I had a number of discussions with other fellow photographers and our readers about Vibration Reduction (also known as Image Stabilization, Vibration Compensation and Optical Stabilization), its behavior and how to best use it. While I will provide detailed information on how to properly utilize Vibration Reduction on Nikon’s lenses in a separate article, for a while I wanted to prove that letting VR stabilize first yields sharper images. There are a number of folks out there, who seem to think that just firing the shutter button is sufficient and that VR will stabilize those images as good as if one were to half-press the shutter button, wait a few seconds and then take an image. From my experience, letting VR stabilize first for a few seconds always yielded better shots, but I just could never actually prove it. Until today.
I have been spending a lot of time in my lab during the last several days testing almost all Nikon’s super telephoto lenses including the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II, 200-400mm f/4G VR, 500mm f/4G VR, 600mm f/4G VR and the new 800mm f/5.6E VR with various teleconverters (using Imatest) and I came across three different scenarios to test how VR affects sharpness:
- Vibration Reduction Turned Off. Camera set to Self Timer (5 seconds), Exposure Delay (3 seconds). Remote cable release.
- Vibration Reduction Turned On. Camera set to Self Timer (5 seconds), Exposure Delay (3 seconds). Half-press the shutter button for a couple of seconds, full-press, but continue to hold the shutter button. VR stays continuously on throughout the sequence.
- Vibration Reduction Turned On. Camera set to Self Timer (5 seconds), Exposure Delay (3 seconds). Remote cable release. VR turns on at the beginning of the sequence, turns off before the timer ends and turns on again during the exposure.
Basically, the above three scenarios show what impact VR has on sharpness when it is completely turned off (1), when it is engaged for a few seconds by half-pressing the shutter button (2) and when it is engaged just by pressing the shutter button during the actual exposure (3). This was a very interesting study for me personally and I think you will be fascinated to see what the results show. Obviously, everything was mounted on a sturdy tripod, so none of the below results are hand-held (it would be very hard to get my Imatest chart to be perfectly aligned if I were to do this hand-held). Let’s take a look at each case scenario, as analyzed and processed by Imatest:
The Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II is a very sharp lens from the center to the extreme corners with VR turned off.
Interestingly, sharpness drops a bit with VR turned on and stabilized for a few seconds. Looks like VR does impact the sharpness of images when it is engaged.
Now this chart says it all – just firing the shutter without letting VR stabilize first is NOT a good idea! Notice how much the sharpness can potentially drop when you do that. Looks like the lens only got one shot at f/5.6 that matched the results of letting VR stabilize first – the rest of the time images came out blurry!
Summary
Here is a quick summary of the above findings:
- Do not turn Vibration Reduction (Image Stabilization) on unless working at shutter speeds lower than inverse of the focal length of the lens – it does hurt the sharpness a little. For example, if you are shooting at 300mm, VR should be turned on if you are shooting under 1/300 of a second (general guideline, might need faster shutter speed for APS-C and high-resolution full-frame cameras).
- If you decide to turn Vibration Reduction on, make sure to half-press the shutter button for a few seconds to let the camera/lens stabilize a little first.
- If you shoot right away without stabilizing, it will most likely negatively impact the sharpness of your images.
Please keep in mind that the above Imatest scores are preliminary. I am still in the process of lab testing, so the numbers might change a little for the first graph (to be updated in the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II Review). Also, the above tests were conducted indoors in a low-light situation at shutter speeds 1/250 and below.
P.S. The Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II has a “Tripod Mode” detection mechanism.
Interesting article. I always wondered whether VR had any impact on image quality. May be this is the reason Canon did not include IS in their latest 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. I like VR, but as I could not afford f/2.8 I had to buy 300mm f/4.0. However the images taken on it despite lack of VR is tack-tack sharp!!!
John, I don’t think IS is the reason why Canon did not include VR on the 24-70mm f/2.8 – one could easily turn VR off and the floating element does not hurt image quality. Both Canon and Nikon think that VR is not necessary on short focal length pro lenses, which is bad – the 16-35mm VR was a proof that VR is useful at any focal length, even ultra wide angle.
A lot of video shooters, who regularly also use the 24-105, which has great IS, would very strongly disagree that VR isn’t necessary just because it’s a wider lens. Canon saw fit to release a 35mm lens with IS….
I agree. They will come to their senses soon enough. I have faith. Tamron as well as the Nikon 16-35mm proved how useful this is. This is why I’m waiting to purchase the Nikon 24-70mm and using primes instead in this range.
Perhaps a better test would be to do this without a tripod and use a series of shots to average the scores. Nikon suggests that you turn off VR on most lenses when using a tripod. This may be the discrepancy in the sharpness on a tripod that you are seeing. I’d bet that the sharpness is better with VR on handheld than off, and both are better than the unstabilized case.
Hi there,
Another great contribution, congrats!
I wonder if Rule #1 applies also to Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G:
“Do not turn Vibration Reduction (Image Stabilization) on unless working at shutter speeds lower than the focal length of the lens – it does hurt the sharpness a little.”
Thanks and regards!
Andre, yes, this rule applies to any lens. VR should be turned off unless you are working in low light conditions where the shutter speed is not fast enough.
Thanks for the reply Nasim! Cheers
Nikon VR, Tamron VC and Sigma OS are all good but reacts slower than Canon IS. You really need to wait, and sometimes half-click the shutter several times to effectively trigger VR.
Ertan, that’s an interesting observation. I do not have much experience with Canon’s IS implementation, but would love to do a cross-comparison someday. I would be surprised to see major differences between the two though, I think the technology itself and how it works is about the same on all brands.
At last, a definitive review of the use or misuse of stabilization, well done Nasim. When I bought my D7000 I had terribly soft images and was at a loss to know why. I had recently bought my first VR lenses, a 70-200mm VR1 and was inappropriately assigning VR at high shutter speeds. I used a rule of “if the shutter speed exceeds the focal length by more than x1.5 (e.g. 1/450 on a 300mm VR lens) then turn it off. This of course was always a rule in the pre-stabilization days where it was normal to always use a shutter speed in excess of the focal length.
Thanks again and the charts tell the whole story.
