I keep wanting to bow out of this IBIS discussion because I get accused of repeating myself. Honestly, there is little if anything I can learn from any of you about IBIS or IBIS in combination with OIS
After years of using cameras with no stabilization, stabilized lenses, and IBIS…
In virtually all cases IBIS is a plus with no significant minuses. (You can always turn it off.)
While many of us can sometimes get pretty sharp handheld images at pretty low shutter speeds when we are very careful, not all photographs get to be made with that kind of care, especially when things happen quickly and/or the light is very low. IBIS offers significantly improved stability — and a higher success irate — even when shooting at those shutter speeds that might work sometimes with no stabilization.
Whatever your lowest acceptable shutter speeds is with no stabilization, it becomes lower with IBIS (or OIS with long lenses). When shooting street I try not to go lower than 1/30 second (CORRECTED TYPO: I originally typed “30 seconds.”) with a non-stabilized moderate wide lens. I’m usually OK at that speed, but I still get some shots that have a bit too much motion blur. With IBIS I can easily push that down to 1/4 seconds or so with the same careful shooting.
You certainly can do photography without stabilized gear — we did it that way for decades. But stabilization has improved things a lot. It is a really useful addition to cameras and is becoming virtually a standard feature of most modern cameras.
No, it can’t help with subject motion, so if you are only subject motion limited, it is still about keeping the exposure short in most cases. But most of also photograph subjects where that isn’t an issue and/or may be open to a bit of subject motion if it works for the image.
On another subject that your post seems to have raised, I’m surprised — though I probably shouldn’t be — at the number of people who disagree and then go on to basically tell you to shut up and go away… rather than attempting to engage your points with objective facts.
Mar 24, 2025 at 09:51 AM
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I keep wanting to bow out of this IBIS discussion because I get accused of repeating myself. Honestly, there is little if anything I can learn from any of you about IBIS or IBIS in combination with OIS
After years of using cameras with no stabilization, stabilized lenses, and IBIS…
In virtually all cases IBIS is a plus with no significant minuses. (You can always turn it off.)
While many of us can sometimes get pretty sharp handheld images at pretty low shutter speeds when we are very careful, not all photographs get to be made with that kind of care, especially when things happen quickly and/or the light is very low. IBIS offers significantly improved stability — and a higher success irate — even when shooting at those shutter speeds that might work sometimes with no stabilization.
Whatever your lowest acceptable shutter speeds is with no stabilization, it becomes lower with IBIS (or OIS with long lenses). When shooting street I try not to go lower than 30 seconds with a non-stabilized moderate wide lens. I’m usually OK at that speed, but I still get some shots that have a bit too much motion blur. With IBIS I can easily push that down to 1/4 seconds or so with the same careful shooting.
You certainly can do photography without stabilized gear — we did it that way for decades. But stabilization has improved things a lot. It is a really useful addition to cameras and is becoming virtually a standard feature of most modern cameras.
No, it can’t help with subject motion, so if you are only subject motion limited, it is still about keeping the exposure short in most cases. But most of also photograph subjects where that isn’t an issue and/or may be open to a bit of subject motion if it works for the image.
On another subject that your post seems to have raised, I’m surprised — though I probably shouldn’t be — at the number of people who disagree and then go on to basically tell you to shut up and go away… rather than attempting to engage your points with objective facts.
Mar 23, 2025 at 04:33 PM
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