Image Stabilization The Proper Way

Canon calls it Image Stabilization, Nikon calls it Vibration Reduction, Sony calls it SteadyShot, Pentax calls it Sensor-shift Image Stabilization, Sigma call it Optical Stabilization and so on.

It's very much black magic. It's based on between two to as many as six tiny gyroscopes that track the pitch and the yaw to compensate for the movements of the photographer either on the CMOS/CCD sensor or around one of the optical element of the lens. They will give you between 2 f/stops to as many as 5 f/stops, depending on the technology and the circumstances.

Here are 2 consecutive shots taken 0.125 second apart. I knew that I was too slow for the focal length by at least 2½ f/stops, so kept my finger on the shutter, aka “spray & pray”, and I was right. I got 5 crisp photos out of the 7 photos taken, not bad, actually very, very good.

The secret to using the IS/VR/SS… is to keep engaging it, usually by keeping the finger half pressed on the shutter for more than ½ of a second to ¾ of a second before pressing the shutter in full, then use the continuous shooting. The IS/VR/SS… keeps improving as you keep on shooting, especially if you are steady enough. I regularly get 4 f/stops improvements, but never on the first exposure.

Overall, the image stabilization is more effective when it's built-in the lens instead of inside the camera. When it's in the lens, the image stabilization is done before the focus and this help with the auto-focus, especially the big teles. When the image stabilization is done in the camera body, it's more convenient, the lenses are smaller and usually a little bit cheaper.