Richard
Thank you Richard!
Yes, it is best to turn VR off when the shutter speed is fast enough to not cause camera shake. Obviously the threshold depends on your hand-holding technique, but the general recommendation of shutter speed = focal length on full-frame is roughly a good place to start :)
Hi Nasim and Richard,
Wouldn’t it be great if Nikon were to implement a firmware update with a new menu similar to the Auto ISO one that would instead set out criteria (shutter speed below a certain value) for the camera to engage VR instead of just the ON/OFF switch? A few times I have been doing tripod work and taken the camera off the tripod to snap a picture of something passing by and I forgot to turn VR back on!
Braden, that’s a wonderful suggestion that HomoSapiensWannaBe pointed out in an earlier comment – perhaps we should send that to Nikon as a suggestion?
I am having a difficult time understanding how that might work. In Nikon systems VR is set on the lens not camera. Is there even any capability for the camera to control VR in any way? I’m thinking they would also have to modify all VR lenses so that they could receive such a signal. But, I’m pretty sure that it couldn’t be done with a firmware change.
It could actually work very well and I’ve been wishing a funktion like this for a long time. It’s the camera body that sends a signal to the lens to engage the VR when you halp-press the shutter release button or tuirn on live view mode. When disenganging the shutter release the VR turns of after a couple of seconds. If the VR would be on permanently it would seriously drain the camera’s battery.
This is especially appaerant in larger lenses with VR like the 300/2,8 VR, especiallly in the VR1 model where the VR gives off a fairly loud whistling/humming sound while active.
So if the shutter speeds stay above the setting in Auto ISO the body could just refrain from sending the VR engage signal to the lens.
Nasim,
Can you please comment on possibly the two most contentious issues with Nikons VR.
The use of VR when using shutter speeds faster than 1/500 second re sharpness
Using VR with a Wimberley Head and 600mm lens on tripod with Nikons Tripod Mode engaged.
In my experience VR is a neutral to negative at SS above 1/500 because at that point you are dealing with signals above nyquist.
Likewise I also use tripod mode with my 600mm (on a ball head or gimbal) unless I am shooting from a moving platform – e.g., boat, dock, moving vehicle.
Jay, the tripod mode generally works well, but if your shutter speed is very fast in daylight conditions, you are probably better off with turning VR off, especially when mounted on a gimbal head.
Michael, I would not give a set shutter speed number as a recommendation, because it depends on the focal length of a lens. For some lenses, 1/500 is an overkill, while it is clearly not enough for others. For example, the Nikon 800mm f/5.6 gets very shaky even at 1/800 when using it on the D800. And for a lens like Nikon 16-35mm, 1/500 is just unnecessary – at 16mm, you could go as low as 1/25 without introducing camera shake.
As for VR on the Nikkor 600mm mounted on a Wimberley head, it again depends on the shutter speed. If the shutter speed is fast enough (for me it is roughly 1/1000 with the 600mm), I would keep VR turned off. As you can see from the above article, VR can hurt sharpness of images even when properly engaged (the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II has a tripod mode). VR should only be used in low light situations, when the shutter speed is too low.
My concern for the 1/500 sec shutter max was to do with the nyquist which Jay mentioned, not the safe speed for avoiding camera shake.
Is there any truth in this nyquist theory?
As an exampe, 400mm on monopod, VR on, is there any advantage or problems with using a shutter speed of 1/500 the supposed nyquist max, against using a 1/2000?
Regards
Michael
Michael, there may be some truth to that, but there is no scientific evidence that proves the 1/500 sec limit. I believe Thom Hogan was one of the first that mentioned nyquist, but he only gave a rough number as a reference. It could be anywhere from 1/500 to 1/1000, or maybe even more or less, depending on other variables.
As for the 400mm on a monopod with VR on, are you shooting in shutter priority mode or setting your max shutter speed via Auto ISO? In general, if you are shooting at 1/2000, I don’t think VR is doing anything to help you – it might actually hurt images instead of helping. Where VR is good, is if you were to mount the 400mm on a monopod and shoot at say 1/200 of a second…
This article from Nikon explains the technology supporting VR.
http://www.nikon.com
The article references analyzing movement every 1/1000 sec. But it also suggests that it compares motion from two separate measurements – which requires 2/1000 sec or 1/500 sec. At fast shutter speeds the camera cannot analyze two data points as the shutter speed is faster than the measurement period.
The article also refers to “centering” immediately before exposure – essentially requiring activation a fraction of a second before exposure.
If we are looking at frame rates of 4-10 fps with current cameras, there is plenty of time to measure and analyze movement between frames.
I am a fairly new photographer and am learning about my Canon EOS T3….I keep the Stabilizer switch ON always…is this correct and am I getting the most out of my camera?????Thanks…
Dan, generally, yes, you are better off with keeping Image Stabilizer on. Just make sure to give it a second or two to stabilize before you actually release the shutter.
Is this the VR you’re not supposed to use on a tripod? Serious question.
This particular lens has what is called a “Tripod Mode” in that it detects that it’s on a tripod and adjusts itself accordingly.
Dear Nasim
I have read several articles on the use of VR. All advised to put the VR mode off when camera is mounted on tripod. But you tested on tripod. Therefore, I am confused whether to use the VR mode when the camera is on tripod. Sendondly, what is the lowest shutter speed the VR works best? can we use it below S 1/15?
I would be grateful to you if you please clear my doubts.
Warm regards
Waris
Waris, it all depends on a number of factors. First, some lenses like the 300mm f/2.8G VR II have a tripod detection mechanism, so they know how to behave when they detect no motion. Second, it also depends on how stable your tripod is! Some tripods are so bad with heavy equipment, that no matter what you do to eliminate camera shake, the whole setup shakes like crazy. In my case, even using the best of the breed, I was still getting camera shake at extremely long focal lengths. Even barely touching the camera creates a lot of vibrations – try to put an 800mm lens on a tripod with a TC mounted on it, turn live view on and you will see what happens :)
Generally, if your tripod is stable, turning VR off is a good idea. But on some super telephoto lenses, it is best to keep VR on even when mounted on a tripod and working at slow shutter speeds. If the shutter speed is very fast, VR is of no use.
