Image Stabilization ( IS) under which circumstances do ....

[Fred Woodman]

Image stabilization, under what circumstances do you turn it on or more importantly off. Normally I found it best to turn it off when on the tripod, but I seem to get more keepers with it off as long as I have the shutter speed I need. Any suggestions or thoughts.?

[Diane Miller]

If you're shooting with very low SS, such as a landscape in twilight, or with a neutral density filter, turn it off or you'll get an image that looks like camera shake.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Depends which lens. First generation IS lenses should be set to off on a tripod. The newer generations can be left on even on a tripod (Mode 2). I never turn mine off on the 500mm even with high shutter speeds. For flight or fast running birds (think shorebirds) this also helps stabilize the image you see in the viewfinder to make it easier to keep the focus point(s) on the subject.

[arash_hazeghi]

Like Dan, I also hand hold my lenses so IS stays ON on all of my lenses at all times. The benefit of IS for hand held flight photography is that it stabilizes your view finder helping with BIF tracking with hand holding a big lens.

As for tripod, all modern Canon lenses have tripod detection mode, once on tripod IS goes on a "passive mode" however if you are doing a long exposures IS may still cause blur and it's best to turn it off.

Hope this helps.

[Fred Woodman]

yesterday morning I had a Flicker at my feeder outside the kitchen window. I grabbed the 5dm3 with 500 rested on window sill ( open window) I had 1/2000, f6.3, iso 800. Life was good. I took maybe 20 snaps. When I downloaded I had maybe 3 keepers everything else was soft. This combination has never let me down before. The IS was on and it had me wondering.I was on BB focus and even switched to one shot and fired on every beep. This should have been a gimme.

Like Dan, I also hand hold my lenses so IS stays ON on all of my lenses at all times. The benefit of IS for hand held flight photography is that it stabilizes your view finder helping with BIF tracking with hand holding a big lens.

As for tripod, all modern Canon lenses have tripod detection mode, once on tripod IS goes on a "passive mode" however if you are doing a long exposures IS may still cause blur and it's best to turn it off.

Hope this helps.

[Diane Miller]

Is it possible that the focus ring was resting on the window sill? (Or that you were inadvertently touching it?)

I wonder if it's possible that resting the lens on a hard surface, that mirror vibration could be a factor, although you'd think that wouldn't be much different than having the lens foot locked into a tripod head.

Another possibility with IS is that there is a very short time when it is "grabbing" the image that there is some movement of the image in the frame. I think it's a lot less now than it used to be, but I learned to hold down the focus button just a quarter second or so to let it stabilize before firing. You would think during that time the camera would know it isn't focused and hold back on releasing the shutter, but I've found my 5D3 has a much looser interpretation of sharp focus than I do -- and that's with all the lenses carefully microfocus adjusted.

The 7D2 is noticeably better in that regard.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Diane, Arash, thanks for the tip about long exposures and IS...did not know that!

[Grace Scalzo]

I'm so confused! IS on or off when on a tripod photographing birds with adequate shutter speed? And setting 2 or 3? If the lens detects when it is on a tripod, then how come I can hear the IS working ?

[arash_hazeghi]

yesterday morning I had a Flicker at my feeder outside the kitchen window. I grabbed the 5dm3 with 500 rested on window sill ( open window) I had 1/2000, f6.3, iso 800. Life was good. I took maybe 20 snaps. When I downloaded I had maybe 3 keepers everything else was soft. This combination has never let me down before. The IS was on and it had me wondering.I was on BB focus and even switched to one shot and fired on every beep. This should have been a gimme.

can you post an example?

BTW one shot AF will result in soft / OOF frames when photographing a bird as it is always moving...for birds, even perched, you need to use AI-servo AF.

[arash_hazeghi]

I'm so confused! IS on or off when on a tripod photographing birds with adequate shutter speed? And setting 2 or 3? If the lens detects when it is on a tripod, then how come I can hear the IS working ?

on tripod with fast SS :ON
on tripod with slow SS :OFF
panning mode 2, non panning mode 1.
The IS is ON even on tripod, it just knows that it has to work differently when on tripod.

