I've been getting conflicting advice on the use of image stabilization for flight shots. For a tripod mounted 500 f4 should the IS be on, if so, what mode (assuming the flight pattern varies, not just a horizontal pan)?
It really doesn't matter. The 500mm F4 will detect that it is on a tripod and disable the IS. I set my IS to mode 2 and leave it there. In mode 2 the vertical IS is active when not on a tripod and horizontal IS is disabled for panning. This is what you want for hand held BIF.
I don't know what brand are you talking about, but I supose is Canon or Nikon. I use Pentax which use a different system of stabilization located in the body not in the lens, so my feedback could not be very useful for you, anyway in Pentax cameras with the "Shake Reduction (SR)" turn on I don't get good result for BIF shooting hand held, I prefer turn off this funtion in I'm going to shoot fast and eratic moving objets. I find that SR work fine when I take pictures of static objets in low light.
Bye,
IS (image stabilization) is a Canon term. Nikon calls theirs VR (vibration reduction). In the Canon 500mmF4 IS is built into the lens, not the camera body and functions as I described above.
Canon's Image Stabilization Technology and Tripod Use
Questions repeatedly arise about whether or not Image Stabilization (IS), available on a fairly wide variety of Canon EF lenses, should be turned on or off when mounted on a monopod, tripod, etc., and whether or not the lens would be damaged if an incorrect choice is made. This information is provided to address these issues and concerns. When the camera and lens are mounted on a monopod, it is recommended that you should keep IS turned on as there is still a fair amount of residual motion, and that IS performance will help dampen that motion. For tripod use, things get a little more complicated, as the IS technology itself has progressed over time, and different lenses use varying forms of this feature. First, no damage will occur if IS is left on, under any circumstance. The primary question is whether or not it is advisable to leave IS turned on or off when mounted on a tripod. Through a post by Alan Hartmann at the Canon SLR Talk forum on Phil Askey's Digital Photography Review site, I was led to a site created by Klaus Schroiff: Canon EOS Lens FAQ. The main page can be found here. There's a lot of useful and interesting information there. One section addresses this specific issue, and with his permission, I am quoting this part in its entirety here (with a few spelling, format and grammatical changes). The original can be seen here.
Q: What about IS and tripods ? A: There are some rumors about there that state that the IS gets damaged when activated on a tripod. This is obviously just nonsense. This is what you can read in the manual: "Do not set the image stabilizer switch to 'I' when using the camera on a tripod. Doing so may cause the image stabilizer to act erratically. Turn the image stabilizer off before using the camera on a tripod.". Further more this is only true for the following lenses:
EF 28-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS
EF 75-300 mm f/4-5.6 USM IS
EF 300 mm f/4 USM L IS
EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS
Here is the explanation from Chuck Westfall (Canon USA): "The IS mechanism operates by correcting shake. When there is no shake, or when the level of shake is below the threshold of the system's detection capability, use of the IS feature may actually *add* unwanted blur to the photograph, therefore you should shut it off in this situation. Remember that the IS lens group is normally locked into place. When the IS function is active, the IS lens group is unlocked so it can be moved by the electromagnetic coil surrounding the elements. When there's not enough motion for the IS system to detect, the result can sometimes be a sort of electronic 'feedback loop,' somewhat analogous to the ringing noise of an audio feedback loop we're all familiar with. As a result, the IS lens group might move while the lens is on a tripod, unless the IS function is switched off and the IS lens group is locked into place." In 2000 Canon released the next generation IS professional lenses. These lenses feature a "tripod-detection" mode which means that there is no problem using IS on a tripod. Even more than that - IS will correct vibrations caused by the mirror operations of the camera. So far the feature is available on the following lenses.
EF 300 mm f/2.8 USM L IS
EF 400 mm f/2.8 USM L IS
EF 400 mm f/4 USM DO IS
EF 500 mm f/4 USM L IS
EF 600 mm f/4 USM L IS
The new
Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8 USM L IS
... is the first IS incarnation with an improved IS effectiveness of up to (officially) 3 f-stops. Anybody having any additional information on this subject, please email me.
Not sure if this helps but when I shoot birds in flight using shutter speed higher then 1/1600s I always turn my VR off to avoid a delay in the response of the camera due to the time needed by the VR mechanism to work (about hal a second). I have lost several good oportunities of getting very good images due to that initial half a second needed by the VR to work at 100%.
I have been using this method with the 300VR +1,4XTC, with the 500VR and with the 500VR+1,4XTC with very good results. I really do not see the need of using VR/IS when the shutter speed is faster than 1/1600s. When the lens is mounted on a tripod I almost always use the same method.
Of course, if the SS is low I always have my VR on in normal mode (both handheld or on tripod). Active mode in VR is for really shaking situations like the ones that you can find when you are shooting in a safari from a four wheels drive truck.
Here is a 100% crop of a flight with the 500VR+1,4XTC handheld and VR off. All the images in the series were tack sharp (noise reduction applied to the BG and USM on the bird)
Thanks Magnus and to everyone else for the tips and info. Juan, your incredible flight shot proves beyond a doubt that stabilization is not needed to produce ultra-sharp images of moving subjects. Thanks.
In 2000 Canon released the next generation IS professional lenses. These lenses feature a "tripod-detection" mode which means that there is no problem using IS on a tripod. Even more than that - IS will correct vibrations caused by the mirror operations of the camera.
Stabilizing for BIF?
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