Thanks Nasim for taking time to answer my question. It was informative and helpful for me.
Yes, just like Neil pointed, this lens has VR tripod mode.
Hi Nasim,
A very interesting article. When I shot, normally VR is always turned on, despite shutter speed is low or fast. Now, after reading your article I will turrn it off when it is not going to help to stability but only affect sharpness. Regarding way of shooting I always let some small time to let VR make its work, so at least it does not affect my shots… Thanks a lot for your help.
Regards from Spain.
Cecilio, glad that you enjoyed the article!
Very interesting article (as always).
However, I noticed that you are telling that “everything was mounted on a sturdy tripod, so none of the below results are hand-held”.
Wouldn´t it justify the less-sharp images you got when you said “sharpness drops a bit with VR turned on and stabilized for a few seconds. Looks like VR does impact the sharpness of images when it is engaged” ? I ask because I thought that Nikon doesn´t recommend to set VR on when shooting on a tripod…
Thanks for the excellent article.
Rui
Yes, I wanted to clarify that none of the results are from hand-held shots, because hand-holding is a huge variable and one would not get consistent results from different case scenarios. If the arms get tired, they shake more!
As far as what I said regarding VR on vs off, the point is – VR can potentially hurt sharpness even when you think you are very stable (in this case, one could not be more stable than a tripod). So the conclusion is, keep VR turned off unless you work at very low shutter speeds. Yes, generally, you do want to turn VR off when shooting from a tripod, but that does not apply to Nikon’s super telephoto lenses with a Tripod Detection mode.
The tripod question came up during a nice discussion I had with the engineers from Invensense, makers of the little motion sensor chips used in many VR lenses.
The problem is noise. Every electronic sensor has noise – “noise” for engineers being a sensor output that’s not really there. The minor amount of noise compared to actual motion sensed is getting smaller and smaller with newer designs, yet noise cannot be totally eliminated.
The noise is very small compared to a photographer’s handheld tremors (you can hold your breath, but you can’t stop your heart from pumping). So noise is not significant to VR in a hand-held situation.
However, when the lens is perfectly still on a steady tripod, noise causes the motion sensor to indicate very tiny motions that don’t exist, imaginary motions that the lens attempts to counter balance with counter motions. But there wan’t any real motion to counter. Thus on a tripod, VR adds a tiny bit of motion blur to an otherwise perfectly steady lens.
Noise was worse in the older designs (like my old telephoto lens). It’s not the age of the lens that matters. What matters is the generation of motion sensor chip used when the lens was designed. Using the latest generation of sensors, they said the noise induced blur while on a tripod isn’t even noticeable. That said, I’ll continue to turn off VR while using a tripod just to be sure.
Thank you for this, as always it is interesting, useful, and well presented. I will be turning of the VR a good deal now on my Nikkor lenses.
I’m not sure why it is present in my Nikkor 16-35 (F4 ED VR)… Could you comment on whether it would ever be helpful with that lens?
I have the 16-35mm VR after swapping my 14-24mm f2.8 for this lens. I certainly didn’t buy it for the VR, but so I could use filters. However, I was in a city a few weeks ago and it was getting dark. I was trying to take an image at 24mm on my D800 with the 16-35mm and the best speed I could get was 1/15 sec without raising the ISO. I captured the image handheld perfectly sharply. That’s why VR is useful, however if you tripod mount most of the time (as I do) and use it at 16mm the needs for VR reduce considerably.
Richard
I chose the 16-35 f/4 VR for exactly the same reason as Richard. The situation I encounter is shooting from a small boat – for example, sunset or early morning in the Okefenokee. The platform is not stable enough for a longer exposure so VR is very useful. This lets me keep ISO low and maximize color and dynamic range.
The other situation is in moving water where there is vibration from the water moving past the tripod. VR is useful as the tripod still has a little motion. And for stream photography, the ability to use a screw on circular polarizer is very important.
Also totally agreed :)
Absolutely agreed!
Mark, VR is very helpful on any lens, regardless of its focal length – the 16-35mm VR is a proof of that. The point of the above article is to remind our readers, that VR should be turned off when the shutter speed is very fast. For example, if you are shooting in daylight conditions and you have a shutter speed of say 1/250th of a second, you will get better results by turning VR off. Where VR is extremely helpful, is when you get to very slow shutter speeds and camera shake affects the sharpness of images – that’s where VR can save an image. I have used the 16-35mm VR with a shutter speed of 1 second (with VR turned on), which is insane!
Interesting article Nasim,
This could explain that if you shoot a series of pictures of an still standing animal with vr on and a shutterspeed of around 1/200 and focus spot on with the 300 F2.8 not every picture is as sharp as the first one even when you use a monopod.
Next time i go to the zoo or national park i will try this out.
Patrick, at 1/200th, you are probably still better off with VR on. But give it a shot and see how sharpness differs when shooting with VR on and off in those conditions. Monopod holding technique is also important – check out the “how to use a monopod” article by Tom, it could save you a few shots!
Did some testing today Nasim,
In scenes with lower contrast and without vibrant colours the sharpness drops sometimes with or without the VR some by my error some i believe by VR using only one focuspoint and shooting at 4 frames a second with my D600.
Without VR seems to be more forgiving and by the higher shutterspeed you got less subject movement but it’s also more difficult to keep focus.
Lessons learned is that a higher shutterspeed with no VR works better overall if the ISO is acceptable but with using something to keep as steady as possible and that there is something to improve with my technique in low contrast situations.
Overall my keeping rate was higher than normal today thanks to your advice.
Wow Nasim!
On the money. Great if you have the time to wait for VR or IS or etc.. A friend of mine has a non IS 70-200 2.8 and shoots perfect pictures all the time. But he shoots at high speeds. IMHO nothing will beat good technique and fast glass. I’m selling old lenses to get the latest (like 24-70 L MK II). Is stabilisation that important? Your tests show it can even hurt, a feeling I had for a some time (noticed it with my 200 f2 VR)… BTW with the improvement of ISO and FF who needs to shoot at 1/16 in real life?
