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Are you saying that it is better to turn IS off if the camera is on a relatively stable surface?

Flutterby, yes. If you have your camera well placed and sturdy then switch it off.
On taking pictures with long focal lenses even the smallest vibration can spoil a picture and anti vibration generates lots of those.

This is great for me - I am a total idiot when it comes to anything besides pressing the shutter button...

So I'm here for the "course" pulled out my camera and actually started looking at what is on it

Thanks for this thread

JJ

Thanks Rumuruti.

@ Jungle Junkie Glad you like the thread!! let us know what problems you are having and we can try help you with it!

@ Flutterby i have also read by other forums and hear from other people that turning the IS off on the lens when it completely stable is a good thing! I dont have this issue as i have a 400 F5.6 Non IS so i cant really say. But it would be great to hear as to why ? I was told when i had a sigma 150-500 that i must not use it on a tripod, setting 1 when on a mono pod and setting 2 when using it hand lend. If i used setting 2 on a tripod then it would damage the the lens after a while. But this lens was not an IS (Image stabilizer) it was an OS (Optical stabilizer).

@ Rumuruti Ciao how you doing? hope well! To be honest im a canon fan so i dont really know much about the Nikon lenses and the VR Function on the lenses ( have no experiences with them) but im sure there are Nikon fans that will gladly help on this topic.

So to all that are reading this thread, have you found the information helpful? are you all ok with the meaning of the F-Stop ?

The next topic i will tackle is how the F stop affects Depth-of-Field ? let me know who is keen on this topic or if there is another topic you would like to cover ?

Massimo, my lens (75-300mm) also does not have IS so now I'm wondering if that is a good or bad thing?

Hi Massimo,

Great thread! I am a keen photographer but have a great deal to learn, so this thread is perfect for me. Please keep the info and advice coming.

May I ask that you guys keep your explanations as simple as possible for the 'technically challenged', like me !!!

Flutterby, I would not worry at all with your lens. My first lens was a 70-300 non VR/IS and I have and still taking great pictures with it.

Massimo, depth of field is something I love playing with and I'm sure a lot of people want to learn/know more about it.

@ Mauxie no problem il try and keep them as simple as possible !! Glad you enjoy the thread!

@ Flutterby, having a lens with no IS is not a problem at all! like i said i have a 400 f5.6 with no IS and i absolutely love it!! I did read up on tips with lenses that have no IS and came across this information:

in my terms : When Using a lens make sure that the shutter speed is the same or higher than the actual distance you are using. Especially when using one with no IS or OS

When using the lens hand held:

For example Ill use your lens flutterby : you have a 75-300 non IS. Now lets say you taking a shot of a bird in the garden and u zoomed up to your 300. You should make sure that your shutter speed is the same or higher ( the higher the better, but do not go to high with your ISO to make your shutter speed high) then 300. I go to around 400 ISO when taking photos to ensure that my photos are crisp and the action is frozen in time BUT remember the lower the ISO the better (less noise on your picture)

So if you shooting something at 300 distance and your shutter speed is 250 the photo is not the one you will be looking at very much !!

This is very helpfull if you using a large zoom lens like the 150-500mm sigma lens. If you zoomed out at 500 try and get your shutter speed to 500 or more for pictures you will start liking

Have a great day Sunday! Im spending mine making a camera bag for my gear

trying to fit the following into one bag:
Canon 7d
Canon 450D
Canon 70-200 F4 IS + HOOD+ Canon soft cover bag
Canon 400 F5.6 L + Canon hard cover bag
Canon 50 mm F1.8 lens

Going to be fun

Enjoy

Massimo Enjoying this thread!

With regards to the IS I think some people might be getting the wrong impression. IS is a good thing in many, many situations. Otherwise an IS lens would not cost double, treble the amount of a non IS lens.

The way I see it is that with IS you can shoot at shutter speeds much lower than what you would usually shoot at, especially hand held or in low light situations. So for like a 300mm lens you can shoot at 1/120 and get sharp results without having to increase shutter speed to above 300.

Thanks Massimo & Oddesy....think I understand it now.

Hi Massimo;

One other point to consider on the subject of focal-length v. shutter-speed...

The old rule of the 'reciprocal of the focal length' (I.e. 1/focal length) was generated in the days of film when all were 'full-frame' bodies...

The majority of todays consumer DSLRs are 'crop-sensor' bodies which has the 'effect' of reducing the field of view by 1.6x; so a 300mm lens will generate an image akin to a 480mm lens on a full-frame body.

As a consequence, I try to maintain that as the 'optimum' shutter-speed; so my rule is now 1/focal-length x 1.6 (or 1.5 for ease of use..) So, using a lens at 300mm * 1.6 = 480mm = optimum shutter-speed of 1/500 etc.

Maybe a little on the 'safe' side; but better safe than sorry!

An IS lens of course will help to reduce that requirement, but even with IS lenses, I always try to work to golden-rules!

Cheers...

PS: Good luck with your bag-building... what's wrong wth a Lowepro

Rumuruti I hear you. I too had the 80-400 VR and found if I rested it on the beanbag in Kruger the results were not as good as when the VR was off. Great optics that lens was I found

Then I upgraded to the 200-400 and this lens had VRII which is a totally different technology and I was able to use the newer lens in much lower light situations as it didnt matter if the VR was on..in fact at the slow shutter speeds like 1/30 sec @ 400mm @ F4 the VR had to be on. Its the same with the large Prime lens I now use on the beanbag out the car window

Hi Lanzerac, I keep my "old" 80-400 always on my D80 but have recently got myself a Sigma 300mm f2.8 and keep it on my D90. Been thinking about getting rid of the 80-300 and going for something with a little more range.
Going to have a look at the 200-400 and decide!! Got a serious bird watching safari in Kenya in August

I discovered my lens does NOT have the F-Stop function