Image Stabilization and Tripods

In the “good old days”, the advice for the Image Stabilization was to turn it off whenever the camera was mounted on a tripod. The gyroscope of the IS would keep on spinning and cause movement.

The new Image Stabilization from Canon, Nikon, or Sigma have significantly improved. The new stabilization system have a much better effectiveness. Canon, Nikon and Sigma claim that they can get a 4 f/stops improvement.

ISO 3200, 1/20th of a second! f/7.1 @400mm with the Sigma 120-400, hand-held in a “wind-storm”. The winds were between 30 miles to 50 miles/hr. The distance is 15ft. This gives me a depth of field is just under 1 inch. Both the eyes and the beak are in focus. I did get my full 4 stops.

Back to the tripods, now the new generation of IS recognizes that the camera is either on a tripod or on a steady/rock solid platform and the IS de-activates itself.