Spaciba as usual
Francois, very well said – “nothing will beat good technique and fast glass”. Stabilization is only important when working at slow shutter speeds. If you find yourself shooting mostly at fast shutter speeds, then VR is basically useless :) Many sports photographers that work in well-lit stadiums have VR permanently turned off.
Very interesting! And it goes with my anecdotal evidence. When I had a 200-400 VR2 and used VR I was never happy with the resulting pictures. When I raised ISO to raise shutter speed and turned VR off I was blown away by the sharpness. I had always assumed that VR stabilized wouldn’t impact sharpness but it’s clearly not true. It’s a compromise good for certain situations.
Now that I’m in the Fuji land my only VR is the 18-55 lens. I’ll have to remember to turn OIS off until I need it.
Neil, I will have to check on that Fuji lens and see if OS is truly effective or not. I don’t think Fuji has a lot of experience with OS when compared to the big boys :)
Hi Nasim,
Great article as usual!
I’m just wondering how this apply when you are panning. What I’ve read from different sources, and the majority kind of agree, when panning, one should turn VR on. I believe the major disagreement is if whether Normal or Active must be used.
What is your take on this?
Thanks!
Yes, keep VR on when panning. Since panning involves really slow shutter speeds, VR would only help. And I would not use Active VR, since that’s only useful for when you are on a moving platform.
This article is great for the intended lens used but very misleading if extrapolated across all lenses with some sort of image stabilization. Why? Because most lenses, per the manufacturers recommendations, should have stabilization off when mounted on a tripod and the tripod head is fully locked (no panning or tilting), as it was in this test.
Why is stabilization supposed to be off when mounted on a tripod? “Image Stabilization systems are designed to look for and counteract camera motion,” she said. “When the camera is mounted on a tripod, there is little or no movement for this system to react to, but the camera is still searching and trying to compensate for movement. The result can be softer images due to the activity of the IS system.” Representatives from Pentax agreed.
When using certain Nikon VR lenses and late-model Canon IS lenses in conjunction with a tripod, it might be better to leave stabilization on. Sometimes. If you are in doubt, turn it off.
Lindsay Silverman, senior product manager at Nikon, explained that with many of their VR image stabilized lenses, you have to turn VR off. The reason, he explained, is that the VR mechanism is vibrating and looking for frequencies that will result in camera shake. If you leave the VR feature on when the camera is mounted on a tripod, the result can actually look unsharp. (source:
The above article continues and states that the above is not always the case but is in fact lens dependent.
What I love about this article? It reinforced that image stabilization is great for slow shutter speeds and irrelevant, if not nominal at best, at faster shutter speeds. I just wish the article was more specific in scope. In photography I have learned that general rules of thumbs come with more caveats that can make the rule of thumb more harmful than helpful.
As for Nikon, here are the only 3 lenses Nikon says can use VR while on a tripod with no panning or tilting:
200-400mm f4G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor
200mm f2G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor
300mm f2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor
(source: https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7676/~/using-vr-lenses-on-tripod)
TJ, thank you for pointing this out – yes, since I was talking about Nikon super teles, I kind of assumed that it was specific enough. I guess I should have been more clear about shooting from a tripod. But the point of the article is not so much about whether to keep VR on when shooting from a tripod or not – the point is, VR always works better when initially stabilized for a few seconds. I can repeat this same test on even short focal length lenses and I am sure the results will be the same – don’t just fire the shutter with VR turned on, but rather let the lens stabilize for a few seconds first and then shoot. Also, don’t use VR when using very fast shutter speeds, as it can also degrade sharpness :)
But when using VR on a tripod, you are absolutely correct – except for a couple of cases, VR should always be turned off. I only did this on a tripod, because I did not want to add another very big variable – my hands :)
Nasim,
You might want to look at this
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/07/good-vibrations-designing-a-better-stabilization-test-part-i
to get around the tripod issue.
Ron
I like the idea of their testing protocol. However, the way we “shake” using a Smartphone, and how we might shake using a 70-200 f/2.8, or a 600mm lens, or a fisheye could be a lot different.
Charlie
Charlie,
Good point.
I suppose one could tape the smartphone to a DSLR body to get around the problem. Where to tape it — the back, the front with the lens removed, or the front with the lens attached — I haven’t a clue.
My guess is that in the end the results would not be much different from those in the article in that which directions were important and the frequency of vibration would remain the same, but the amplitude would differ.
Ron
Hey Chattanooga Charlie, who are you? I’m in Red Bank.
Rob, my name is Charlie Wilson. I have shot photos of a young female track star named Mulligan during a track meet at GPS. Any kin?
BTW, I knew this young lady when she was less than 3 months old.
That’s an interesting article, thanks for sharing!
Important point in the instruction manual for the 300mm (p. 25):
“Nikon recommends the switch be set to ON when using the camera on an unsecured tripod head or with a monopod. But when camera shake is very slight, the vibration reduction function may conversely increase the effect of camera shake by the movement of the system. In such a case, set the vibration reduction ON/OFF ring switch to OFF.”
It is hard to test to get all variables equal, but I think we are seeing a bigger difference in this test between 1 and 2 than the difference would be by handholding at shutter speeds at a bit less than 1/500 sec.
Anyway, it is not important at all because all handheld photos taken at slow shutter speed with VR on will be sharper than the photos with VR off.
Very interesting to see the big sharpness impact in test 3. I quess that is the reason why VR is always on with the Nikon V1 (possibly the other 1-series as well) and not dependant on half pressing the shutter release. An easy way out to ensure sharp photos for novices.
Trig, thanks for pointing this out – I was well aware of the fact that you want to turn VR off on a stable tripod. However, given the shutter speed I was working with (which was quite low at f/5.6 and smaller), it made sense to keep VR engaged for the test. And despite the fact that I have a very stable tripod setup, there is still plenty of micro shaking taking place when zoomed in 100% on live view and shooting at very long focal lengths. I don’t know what Nikon’s term for “unsecured tripod head” really means, since there are all kinds of vibrations from severe to minimal.
I think the next step is to try to hand-hold the lens and see what type of results I would get with VR turned on and off, and with + without first stabilizing it. But then we are introducing a human factor here, which could mess up the results!
