I had to try it....

[zig-123]

Hi Bob,

regarding IS, I am by no means an expert on IS but have seen a number articles dealing with how image stabilization (in body) works. Most all of the articles say that when a camera equipped with in body IS is mounted to a tripod, it's best to disable IS. Reason being when, enabled and mounted on a tripod, the IS is looking for vibration. Sensing none, it introduces it's own shake.

My own experience is that, unless you have a massive tripod that nothing will move it-including wind, it's best to leave it on.

As an example, this last year, I've used my camera mounted on a Manfrotto 3001 tripod equipped with a Bogen 3030 head to shoot Ospreys about 200ft away in a saltmarsh. There were many days when the wind was such that you could see the camera shaking. Once I saw that, I enabled IS and have left it enabled for all my tripod work, unless it's in a sheltered area or indoors, using a 2second time delay on the shutter.

Here is some interesting info on the subject written by Wrotniak;
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/tech/is.html

Zig

[boBBrennan]

..thanks Zig,

I've read that item before and just now again............your experience makes sense to me but to say, "turn IS off if mounted on a tripod because if the system is too still it will make its own shake" doesn't make sense to me at all. I need a nap!

[tkurkowski]

Originally Posted by fldspringer

The 300 f2.8 is a different animal. Its won't be going on any hikes unless its on my back, the collar will not be removed, and if it gets carried anywhere, the tripod is getting carried there too.

Greg

Greg, have you tried a good monopod? I use the Velbon Neopod 7 - carbon fiber, very light weight, and easy to set up. Zig bought one on my recommendation and the last I heard he's happy with it as well.

Ted

[zig-123]

Originally Posted by tkurkowski

Greg, have you tried a good monopod? I use the Velbon Neopod 7 - carbon fiber, very light weight, and easy to set up. Zig bought one on my recommendation and the last I heard he's happy with it as well.

Ted

Hi Ted,

yes, I like the monopod very much and use it in place of the tripod almost daily. It's light, yet feels very solid in the hand. It balances quite well with either the 50-200mm/E30 or the Sigma 135-400mm/E30. Having said that, I don't own a lens that weighs 7 lbs. so I'm not sure how well it would handle the 'big tuna'.

But, I would love to have that problem.............(smile).

[fldspringer]

Originally Posted by tkurkowski

Greg, have you tried a good monopod? I use the Velbon Neopod 7 - carbon fiber, very light weight, and easy to set up. Zig bought one on my recommendation and the last I heard he's happy with it as well.

Ted

The heaviest I've owned previously was the 35-100. I've never even thought of putting that on any support at all. Its only a hand hold lens to me.

The 300mm is double that weight, but it seems like four times the weight. I can still shoot handheld, but you cannot really hold the lens between shots. Just hanging onto the lens a couple minutes will illustrate what I'm trying to say. You just want to put it down again. Its not comfortable.

A monopod would be a solution while actually taking pictures, and balancing the lens/camera would be easier than holding it unaided, but I think sitting behind a tripod will be worth the extra two pounds.

Greg

[fldspringer]

[QUOTE=boBBrennan;1022421][QUOTE]I know about the no IS on a tripod

Why????? I've yet to understand, this just does not make sense to me.
____
boBB

I should qualify this as being a hand hold junkie. It was very rare for me to use a tripod.

That said, its also rare for me to have the IS turned on too. Stabilization has its place and when I'm uncomfortable with shutter speed, I'm glad its there. Most of the time I'd rather concentrate on a steady hold and try to get enough shutter speed.

From what I understand stabilization can help tripod use also, up to the point of everything being "locked down" where the camera cannot be moved at all. I normally never get to that point. I want some movement to tweak composition.

I'll be using a tripod much more. I'll have to learn what works best.

Greg

[fldspringer]

Originally Posted by zig-123

Hi Ted,


But, I would love to have that problem.............(smile).

Listen, Zig. Its a heavy pig of a lens that's uncomfortable to hold.

Concentrate on that and you may be able to save $5k.

Love mine so far though.

Greg

[tkurkowski]

Originally Posted by fldspringer

A monopod would be a solution while actually taking pictures, and balancing the lens/camera would be easier than holding it unaided, but I think sitting behind a tripod will be worth the extra two pounds.

Greg

I didn't realize the 300 weighs 7 pounds. I wouldn't want to hold a bag of sugar in front of me for very long. So I understand your point - I'd use sticks if I had that lens.

Ted

[-=edge=-]

Greg I find the 35-100 great for hand-holding, but I'm just not a fan of the human tripod, it's proven to be undependable in more than one situation and three and a half pounds of glass gets heavy and becomes hard on the neck/shoulders at some point.

[Greg Chappell]

Here's one I did this evening, using my E620, 50-200 and EC20 at 400mm..



Used ISO 100 and (gasp) my tripod and Live View with the LCD flipped out for ease of viewing and framing, with IS off, 1/250 sec at f7.1.

Shot it as an in-camera JPEG using the Large, Superfine setting, then opened it up in Adobe Camera RAW...you can process JPEG's in Adobe Camera RAW... added clarity, made s light WB adjustment, increased contrast via the parametric curves and sharpened with masking on the areas with less detail, then cropped it to what you see here after blowing up to 100%.

The really cool part about using ACR with a JPEG is, the original file is always there untouched. Everything you do can be reversed or adjusted. Once converted back into Photoshop, you save the corrected image as a new file. If you ever want to go back later to the original, it opens back up in ACR with everything as you left it so it's easy to create an identical file 6 months later if you need to.