[Fred Woodman]

can you post an example?

heres one 1/1000 f7.1, iso 500


BTW one shot AF will result in soft / OOF frames when photographing a bird as it is always moving...for birds, even perched, you need to use AI-servo AF.

[Diane Miller]

This bird wasn't moving that much. Something is really wrong here. It looks like the near part of the perch is more in focus. Any chance the composition changed between focus acquisition and the shot? Is this full frame? What focus sensors were selected, and were you in one-shot or AI focus. How are you set on the menu choices for AI Servo 1st and 2nd image priority? (Second magenta menu item.) It's imperative for me that those are both set to Focus and that's not the default.

[Fred Woodman]

can you post an example?

heres one 1/1000 f7.1, iso 500


BTW one shot AF will result in soft / OOF frames when photographing a bird as it is always moving...for birds, even perched, you need to use AI-servo AF.

[arash_hazeghi]

Fred, this has nothing to do with IS. it looks like operator error to me.

how cold was it when you were shooting? were you shooting from behind a glass?

[Fred Woodman]

its definitely my mistake, this combination has never failed me, it wasn't thru glass and image is uncropped.This image was taken with same set up a couple days before. Only editing is a slight crop and I removed unwanted branch. This was taken off a tripod.

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks, Arash. When do you suggest using Mode 3?

[arash_hazeghi]

its definitely my mistake, this combination has never failed me, it wasn't thru glass and image is uncropped.This image was taken with same set up a couple days before. Only editing is a slight crop and I removed unwanted branch. This was taken off a tripod.

I think the problem in your samples is heat refraction as evident by specular highlights near the talon. It is not coming from AF or IS.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks, Arash. When do you suggest using Mode 3?

High Grace, mode 3 has really no advantage for bird photography.

[Fred Woodman]

Thx Arash. How would you recommend I exposed it??, I was compensating two stops to keep the Flicker from being very underexposed. !! Far from ideal light but had to take what I was given.

I think the problem in your samples is heat refraction as evident by specular highlights near the talon. It is not coming from AF or IS.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I grabbed the 5dm3 with 500 rested on window sill ( open window) I had 1/2000, f6.3, iso 800

Fred, the image may not have been through glass itself, but if you were photographing from an open window during the winter time you will suffer big-time from heat refraction with all of the house's warmth escaping through the open window. Even sticking your lens way out will not work, I learned my lesson the hard way when I was starting out and photographing a set up through an open crack of my patio door. You need to step outside completely and shut the window-door behind you. From what I can tell you exposed correctly...with all that snow you need to ad exposure to what the camera's meter recommends.

[Doug Brown]

I can't think of a single advantage of mode 3 for bird photography, other than possible improved battery life. I shoot hand held the vast majority of the time. I prefer mode 1 for relatively static subjects and mode 2 for BIF. I don't typically turn off IS when shooting off a tripod unless the SS is very slow.

[David Salem]

This is definitely from heat shimmer/ refraction, as Arash and Daniel mentioned, and a perfect example of it. Here is a excerpt from a post I put on another site.