I think it totally makes sense to always keep VR on when it is enabled. Nikon doesn’t do it on DSLRs, because it drains batteries very fast…
Manufacturers should implement an auto-turn-off for VR systems at high shutter speeds with the new firmware. Who wants to move that small switch back and forth all day long?
Better yet, give the user some min/max control over what shutter speed range VR is engaged.
I have gotten blurry photos that were important and couldn’t be replaced because I had the camera on a tripod with VR off, then began using it again handheld in low light that would have benefited from VR.
Generally, if the camera is on a tripod, you don’t need VR. It does not do anything about subject motion – and a tripod eliminates camera motion. So your soft images were caused by something else.
If you have a camera mounted loosely on a tripod, you still should be using VR. It’s only when it is locked down to eliminate motion that VR should be turned off, or at faster shutter speeds where VR just does not help.
That’s an awesome suggestion! Would love such a feature on DSLRs.
Remus, agreed, but I am with HomoSapiensWannaBe – it would be nice if there was a min/max shutter speed to control VR behavior!
As noted by Russ, Nikon suggests having VR off on most lenses on a tripod. Your nice study has no “proof” of your hypothesis for handheld lenses, which is VR’s main selling point and intended use. Sorry to rain on your parade.
I have to agree with you Anthony.
Anthony, I did not see a parade here :) LOL
As for turning VR off on a tripod, that suggestion is good for most lenses, but not for super telephotos like the 300mm f/2.8G VR II that have a tripod detection mechanism. This test is still valid for ANY lens with VR though, because it shows the most important thing – that letting VR stabilize will always yield better results than just pressing the shutter release. That was the whole point of this article, as the title clearly states.
As for testing this while hand-holding, introducing a human to the test can potentially invalidate the test results completely, especially when those arms get tired. That’s why I decided to do this on a tripod with a lens that can detect it.
I guess an interesting extension to this investigation would be to try and explore the effect of the tripod. The general advice is to turn off VR when using a tripod since the lack of any movement can cause the servo to hunt and degrade the image quality.
The assertion I would make is that for hand-held work with smaller VR lenses, you should still do the half press to allow the VR to lock and stabilise. It would be interesting to try this in a controlled environment.
My own style with my D800 is usually to fire off a couple of shots keeping the button pressed. I have not noticed any systematic improvement in the second shot. But I have also programmed the auto ISO to keep the shutter speed quite high (one click more than 1/f) and so I am not sure I would have seen it.
Ade, thanks for the suggestion – perhaps I will do that later tonight, since it could turn out interesting! I bet the result will also vary by focal length – the longer the lens, the more the need for VR on a tripod.
I have a question about “half-holding” the shutter release button. I use the back focus button and this don’t have my shutter have anything to do with acquiring focus.
If that’s the case, does the VR engage and start to stabilize when holding down the back focus button for a second or so prior?
This really isn’t good news all around. Yet another thing to have to remember to do when out in the field shooting images.
The newest generation of Nikon cameras (D800, D4, D600, D7100) activates VR when the AF-On button or back button focus is pressed. It works the same as partially depressing the shutter and both methods are active. Earlier cameras only activated VR with a half press of the shutter.
For some reason focus does seem to improve or fine adjust with the second or third image in a burst. That does not mean a single image is not sharp – just that with a tough AF target focus continues to get a little better.
Its important to understand the AF system. Nikon has just started disclosing the layout of AF sensors at different wide open Aperture settings. The D4, D800, D600, and D7100 have layouts that show which sensors are active and which sensors are cross sensors at different wide open apertures. For example, the D7100 will AF at f/8, but beyond f/5.6 only the center AF sensor is active and is a cross sensor. In contrast, the D800 and D4 have 11 sensors working at f/8. This makes little difference with a Nikon telephoto until you get beyond a 1.4 teleconverter, but some of the Sigma and Tamron telezooms are at f/6.3 wide open when fully zoomed.
Eric, thank you for this comment. This is a concern of mine because I shoot with a D700 and this tells me that my VR isn’t engaging quite right while shooting because I never actually go through a full ‘half-shutter press, than fire” routine.
This leaves me at a little bit of a loss in regards to knowing how to make sure the VR is active prior to me wanting to release the shutter. Does anybody have some suggestions?
Understanding how it works is half the battle. On the D700, it only takes a fraction of a second for VR to activate. Normally with lower light you are better off taking a fraction of a second for VR to settle – it just takes practice. I find I often look for a catchlight or specific head position before I fire the shutter, so just activate VR while you are watching for the moment. Also keep in mind VR does not help with subject motion, so this suggestion applies most for stationary subjects. VR can make you go through batteries faster.
100% agreed.
Fully support what Eric wrote – the new generation Nikon DSLRs do indeed trigger VR when AF-ON is depressed.
I think it depends on the manufacturer’s implementation of IS.
After shooting lenses from every mfr, I believe that Canon has the best and the most intelligent implementation of IS in its lenses. I think Nasim should do the Canon testing just like he is doing the Nikon one.
On my Canon 24-105L you don’t even realize the IS is there working because it is silent and does not jump like Nikons and Tamrons ones. On my Canon 70-200L IS II you can feel the stabilizer work but it is super silent and does not affect the picture quality one bit during hand hold work, irrespective of how you press the shutter button, in my opinion and does not need to settle etc… like Nikons and Tamron ones.
On Fuji 18-55 (their only stabilized lens) I am curious what Nasim thinks since he is shooting with this lens right now. There is a lot of chatter than Fuji’s IS in 18-55 actually hurts the sharpness of the lens, unless shooting at slow shutter speeds and should be turned off.
Finally we know for a fact that stabilization hurts some lenses, prime example being Tamron 17-50 which is universally known when they went to VR version the sharpness went down and the older version is regarded better than the newer VR version. Same with their 18-270 VR lens as compared to their older 18-250 no-VR lens.
Zeiss, for example, is very proud of declaring that they refuse to implement Stabilization in any of their lenses as it negatively affects the picture quality. Of course they also at one point that they would never produce a lens with Autofocus…..
Also Nasim, you wrote about it once, but do you think providing IS in body (like Olympus, Sony A, and now Panasonic with GX7) makes it better since the lens is free of IS module that cannot screw with the optics inside the lens?
