take some great shots. For $75, I would go for it.

 

[KrazyPete]

For a telephoto lens at longer focal lengths like 200 or 300mm, how important is VR/IS/whatever?

I know that VR is supposed to "eliminate the need" for a tripod, but if you were shooting with say, the 70-300mm in regular daylight/slightly overcast conditions do you really have to worry about a blurry image? AND--if so, would a monopod help? Is the VR really worth the extra money if it's a lens that you'd like, but will only use in the specific situations listed above?

If possible, anyone who has a lens, whether it be the 55-200, the 70-300 or even the 18-200 with the VR turned off that they could post, that'd be great!

Thanks.
Ann

I took some test photos with the VR off and on when I first got my 70-200m f/2.8. They aren't pretty pictures but...

Comparison test photos with Nikon's VR system turned off and on. Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR @ 200mm mounted on a D80, handheld. Shutter speed was 1/8s. No sharpening was done in camera or during post processing. I shot five shots with the VR on and five shots with it off. The subject is a stem glass with hand painted flowers on it shot from about 18 feet away.

 

[annnewjerz]

I took some test photos with the VR off and on when I first got my 70-200m f/2.8. They aren't pretty pictures but...

Comparison test photos with Nikon's VR system turned off and on. Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR @ 200mm mounted on a D80, handheld. Shutter speed was 1/8s. No sharpening was done in camera or during post processing. I shot five shots with the VR on and five shots with it off. The subject is a stem glass with hand painted flowers on it shot from about 18 feet away.

Thank you - those are really helpful. I'd love to see how they look without the crop if you have them still.

 

[Groucho]

The shutter speed is the big thing... the IS theoretically adds about 2-4 stops of stabilizations... and you use the 1/100th theory as a general rule, so...

Let's say you're using a 200mm lens at max aperture. The fastest you can get is 1/100th of a second. Without IS, you'll probably get a blurry photo. With IS, it will probably be sharp (closer to a shot taken at 1/400th.)

Now, if there's enough light to get the same shot at 1/200th or 1/400th, the IS probably won't help much. And if the best you can get is 1/25, you'll probably still get a blurry photo with IS but not as blurry.

Of course, the IS won't help when photographing a moving object, or when you're moving. For example, the IS probably won't help much on the Safaris ride at AK (unless completely stopped, which you rarely are), or for Lights Motors Action at DHS.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

For example, the IS probably won't help much on the Safaris ride at AK (unless completely stopped, which you rarely are), or for Lights Motors Action at DHS.

Stabilizing systems with a panning mode can be useful for panning shots at LMA.


I've been working on an entirely new approach to stabilization. Instead of putting the stabilizer in the lens or camera and trying to stabilize the optical system, I'm working on a way to synchronize subject motion with camera shake. I shake the subject exactly in time with the camera. I'm still working out the bugs. I got thrown out of a local football game. I wasn't holding the camera very steady and shook the ball out of a running back's hands. The biggest problem is the incredible battery drain when taking pictures of really heavy subjects like mountains (not to mention all the whining about earthquakes).

 

[jann1033]

while i like mark's approach, another easier approach is to call all blurred shots "art" . see my gallery for tons of examples