"Not that it's always the case, but many times I find that the lack of sharp images can be due to many other influences besides the lens and camera being out of adjustment. To slow of a shutter speed, the lack of proper holding technique, and the most common, atmospheric conditions, can all play a role in soft images. Shutter speed and holding technique might be considered obvious to most on this forum but they're sometimes overlooked and can be pretty critical in getting Real sharp images. Atmospheric conditions is the one that allot people don't realize as much I believe..
These conditions can change by the minute and if not properly understood, they can be construed as "somethings wrong with my camera and lens".
Early on I was about to throw my stuff out the window a few times before I started really understanding what was going on. These conditions can be from very minor, giving a small percentage of soft frames, to very major where you cannot get a sharp frame no matter what you do. Many times with strong condition days like these, I just drive away from a beautiful subject sitting in a perfect situation knowing that no matter what I do I can't get a sharp shot.
Sometimes when in the interim, where it's continually changing, I overshoot like crazy hoping that a few frames come out sharp.
The lower to the ground the subject is, the more chance you will have of what I call heat shimmer. You can usually watch it in your view finder and I've had many friends and clients think that there is something wrong with their rig when in actuality it is the heat moving through the air that is changing the apparent fine Focus in the camera. You can easily see this by hitting focus lock on a subject, then watch close as you can see small changes in the fine focus as you just sit there. I assume that allot of you know about these conditions but I thought I'd throw it out there because throughout my years I have learned this fact on my own by trial and error and have relayed it to many other photographers that weren't quite as aware of these conditions and their relation to soft images.
Now that I understand what's going on, I don't question my gear, as long as I can look at a shot in good conditions, at hundred percent or bigger, and see that everything is razor sharp".

As far as IS goes, I I Have never turn mine off on any of my lenses and I shoot in mode 2 on my 600 markII

Hope this helps

[Fred Woodman]

that would explain it. It was under -20c at the time I opened the window.

Fred, the image may not have been through glass itself, but if you were photographing from an open window during the winter time you will suffer big-time from heat refraction with all of the house's warmth escaping through the open window. Even sticking your lens way out will not work, I learned my lesson the hard way when I was starting out and photographing a set up through an open crack of my patio door. You need to step outside completely and shut the window-door behind you. From what I can tell you exposed correctly...with all that snow you need to ad exposure to what the camera's meter recommends.

[adrian dancy]

that would explain it. It was under -20c at the time I opened the window.

It doesn't explain it for me. The Flicker image is not demonstrating huge amounts of heat shimmer though I may agree that heat shimmer could be a contributory cause to the final outcome and may be evident in a properly focused image but not to the extent suggested above IMHO. The bird is simply out of focus. The perch/branch is far more in focus at the bottom of the image than it is on the desired plane of focus and the sharpness decreases from the sharper focus point in a manner consistent with what one might expect in the image.

The scene with the Flicker is backlit and there is a huge contrast between the background and the bird. I have found that there are instances where this simply confuses the autofocus system and sometimes this occurs even when my rig is tripod mounted. I suspect that there may have been a little heat shimmer and I wonder if that itself may throw focus out. What is clear however, from my experience, is that resting a lens on a hard narrow fulcrum does not stabilise a rig as one might hope it would, and IS does not guarantee sharp or in focus images, especially when your body might be contorted in an uncomfortable position as is often the case when shooting through a window using the sill. What is telling however, is the fact you had some keepers and this begs the question if heat shimmer was your problem at all. Of course you may have blundered by somehow inadvertently touching or allowing something to touch the focus ring at the critical moment of exposures. I think that Diane was on the right track here IMHO.

[Fred Woodman]

It doesn't explain it for me. The Flicker image is not demonstrating huge amounts of heat shimmer though I may agree that heat shimmer could be a contributory cause to the final outcome and may be evident in a properly focused image but not to the extent suggested above IMHO. The bird is simply out of focus. The perch/branch is far more in focus at the bottom of the image than it is on the desired plane of focus and the sharpness decreases from the sharper focus point in a manner consistent with what one might expect in the image.

The scene with the Flicker is backlit and there is a huge contrast between the background and the bird. I have found that there are instances where this simply confuses the autofocus system and sometimes this occurs even when my rig is tripod mounted. I suspect that there may have been a little heat shimmer and I wonder if that itself may throw focus out. What is clear however, from my experience, is that resting a lens on a hard narrow fulcrum does not stabilise a rig as one might hope it would, and IS does not guarantee sharp or in focus images, especially when your body might be contorted in an uncomfortable position as is often the case when shooting through a window using the sill. What is telling however, is the fact you had some keepers and this begs the question if heat shimmer was your problem at all. Of course you may have blundered by somehow inadvertently touching or allowing something to touch the focus ring at the critical moment of exposures. I think that Diane was on the right track here IMHO.