Interesting thoughts, David.
I shoot with Nikon. I have noticed a difference between different lenses and possibly different cameras, but maybe it is more of the lens.
I now shoot with a D600 but used to shoot with a D200. In the past, I have rented the 70 – 200 f/2.8 lens to shoot racing events. It seems to me that whenever I got the older version of that lens from the camera store, I could definitely hear and feel the VR kick into action, at least with the D200. I did not notice that as much if I got the newer version (the VR II), and, in fact, don’t think I noticed it at all most of the time.
With my D600, I have the kit lens, a 24 – 85 f/3.5-4 lens, and I never notice VR when it is turned on. I also bought a Nikon 70 – 200 mm f/4 lens. I also have never, ever noticed the VR when it is turned on (which is almost all of the time).
Interesting stuff!
David, that’s possible, but I doubt there is that much difference between the different IS implementations. I would have to get a hold of a Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS and do a comparison on the same tripod to see if it is in fact true or not…
I have been playing with the Fuji 18-55mm a little, but have not documented anything from its OS behavior – that’s certainly on my list of to-do’s :)
Lastly, IS in a camera body makes total sense, but only for short focal length lenses. As soon as you put a telephoto lens, camera IS starts to suffer badly. So technically, the best approach is to use body-based IS for short focal length lenses and lens IS for telephotos.
Perhaps you are right, Nasim re: in camera IS. One thing I know for certain, when I tried to use 100mm to 135mm legacy lenses on Olympus OMD, the moment I select the right focal length in Olympus OMD menu for IS (I think the list there goes up to at least 300mm if not more), the Stabilizer becomes very effective. I have not tried other longer legacy lenses so I cannot comment there. When you talk about long lenses, do you mean 300mm and above?
Very interesting, Nasim. I’ve long heard that you should turn off VR when using a tripod, although I’ve also heard that this depends upon the lens and the camera. I’ve heard that in some cases, this is more appropriate with older cameras and lenses. So, now, I’m not sure….your suggestion about how fast you’re shooting with respect to the focal length is something I’d like to look into further.
One other suggestion I might throw out there is something I usually do when using a tripod…..that is, I use the mirror-up function to raise the mirror and wait a short while (1 or 2 seconds) before the shutter actually lifts.
But all of this reminds me of a strange problem I have been seeing ever since I bought my D600, which came with the Nikon 24 – 85 mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. I like to shoot HDR. With my older D200, I typically shot 5 bracketed shots on a tripod for an HDR shot. The D600 only allows 3 auto bracketed shots.
What I have noticed in a number of cases with the D600 is that the first shot sometimes appears to be out of focus, but the next 2 are not. I can’t say whether or not these shots were with VR turned on or off, but I think that in most if not all cases, VR was turned on. I never had this problem with the D200 (or, never noticed it….but it is quite obvious with the D600).
This article might help explain this problem. Maybe for that first shot, VR has not stabilized, if, indeed, I was using VR. But, maybe it stabilized after that first shot so that the next 2 are noticeably more in focus. I don’t know for sure, but it’s something I’ll have to look into further. Unfortunately, taking auto-bracketed shots with the D600 is harder to setup and do with the D200, so I don’t take as many as I used to. And, because I do now notice it with my D600 whereas I did not notice this with the D200, I seem to think that it does depend on the camera and/or lens combination.
Anyway, very interesting info. Thanks for the article, Nasim.
Thanks for the testing Nasim. I totally agree with your findings. Though I didn’t do controlled scientific testing, its been my observation over the past few years with Nikon 200-400 & 600mm VR, with different bodies.
Keep the good work going.
Cheers,
Senthil
As mentioned above, it is my experience with the 200VR, 300VR and 600VR that VR does not work well on a locked down tripod, no matter which VR mode you pick. It is also my experience that VR usually, but not always, works well at any shutter speed, including 1/2000 – 1/8000 sec. However, once in a while, at a faster shutter speed I get substantial blur if VR is engaged.
If you redo your tests I suggest you use a Wimberly equivalent head not locked down. The control measurement should be without VR, locked down and mirror lockup with remote actuation with AT LEAST a five second delay to let things settle. It is also critical to have the tripod on a vibration free base such as a concrete floor.
Once you have the control measurements nailed then I would be interested to know how the following impact on image quality:
1. the length of time it takes VR to stabilize.
2. faster shutter speeds.
3. tripod head lock down.
Thanks for doing these tests Nasim. Hope the 800mm delivers the goods :^).
Rory – I have the same experience. As you. My question is linked to your first question — which in my language is
Dear Nasim — Great Article. Can you please give us a few more words by what you mean by “Stabilised”? I am concerned I have not understood how long you believe should be left between finding focus on your subject and the actuating the shutter. Your paper reads like this should be measured in seconds, not just point, focus and shoot.
I try to shoot wildlife action at al-least 1/(2-3 times the effective focal length of the lens(s)) I am using — this means that most of my shots are using shutter speeds at 1/1,250th or much faster. Birds/Raptors flying at you need 1/3,000th or faster to freeze the subject. So of course I turn VR of irrespective of how the camera is supported.
However, I recently took shots of a pair of stationary female lions up a tree in very low light and an effective focal length of 1,200mm (600/4 + TC20 on an D810) – with shutter speeds in the range 1/320th -1/500th while the sun was behind a cloud and 1/1250th when the finally sun came out. My lens was on bean bags in a vehicle (big Toyota Land Cruiser Safari Vehicle with just me and the driver/guide) — and I had VR turned on. I felt that I was far more likely to get a sharp shot with VR on and I left it on. My habit has become to use AF-On to find focus and leave the focus point on the subject irrespective of when I actually take the shots – this has helped me with taking shots both in very low light and in tracking animals in action/flight. It gives both me and the camera the best opportunity to secure sharp focus when the behaviour is what I am seeking.
Good article. What it comes down to is: Only use it when you need it.
The FL/SS formula changes with crop sensors. It becomes FL/SSx1.5.
