Image stabilisation & tripods etc.

arclight

arclight

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It is recommended to turn off IS when the camera is monted on a tripod otherwise the photographic image may be degraded.

How far do you take this?

Do you turn off IS if the camera is rested on a wall or a bean bag etc?
 
IS off on a tripod - depends.

When the camera and lens are totally locked off and cannot move - IS should really be off. However if I were to use an IS lens on my gimble head (Which allows full & free movement) then despite being tripod mounted I would keep IS on.

Plus some lenses should detect when they are on a tripod and compensate accordingly.
 
Basically the IS will look for movement and try to compensate, so a tree branch in the breeze for example, may blur your shot if on a tripod.
I'd turn it off on a wall, as the camera isn't moving at all is it. If it's rock solid on the beanbag the same applies, but if you're pivoting about looking for a shot then turn it on.
 
cyclone said:
Basically the IS will look for movement and try to compensate, so a tree branch in the breeze for example, may blur your shot if on a tripod.
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This isn't how IS works.

IS dedects motion the camera/lens and compensates purely for that motion. If something in the frame is moving then IS will not know about that and therefore not compensate.
 
RichardtheSane said:
This isn't how IS works.

IS dedects motion the camera/lens and compensates purely for that motion. If something in the frame is moving then IS will not know about that and therefore not compensate.
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That's my understanding of how it works, but I wondered at what degree of steadiness did the IS have a detrimental effect.
 
arclight said:
That's my understanding of how it works, but I wondered at what degree of steadiness did the IS have a detrimental effect.
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Certainly on canon the reasoning is that when there is no lens movement at all the IS can put itself into a kind of feedback loop where it is seeing it's own corrections as lens motion and trying to correct them. It doesn't happen every time but it can.

So any situation where you can get even a small amount of natural lens movement IS should be fine.
 
cyclone said:
Basically the IS will look for movement and try to compensate, so a tree branch in the breeze for example, may blur your shot if on a tripod.
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I'm baffled by this. Maybe you're thinking of Type I and type II IS on canon zoom lenses.
Type I will compensate for vertical and horizontal movement in the camera, due to shake normally.
However, type II will no try to correct horizontal movement in the camera, great for if you're doing a panning shot.
If you pan, following a moving motorbike for example, in portrait mode I guess you're stuffed :P :bonk:


as for tripods and IS being off...the system is an active system with moving/floating parts...so if there is absolutely no movement, the act of trying to stop it will hinder your photo quality.
Imagine that you were guiding someone trying not to spill a drink. if the cup is on a level stable surface then you may knock them a little. or imagine the same thing in drinking jenga!
:)

this quote might better explain it
Image Stabilization (and vibration reduction) lenses look for vibrations in your camera in order to reduce it - however if they don’t find any (like when you are using a Tripod) they actually can cause it - and as a result actually cause camera shake.
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apparantly some new uber canon IS lenses auto detect that they're on a tripod
maybe there is a threshold value of vibration, below which IS is deactivated and the lens elements locked in place
 
arclight said:
It is recommended to turn off IS when the camera is monted on a tripod otherwise the photographic image may be degraded.

How far do you take this?

Do you turn off IS if the camera is rested on a wall or a bean bag etc?
Click to expand...


Bottom line: if there is zero movement in the camera then turn 'IS' off

(yes i know some 3rd gen IS lenses detect it and turn it off for you)
 
CScottMcQueen said:
Bottom line: if there is zero movement in the camera then turn 'IS' off

QUOTE]

That's the dilema - knowing when zero movement has been achieved when you are using a wall/bean bag etc as a support.

Perhaps I am being too fussy.
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voodoochild said:
Does using a stabalized lens effect the quality of the image?
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I would suggest the opposite. The IS helps keep the image "stable" thereby improving matters.

However if you mean does the inclusion of IS components degrade the image? I suppose you could argue that the additional lens elements may have a derogatory effect on the image. I suppose the only way to test it is to put 2 lenses side by side and see if the one without IS is better. Apart from the Canon 70-200 f4 I don't know of any other lens you could do this test with.

However from my own experience with Canon IS lenses I don't have any real problem with the IS Components being in place.
 
Sorry guys if I made a mistake.
But I swear my lens has tracked a subject, albeit for a very small period of time.

The image on my 18-200 stays remarkably steady and to be honest I don't see how the VR can cope that well detecting only camera shake so assumed that at least a portion of it was image based.

To work this well without checking the image, the lens must take into account focal length and subject distance, which admittedly is information the camera does have available.

arclight is correct though, bottom line, if the camera is rock steady then turn it off. Similar to what I already said and that's the main point regardless of how it actually works.

Apologies once again.
 
I just got a new lens with IS
it says to turn it off when on tripod
but even if you don't, it will not operate as the lens will detect that a tripod is being used

Type 1 is for general handheld
Type II is for use when panning as it won't fix horizontal movement

Canon 300 f/2.8 L IS

same handbook for
400 f/2.8
500 f/4
600 f/4
 
cyclone said:
To work this well without checking the image, the lens must take into account focal length and subject distance, which admittedly is information the camera does have available.
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Forget all about the image.

An IS/VR lens has a gyroscopically stabilised element. Your subject distance, magnification etc. have no bearing on how well this stabilisation works.

There are two sensors that contain tiny gyroscopes that identify the magnitude and direction of these vibrations. One detects horizontal movement, the other detects vertical movement. This is then fed back into a system which moves an element to shift the image against the movement detected.

I don't know for a fact, but I imagine that the panning mode simply removes/reduces the impact from the horizontal sensor on the shift.
 
Yep as above.

The newer versions of IS can detect a tripod and so don't "need" to be switched off, but is still recommended by Canon (also saves some battery power). If not the newer version, then you should switch IS off. :thumbs:
 
cyclone said:
Sorry guys if I made a mistake.
But I swear my lens has tracked a subject, albeit for a very small period of time.
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Isn't that the way the AF works rather than the IS? AF can lock onto a moving target and keep it in focus even when moving. (not sure how effective this actually is, but I understand that it has the capability)
 
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