Thats the part that had me scratching my head, this should have been a gimme shot, I rested the lens on window sill and my elbows on counter top, ( in a former life I shot a lot of rifle) rested the focus point checked SS , aperture, and ISO then began shooting single frames.I even switched to one shot and began waiting for chirps. I did have some exposure issues with the first couple but dialled up some compensation. Life was good. It was brutal cold, so heat shimmer is definitely a possibility. But deep down I can't help think that something was fooling the AF. Shizit happens but Id like to know why. And as I said previously this setup has served me well for over a year. And again this weekend i got some nice shots.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Keep in mind that "heat shimmer" is highly variable from second to second, and day to day, so results can be confusing - one image is OK, the very next series way off, and so on. One day not bad, the other really bad. It is way worse when done from through a window, be it a house or vehicle (this is why it is critical for the heater to have been turned off for a while when using a car as a blind). It really can be that bad, I speak from experience in these cold winters and I need to battle that more than half the year!

I'm not saying it cannot be something else in combination, but it is definitely a big contributing factor. It should be easy to figure out if it is mostly heat shimmer escaping from your house or not. Go outside, away from any heat source, and photograph that perch and then compare with the images taken through the open window.

[Grady Weed]

I have to agree with Daniel here. I live in Maine. We have Winter conditions here from mid-November to mid-April. Temperatures from 30+ down to -30, biter cold, blowing wind etc. I have imaged birds, large to small song birds, from windows, closed and open, in the house and using the car as a blind. your camera must be acclimated to the temps before firing away or heat shimmer will get you almost every time. Some days its worse than others, but it is always there to grab you.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thx Arash. How would you recommend I exposed it??, I was compensating two stops to keep the Flicker from being very underexposed. !! Far from ideal light but had to take what I was given.

Fred, from what you explain it is a classic example of heat refraction. Heat refraction has nothing to do with your exposure

Please see this article again which I have linked to many times before http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blo...always-needed/

When you open the window and it is very cold outside, photos will be soft. As Dan mentioned, it is best to stand outside with your lens for about 15min for the lens's temperate to equalize with the ambient. Even after that, if the heat refractions are strong your photos will be soft. sometimes you just have to pack and go and try another day...

A very cold day with the sun in the sky is one of the worst scenarios for heat refraction. A few years ago, we had to call off an entire morning of shooting in Alaska because of this


Hope this helps

[Fred Woodman]

As always, the advice I keep getting from this site has been a great help and as always. Its much appreciated !!




as always the advice I get from this site is a great help and its much appreciated . Thx

Fred, from what you explain it is a classic example of heat refraction. Heat refraction has nothing to do with your exposure

Please see this article again which I have linked to many times before http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blo...always-needed/

When you open the window and it is very cold outside, photos will be soft. As Dan mentioned, it is best to stand outside with your lens for about 15min for the lens's temperate to equalize with the ambient. Even after that, if the heat refractions are strong your photos will be soft. sometimes you just have to pack and go and try another day...

A very cold day with the sun in the sky is one of the worst scenarios for heat refraction. A few years ago, we had to call off an entire morning of shooting in Alaska because of this


Hope this helps

[Bill Dix]

I'm so glad to have read this thread. On several occasions I have tried shooting from just inside my open door, when it was well below freezing outside. I got some horribly oof images (including some Flicker shots like Fred's). I came to the conclusion that maybe there was something about the temperature differential between the front and back of the lens. I hadn't thought about heat refraction. Thanks to all for solving the riddle.

[Dennis Luz]

[QUOTE=Diane Miller;1054932]Is it possible that the focus ring was resting on the window sill? (Or that you were inadvertently touching it?)

_______

Happened to me too. I couldn't believe how some of the shots I took were OOF until I analyzed my setting and realized that I had inadvertently touched and moved the focus ring a smidgen from the way i had my left hand on top of the lens.