Your mileage may vary. Super steady or shaky handed people can adjust it to their liking.
well, this is actually not a big discovery, just missed the proof! now this is done, i’d be really interested to know how is working the sony system with sensor stabilisation with all lenses. Maybe at the end this might be a little less efficient in term of stops you gain but never heard anyone complaining about image sharpness or the speed of the focus…
here is an idea for next test :D!!
As a Canon shooter, I turn the IS ‘off’ when well-secured on a tripod, “2” when on a monopod and “1” when hand-held. My hands shake a little bit and burst shooting improves odds of a sharp shot… an historical reality.
Hi Nasim,
Great article. The question is, if we can assume that this will apply to all Nikkor VR lenses or this is lens specific? Are you planning to examine other lenses for better representation?
Thanks
Jerry
Most interesting article! When I shoot handheld in aperture priority (usually on my 70-200 f/2.8 VRII) and I’m aware that the shutter speed may be hovering in that zone of ‘turn VR on or off’, I have often wished I had a menu option that I could setup to turn VR on/off if the shutter speed exceeded XX per second. Should not be too hard to implement such an option. Was just wondering!
Good idea!
Nasim,
You say above that if you are shooting at “fast” shutter speeds, you should generally turn VR off. I’ve thought about this a long time….it makes sense because the fast shutter speed should freeze motion, even if your hands/arms might be a little shaky.
My question is, does it hurt to leave VR on in a handheld situation (not on a tripod?) at fast shutter speeds? I shoot a number of races, marathon type events. I shoot these with a Nikon 70 – 200 mm f/4 (in the past, rented the f/2.8 version) and now with a D600. I really like to shoot at least 1/500th of a second, if not faster….I’d say that the vast majority of my shots are greater than 1/1000th of a second and even faster. The slower shots are typically at the start of a race, if it starts very early in the morning with the sun just coming up. I think most of my shots, with VR turned on, are very sharp and clear. There is no hint of hand movement or camera shake….probably due to fast shutter speed, not the use of VR.
I guess the only thing I can think of is that VR probably drains the battery more quickly? For me, this would be important since at these events, I typically will shoot 3,000 to 5,000 shots each event. I always carry 2 Nikon batteries as backups, and I always use a vertical grip with extra AA batteries just in case. But, if battery drain is a big issue, I might just have to try shooting without VR turned on at those higher shutter speeds.
From my experience, Anthony is correct in stating that the VR should not be used when the camera is mounted on a tripod, particularly using either delayed exposure or a remote control. The VR frequently drives itself silly trying to “stabilize” when on a tripod. In my case I am using either a NIKKOR AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 G-Ed VRII or AF-S 28-300 f/3.5 – 5.6 G ED VR in front of a doubler on a D800 (The number of initials and numbers is mind-boggling!) Off tripod I have obtained extremely good images, hand-held, using the VR. (To be honest, i do not know if what I have said contributes merit to this comment set or not. People tend to become too involved in technical details – forgetting the premise of “art” in photography.)
Great feature Nasim – its interesting to see those results.
The longest lens I use is 70-200 VR1 with a TC20e-III. As you know that combo only really works well when stopped down, so when using a tripod (Gitzo G126 with off centre ball head) I’ll employ a slower shutter. I DO sometimes leave VR on but this is only if I can verify with live view if there is camera shake present. Switching on VR and doing a comparison on screen seems to work for me. This is usually only an issue in low light where I don’t want to bump up the ISO. My tripod is good too, but being a travel model it can get buffeted by our sometimes strong New Zealand winds a little when taking landscapes and nature shots. Verifying with Live view has sometimes made all the difference especially at longer focal lengths.
Nasim,
I am a proud owner of Nikkor 328 VRII (replacing the 304… remember I broke my AF-S 300mm f/4 into 2 last time?) And I do birding Nikkor 328 VRII & TC2.0EIII on D7000 – will upgrade to D7100 soon as I am tired of waiting for the D400… I have tried a friend’s D7100 it focuses faster than D7000 on the 328VRII & TC2.0EIII combo, while shooting BIF under the bright light, I tested on a still subject and I had to push ISO to 1000 to get 1/1250s on D7000 while the D7100 only needed ISO500 and the SS was already 1/1600s)… I was not sure what happened actually and my field test was not comprehensive (as my friends and I were busy birding) but I am sure D7100 is faster…
Most of the times I take my shots tripod mounted like 99%… 3kg++ Nikkor 328VRII is already quite heavy for me to handhold… unless if the speed is 1/600s and above… but here in the darkness of the rain forest, we have to do slow shutter shots most of the times, tripod mount (Gitzo is the best!), remote release, VR is definitely OFF, and it is normal for us to shoot perched birds at 1/10s and below… again it also depends on the type of the birds as well… my senior did get a 6s shot for a perched kingfisher… and we never use flash too
Kingfishers are known to be very calm when they perch, expect when they do the preening tho… for fast moving birds like babblers or warblers, we’ll have to use different strategies… besides the spray and pray strategy hehe
Just sharing some of my birding experience with you…
Thanks for the work. Very interesting. Using the 70-200 VR1 and the 24-120 VRII handheld, I get very different results. I obviously can’t use Imatest charting handheld. Using shutter speeds of half to 1/3 the focal length. scenario 1 always results in an image obviously less sharp due to camera shake than those taken using scenario 2 and 3. Scenarios 2 and 3 results in images with much less camera shake blur but virtually indistinguishable from each other. Results may indeed, as someone pointed out, be very diffrent model to model. Rather than using a remote release, I used the shutter release button instead. I also did not use shutter delay as that would introduce an artificial delay in second stage VR (post re-centering of VR elements) that would not occur in normal shooting. I don’t think mirror slap would be an issue at the shutter speeds I had but I could be wrong.
Thanks again for your time and well written write up. BTW, what kind of shutter speeds did you see with the longer lens? Good luck.
Hi Nasim,
In summary (2) do I have to press the shutter speed half way for few seconds for every shot I take or just for the first shot of a series of shots?
I use Nikon D90 with 55-200mm vrii to photograph action (say parade) where I don’t have enough time to give few seconds to stabilize the picture for each shot.
I’ve read you article about birds photography and I apply the same recommended settings for picturing a parade: A Mode, AF continuous, AF area Dynamic, ISO auto 200-800 with 250 minimum shutter speed.
