Nikon VR - how to test

dkh

dkh

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Dilip
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I have a new Nikon 105 VR lens, bought two weeks ago from WEX, UK.

I have had numerous IS / VC etc lenses and thought I'd know a stabilised lens from an non-stablised one.

I used a 70-200vr (the non vr2) and that felt like the 105 vr - the image doesn't really stop moving around in the view-finder like with the sigma / canon / tamron lenses.

Is this how Nikon VR is supposed to be or do I have a couple of dodgey lenses?
 
Easiest way is to hold the camera to the eye, wait for the VF image to get a bit wobbly then 1/2 press the shutter button. The VF image should get much less wobbly (and you'll probably hear a faint click and whirring while the VR gyros are kicking in/out and spinning.) You could also try shooting at under 100th of a second with it off and on and see the difference in the results. I reckon 1/60th or 1/30th should show you if it's working properly.
 
Trying out the lens at macro distances / small objects greatly magnified - I can hear the wirring sound when pressing either the bbf or the shutter button and the image does stabilise.

Over the previous weekend, I was using it for portraits in place of an 85mm 1.8G and that's where it was almost impossible to tell whether the VR was functioning. It was almost a case of switching VR off to get a focused image, especially on the 70-200 nearer the 200mm end.
 
Portraits aren't ideal for testing VR - the subjects keep moving a bit!!!
 
dkh said:
Trying out the lens at macro distances / small objects greatly magnified - I can hear the wirring sound when pressing either the bbf or the shutter button and the image does stabilise.
Click to expand...
OK, so the VR is doing something.

Test its effectiveness by taking a series of images of a *static* target, using different shutter speeds, with VR on and off. We use the clock on the wall at the end of the office, because it has nice precise markings on it which make it easy to see how blurred an image is.

1. Assume a normal shooting stance.
2. Set VR to off.
3. Set shutter speed to, say, 1/250th.
4. Lift camera to eye, focus, shoot, take camera away from eye, defocus.
5. Repeat step 4 a few times.
6. Set shutter speed to be 1 stop slower.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 until all the images you see on the back of the camera are obviously blurred.
8. Switch VR on.
9. Repeat steps 3 to 7.

When you review the images, make a note of the slowest shutter speed at which all, or a majority (say 3 out of 5), of the images are acceptably sharp. It's up to you to define "acceptable" and it doesn't really matter so long as you're consistent between VR off and VR on.

It might sound like a lot of work but it actually takes no more than 5 minutes.
 
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