Life without Pana's OIS

[HarjTT]

Its been two months now with my Oly E1 and not having OIS or liveview I thought was going to be a major problem for me. I recently upgraded the kit lens to an Oly 14-54 ZD f2.8-3.5 Pro lens still without IS - I'm waiting for the Leica D to go on sale as it will give me IS and is also tack sharp wide open with the PanaLeica colours that we all enjoy. However, in the meantime I've been using boyzo's technique to steady myself and reduce camera shake. Here's a couple of really slow shots with the e1 +14-54:

1. Taken today, ISO 400 f3.3 1/3sec handheld (this one was taken by accident at that shutter speed so I'm completely shocked by it)



2. Taken last week at 1/15 s ISO800:



3. ISO 400 1/6 s f4.5





Cheers

HarjTT


:O :?

[squirl033]

pretty steady shots there, HarjTT.... what exactly is Boyzo's method? i musta missed it. either that or i'm having a persistent senior moment and have completely forgotten! :lol:

[d-sr]

Number 1 is extremely sharp for a 1/3 sec. exposure by accident. I'm not that study even when I try. All are nice shots HarjTT.

Don

[annie57]

I like #2 as you feel like an "observer" in the every day world of the people in the photo as they go on with life!!

[seemolf]

Good shots, Mr. "Slowhand" !!



Squirl, this is the Boyzo link:

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...mp;forum_id=23

I miss him, his last posting was at february.

Sven

[HarjTT]

Hi Sven, Squirrl, Annie and Don

Not sure on the "mr slowhands" as its usually more like "mr shakeyhands". If it wasn;t for John's technique there is noway that I would even attempt those shots handheld so I owe a lot to him for passing on that tip.

What I've learnt since getting the E1 and loosing IS is :

1. John's Technique. I've always used John's technique and now I keep my elbows pointing as down as possible as that helps to relax the shoulders and reduce shake. Standing feet just shoulder width apart and as i press the shutter to breathe out.
2. Fast shutter speed. The rule of thumb says a sharp blur free pic, shutterspeed= (2 * focal length)*crop factor. So in my case with the Oly E1 to get the right shutter speed its usually 4*FL. But in the above cases that goes right out of the window :?
3. Fast lens - thats one reason why I upgraded to the ZD 14-54(28-108mm) f2.8-3.5. I've been thinking about buying a fast 50mm prime lens and using that esp for low light shooting.
4. My E1 is a lot more comfortable to hold and also has more weight which adds to the stability - a bit like the FZ30/50 but a wee bit heavier.

The first shot is still shocking and I can;t get my head around why most of the characters in the pic are not blurred. Here's another by Greg over at the Oly forum - taken at 1/4 s:

http://gmchappell.smugmug.com/galler...91601486/Large

Cheers

HarjTT

:O :?

[Rriley]

hi Harj
you dont appear to be suffering too much without OIS
you must have a steady hand
must be all that clean living you do

and that frame of Gregs with with 11mm Oly, so 1/11th is the right exposure
granted its a slow shutter but 11mm makes a difference

your sense of composition is quite unique Harj
the people/street scenes at low light really are special
you seem to have an ability to read light very well
please dont stop posting !

Riley

[David C]

Harj,

that one at 1/3 sec is surprisingly clear! Well done, especially for no OIS...

Personally, I am not sure exactly how much difference the OIS on my FZ20 makes - since it is my first proper digicam so I do not have much to relate it too. I am sure it must help with slow shutters - since I regularly handhold 1/20-1/15 sec and get usable images most of the time. (Though I used to handhold my 35mm film cams to 1/15 s with reasonable hit ratios too).

With the FZ20 I even get a reasonable proportion of shots around the 1/4 sec at acceptable sharpness, and the occasional usable shot at even longer. For example, we have just had a family holiday to Europe (mostly in Italy), and lots of cathedral interior shots requiring 1/10 sec or slower - many of which turned out passably...

eg a couple of St Peter's interiors, this first one at 1/4 sec

[David C]

this next one at 1/2 sec is a bit unsharp, but a reasonably adequate record of the scene (ie 'being there') none-the-less...

[David C]

This last example was my 'record' on the trip for a handheldimage at the slowest shutter speed - a 2.5 sec exposure of the Pantheon! Very blurry, but probably usable (I have not had time to process the Europe shots yet - and I am sure I will be able to extract a fair bit more detail in Photoshop...) Pity about the guy with the vidoecam that walked right in front of me, but oh well... :roll:

Cheers,
DC