Am I doing the right thing?
Thank you and wish you a great future.
Gamal
Hi Nasim,
Interesting and thoughtful article. I’m going to have to try this out myself on the D800 – considering it’s sensor size/density makes it susceptible to camera shakes etc., if you go any lower than almost 2 X focal length without VR engaged. Just out of curiosity, what camera body did you use for your tests?
From my experience, I can tell that VR does help quite a lot on the D800 body – but I’ll have to compare myself how much of a sharpness drop there is – with VR engaged/ vs VR dis-enagged in decent lighting conditions specifically because I have been shooting with VR engaged handheld in all scenarios, unless I have a tripod available for use, in which case I turn off VR.
Best,
Ankur
If you are using any VR lens on a tripod the best feature is the “Off” setting……..
That applies whether the lens has tripod detection, a tripod mode setting or nothing specifically for tripod use.
Hand holding with VR is a different game all together, but using VR on a tripod just softens images.
Thanks Nasim for a very good article.
the 300/2,8 VR 1 has caused me quite a lot of confusion and headache before I decided to turn off the VR unless it’s absolutely necessary, so this basically confirmes my suspicions.
However, my 70-200/2,8 VR2 has yet to produce a blurry image, I’ve hardly ever turned off the VR on that lens and it seems to be razor sharp no matter. I’ve kept the VR on even on sunny days with shutterspeeds above 1/2000 and I can’t say I have ever seen a negative impact on images on this lens. It could ofcourse be a simple question of focal lengths ofcourse.
Nasim, I don’t get this lens in any case. I have a 300/f4D w/a TC1.4E II & Kirk Replacement Collar permanently attached. I would love to have a 300/f2.8G. But at 3 pounds heavier (6.39 lbs) and over $4,000 more… That’s a lot extra to pay for a one stop faster lens (2 stops w/TC), and who in the world would be hand shooting a camera that weighs 6.39 pounds? I’d like to have them help me carry my camera equipment.
Great article. Thanks for your precious time and helping the community. I really appreciate it.
Hi Nassim,
Great articles, avid follower of your site.
Just a question.
Is your press shutter half way to stabilized the lens before taking the shot is compatible to back focusing as well, as I am using ael/afl button to focus (AF ON)
I am new to DLSR….using my D5200 for 5 months already, so i like using the back focus method…..so far i have more keeper shots. sometimes i get the first few shots blur…is this because of this?
Definitely 100% useful on wide angle lenses and yes… been saying this since forever to stabilize first especially beyond 70mm or you will get a less than perfect slightly blurred image – sometimes the wait to stabilize when there is sufficient light and on a tri-pod I would switch it off; use it when you absolutely need it
Dear Nasim
It may be a silly question for you. But I am a beginner and like to clear my doubt. Is there is a battery inside the VR and auto focus lens? If I keep the VR mode on and left the lens for a long time, say one year will it drain the battery?
Very helpful!
BTW, I’m wondering if your research explains why the Fuji x e1 and the pro have focus issues. Could the Image stabilization be a contributor?
Would we be better to leave off the Image stabilization on the 18-55 and the 55-200 unless shooting with a tripod? It would be an interesting to test….
I have just done the test in real life shooting birds with the 300 f2.8 Vr2 from Nikon. I have used this lens with the TC1.4 and 1.7 in a bird hide in October 2013, using a bean bag as support with VR of. the images even at ISO 2600 was crisp and the detail outstanding, I could see very little difference between the TC’s and the lens without the TC’s. the detail using a D800 is something fantastic. The past 2 days I was testing the 500 f4 IF ED non VR as I have an option to buy it at a good price. I wanted to compare the lens to my 300 f2.8 Vr2 and shot the 500 f4 with no TC and the 300 f2.8 with the TC1.7. I was not happy with the old 500f4 as the focus was slow and missed many shots of birds in flight plus the sharpness was not to the level of the 300 f2.8. However the results from the 300 f2.8 with TC was also disappointing. the focus speed was great as always but the sharpness was not there. I shot from a tripod and ISO was bt 200 and 400 with SS + 1/1200 even up to 1/4000. I could not understand until I discovered I had the VR on. turned it off and the results where like day and night. So the outcome was that I will not buy the 500f4 non VR model, I am sure the new models are much better and very sharp PLUS, that VR has an adverse effect on sharpness. the 300 f2.8 VR2 work very well with the TC 1.4 and TC1.7. I have not used the TC 2.0 much. It remains one of the best Nikon lenses on the market.
Hi Nasim,
I would appreciate your opinion on the following scenario:
Nikon super telephoto 600mm f4 VR2 mounted on an Unlocked down (floating)
Wimberley Gimbal Head
With shutter speeds of 1/1000 and faster, would you press your cheek up firmly against the body of the camera and put your hand on top of the lens above the tripod mount to help stabilise the lens
or can you suggest any other long lens technique of obtaining sharp images. From your VR testing article, VR would be of no help.
With shutter speeds of 1/500 and much slower, would you activate VR? and as above, use your face and hand? or simply do not touch the camera, tripod and lens. At these slower speeds I do not want to use mirror up or the 3 sec delay or I will miss the decisive moment to trip the shutter.
Regards
Michael
On a loose gimbal mount-
Face pressed to back of the camera, hand underneath the lens, back of the hand on the gimbal and thumb pressing up on the lens as if trying to push it upwards. Much better than arm draped over the lens.
Speeds below 1/500 – always engage VR.
Very helpful but could you provide a photo to see in crop the loss of the sharpness?
And what would u thing about the vr on new 24-70? Same as 70-200mm?
thank you
Rule of thumb for most Nikon lenses.
Handheld:
Shutter speed less than reciprocal of focal length – VR on.
Shutter speed higher than reciprocal of focal length – VR off in theory – in practice no discernible difference especially with newer VR lenses.
Tripod mounted:
Tripod mounted and locked tight – VR off (the VR itself will vibrate the lens and result in softness).
Tripod mounted in windy/unstable conditions – VR on (in tripod mode if available).
Tripod mounted loose for action or with gimbal – VR on.