The Camera Shop Blog

If you Google the phrase “Image Stablization” you get almost 2 million returns. In the digital world, it’s the buzz word for the last 2 years, almost replacing “megapixels” as everyone’s favorite tech term.

But what is Image Stabilization, and why does everyone think they need it? And does it really make a difference?

First, a few clarifications:

“Image stabilization” (IS) is often called “vibration reduction” (VR), “shake reduction” (SR), or “optical stablization” (OS) when applied to different brands. From here on out I’ll just call it I.S.

There are (usually) two different features that go by the name “image stablization”, but they are not the same. One is an automatic increase in the ISO of the camera, e.g. the film speed, which allows your shutter to fire faster. The negative side of this feature is that a higher ISO lowers your picture quality. It causes your pictures to have digital noise, or what we used to call in the old days, film grain.

The positive side of this feature is that your shutter is actually firing faster, allowing you to capture moving objects more easily. (Probably not enough for those elusive basketball pictures, but more on that later).

The second kind of I.S. performs a different function. It physically stabilizes an element in the camera, whether it’s a focusing element in the lens like Canon and Nikon, or the CCD inside the camera body, such as Olympus and Pentax. In theory this should physically compensate for your camera shake. Drink too much coffee? This should end that shake.

Taking after the Optical vs Digital zoom craze, they call these two kinds of stabilization Digital Image Stabilization, and Optical Image Stabilization. And just like the optical zoom distinction, the Optical I.S. does give you better quality images.

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HOWEVER, there is a HUGE misconception about I.S. that I want to debunk. Despite what the polo-shirted kids at Best Buy may say, Image Stabilization does not help you shoot sports pictures. It does not help you shoot basketball in a gym. It will not let you get a picture of your daughter at the gymnastics meet, mid-flip. It just doesn’t.

I daily find myself having to re-educate someone about why I.S. is a handy feature for still life’s, but won’t help them indoors. We all get this idea that a new feature will change our lives, and make us better photographers. But I.S. is just one more tool in the photographer’s belt. Photography survived without it for 150 years, and there were still basketball pictures.

If you think it through, there are two kinds of movement that can ruin your pictures. One is your hand movement. Depending on the person, most zoom pictures should have a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second or higher, because our shaky hands alone can blur a picture. One potential answer is I.S. in your camera which should give you up to 3 stops more “handhold-ability”. (Or ideally a tripod. Remember those?)

The other kind of blur is action blur. This is when the subject is moving too fast for the camera to catch, e.g. a football player sprinting down the field. And all the I.S. in the world can’t make him slow down - he’ll be a blur in your picture, even if your camera is “stabilized”. For example, let’s say you have a Nikon D40x, and your new 70-300VR lens. This lens is supposed to keep those blurry pictures away, even if it takes more battery power. It’ll do a great job taking pictures of the dog sleeping in the shade, or the bowl of fruit by the window. But if your kid plays lacrosse, and his nickname is “Wheels” because he is the fastest thing in the 7th grade, you’ll need AT LEAST 1/400th of a second shutter speed just to capture him in action. That’s why I.S. is mostly a scam. - it’s a buzzword that oversimplifies a photographic concept.

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Ok, so now what? The fancy lens you spent 700 dollars for is worthless to you if you want to do basketball pictures. So how do you do it? The answer of course is light-gathering. If your camera can gather more light in a dark room, then the shutter can keep up with your lightning-fast kid. If your camera can go from f/5.6 to f/2.8, that’s two stops, or 4 TIMES AS MUCH LIGHT. It means the difference between 1/60th of a second blur-fest and a prize-winning 1/200th of a second game-stopper.

So, trade in your I.S. lens, and come get an f/2.8 lens. It will be a little more expensive, but the pictures will be worth it. And having faster shutter speeds also takes care of your hand shake, so you can keep drinking coffee.

I will eventually upload some sample photos to demonstrate this concept, but for right now if you have any questions, feel free to stop in. We’ll demo some lenses for you, and show you the difference good light can make. 231 946 7150

-Nate