Turn off "vibration reduction" on Nikon DX lens ???

[surplusshooter]

I think I recall reading that Nikon recommends that you switch off "VR" (vibration reduction) on a DX lens when shooting with the camera on a tripod. Why ? What difference does this make ? This is almost like saying that you better not hand hold the camera too still because this might hurt image quality. Somehow this does not make any kind of logical sense to me. Can someone please explain this ? Thanks.

[TCav]

Image stabilization is a feedback loop. Vibration of any kind can cause the VR to kick in, and on some tripods, the vibration from the VR can cause the tripod to vibrate, thus giving the VR someting to compensate for, so it vibrates some more.

[Wizzard0003]

Have a read here: http://digital-photography-school.co...ion-on-tripods

[TCav]

I don't think this advice is limited to DX lenses. I think that FX lenses are at least as suseptible to the problem as DX lenses are, and probably moreso.

[fewpics]

I went through a time where I turned VR off at all times, to try to make me work harder for my shots. This was on the D300. I recently bought a D600 and because I hadn't touched a camera for a few months, I put on a 70-300mm lens and couldn't quite figure out why some shots were so blurry. Of course the VR was off. I got lazy again and of course sometimes conditions simply go against you - weather etc...

I have had blurry shots even from a tripod, mostly because my technique was sloppy (lazy) and I just clicked away thinking all would be ok,,, "hey it's on a tripod, what could go wrong?".. Well it does go wrong when you get lazy... VR, on or off, it's you who controls the shot(s) and if you are good without the aid of any electronic stablizing aid then you can get good results anyway. I generally turn VR off when on a tripod and then I try to control shutter release. Sometimes I use a remote and other times I just take care with the trigger finger. Making sure the tripod is on a firm footing is also a good practise. I have found indoors shooting from a tripod on carpet and finger released, can be a real pain...

[SmokinJoe]

I have an approach which seems to work for me. When I'm using a tripod i turn off the VR, switch to live view, and set the camera to a 2 second self timer. The mirror flips up when I go to live view, I hit the button and then everything has 2 seconds to settle down before the shutter trips. Someday I'll get around to grabbing the wireless shutter release, but for now the self timer works.