How slow shutter can you get away with on a VR lens hand held

mikeyw

mikeyw

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Guys,

Last night i did some indoor shots of a choir with my D90 + Tamron17-50 F2.8.

I was shooting mainly at F4 and 1/60th with the iso cranked right up to 1600 to get any reasonably exposed shots, handheld i'm useless under 1/60th so that got me thinking i wonder what i'd have been able to shoot at with the VR version of the same lens.

It's probably going to cost me the best part of £200 to trade up to this lens but if i can get away with a 1/15th indoors i might be tempted....would be very handy for weddings where no flash is permitted.

Any others moved from non vr glass to vr ?

Thanks in advance,
Mike.
 
Should get another 2 stops out of VR/IS, but that won't mean sharp results when there is movement in the shot.
 
Erm, well Canon's newest IS (and I suspect Nikons VR too) are now four stop. I have taken exposures on a Canon 18-55mm IS at 18mm, lasting one whole second that were shake free and sharp.
 
This is the new Nikon VR II system at work:-

70-200mm F2.8 VR II hand held at 1/5th second at 82mm.

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Stunning performance from the lens imo.
 
Certainly seems us none VR boys are working at a disadvantage - ok if the subject moves a tad it won't stop that but if you move slightly as well the problem is doubled.

Hmmm if i get a good fee for this assignment might use it to trade up - non flash where possible is a godsend on occasions especially with sharp results.
 
VR does have its limits. It copes very well with small movements but can't deal with the gross ones. I reckon that the lower limit that VR can cope with is probably around 1/15th, although (as shown above) people with naturally steady hands will be able to get lower. Of course, NO VR system can compensate for subject movement and if the subject twitches, the shot's going to be blurred.
 
Yes indeed... shake reduction systems are supposed to help reduce the effects of the camera shaking, not anything else... I think some people misunderstand this.

Ryan that's an awesome picture.
 
Can't, I was just testing so deleted it straight off... :naughty:
 
I was glad of VR when I went to Norwich recently and could not use flash inside the cathedral

This was handheld at 1/15th sec at f5, no flash with VR on

 
This is a 100% crop, f1.8, 1 second, no IS.

I can't do this every time (but I got that in one shot) and why I'd want a picture of an alarm clock at 01:18 is another story but if you have a steady hand and good technique I'd imagine that even better is possible with IS.

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Whole image.

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So I believe Trencheel.
 
You'd be better off with something capable of higher ISO. If you could get two more stops of speed out of it, you wouldn't need the VR and you could cope with subject movement better.

Nice D3S.... suits you sir!
 
That looks about right with the 70-20. You can hold the Mk1 down to about 1/15th at 200mm which is amazing! The MkII is over indulgence at the moment!

With a wider lens you have much more leeway however the deciding fator will be subject motion. Shooting a choir may be ok but moving heads mean you don't want much below 1/30th which you could probably handhold without VR
 
I can't speak for VR but I can for IS :)
But the principles pretty much the same anyway. I've got away with quite acceptable results of 1/25th of a second with a 300mm lens, handheld. But there's certainly a bit of luck attached to that too. There's no doubt it's well worth having and it's probably worth maybe 2 or 3 stops. Just don't expect it to work miracles every time.

cheers
 
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