dbfrancy

I know the CW is to turn vibration reduction off when camera is mounted on a tripod. Does the same advice apply when camera is mounted on a Gimbel head. Haven't had much time to use my Gimbel head, so don't have any feeling for this. Thanks

RichinSeattle

Leave it on. It's not going to hurt anything.

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

With Canon it use to matter & that may also have applied to Nikon - BUT - With the newer IS/VR it longer does

Bill_de Loc: US

Not all lenses, even among the same brand, work the same. Some newer lenses detect a tripod mounted lens and turn VR off when necessary. Some will revert to VR for panning is that is the motion detected.

Best advice is to check your lens manuals.

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dbfrancy

Thanks

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Depends on the camera. Best to just shut it off and never have to worry.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I have used VR lenses with my tripod and when I have forgotten to set VR off still the results were as expected. Manufacturers advise to have VR off when on a steady platform.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

VR is there to compensate for camera motion.
There is no need to use VR when the camera is not going to move.
There is no need to use VR when the shutter speed is higher than the VR compensation rate (it used to be around 1/500 second but that may change with newer technology).

Older VR systems did some dithering at their compensation rate, allowing some image degradation when the camera was not moving or the shutter speed was high. I suspect (but have no direct knowledge) that technology has advanced beyond that point now (for newer lenses).

uhaas2009

Belongs on the lens, some VR permanently stabilize- some stop when it’s realize that it’s on a tripod. I don’t know on a gimbal

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

That was my approach. Since only a few of my lenses have VR, I tend to forget it's there.
--Bob

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"...Best advice is to check your lens manuals..."

Even better advice is extensive testing.... With you particular lens/camera combo... you would be amazed at how important this is.... As Ronny said, Trust but verify...

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice however in practice there certainly is...

Experience is a brutal teacher....

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

When you use a camera and lens on a gimbal head, you are moving it... usually in a panning motion, but often also the tilt axis. So, I'd say leave VR on in many cases. But there may be exceptions for other reasons.

Assuming we're talking about a Nikon lens ("VR" is a Nikon-specific term), you still may wish turn off VR some times because many experienced users feel that VR slows down auto focus to some small degree. There seems to be some evidence to support this, too. Do a search for more info. However, because of this there may be times you will want to turn VR off when using a faster shutter speed.... at or above the old rule of thumb about the reciprocal of the lens focal length. (I.e., with a 500mm lens, used 1/500 or faster... But adjust for crop sensor, if appropriate: 500mm on a DX camera would call for 1/750, for example.)

This doesn't seem to apply to Canon IS and may or may not apply to other in-lens stabilization systems from Sony, Sigma and Tamron. Each is likely to be different, because although they have the same intended purpose and general design, they are each patented by their manufacturer and are almost certain to be different in some ways.

I can only speak for Canon IS lenses, which I've used for nearly 20 years.

I leave IS on most of the time... Certainly when handheld, always when on a monopod and I can't recall the last time I turned it off when on a tripod (but I don't use some lenses on a tripod, see below). Most Canon lenses self-detect when there's no movement and turn off IS themselves. The Canon user manuals suggest turning it off "when using a tripod", but according to Chuck Westfall, the former tech guru at Canon USA, that was only to save a little battery power. In my experience, it's not much... using IS and non-IS lenses side by side on two cameras, I see virtually no difference in the number of shots per battery charge. Besides, if IS isn't needed and shuts itself off, as it does on many Canon lenses, that also saves power.

There are five Canon IS lenses known to "have issues" with IS when locked down on a tripod (i.e., NOT gimbal usage). Actually, this isn't limited to just tripods. It applies whenever there's no movement of the camera and lens at all for the IS to correct. The IS system on these particular lenses can go into sort of a feedback loop where it actually creates rapid movement that results in something like "shake blur" in images. With one exception, the Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, all these lenses are now discontinued. The EF 75-300mm IS USM was the very first lens to get IS, back in the mid-1990s, and was long ago discontinued. The Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM and the original EF 100-400mm L IS USM (push/pull zoom version) were more recently discontinued. Not officially on the list, but also noted for some of the same problems, the EF 24-105L IS USM (original version) is another that was superseded by a new model a few years ago. Only the 300mm, which was the second lens Canon updated with IS back in the 1990s, remains in production. All of the other 30 or so Canon IS lenses, both current and discontinued, can be "locked down" without turning off IS, with little concern.

In all Canon lenses, users shooting video or very carefully composed stills or making longer exposures such as astral photography also may want to turn IS off because it has a slow "image drift", which might effect their work although it will not cause "shake blur" issues in images. You can see this "drift" when using any of the Canon IS lenses. It's not the same as the more rapid "feedback" movement seen with the five lenses listed above. BTW, I've used several of those lenses over the years... four or five of the 28-135s, two different copies of the 300mm, and the 24-105.... all of which are more geared to "walk-around style", hand-held shooting anyway.

I haven't used Nikon VR, Sigma OS or Tamron VC lenses enough to say if there are similar concerns. But, if it's similar to the Canon, when it occurs you'll see it in the viewfinder. With the few lenses where IS can go into a feedback loop, if that happens you'll also see that in the viewfinder and be reminded to turn IS off. No harm is done to camera or lens.... although an image might be spoiled by it, if you forget and take a shot.

Finally, there's a "panning" mode on some stabilized lenses. This is especially for those times when you want some deliberate blur effect in the background of an image of a moving subject. Stabilization normally corrects movement along both the horizontal axis and the vertical axis. The panning mode only acts to counteract blur on the vertical axis. (And, yes, the camera or lens detects orientation, so it's applied to the vert. axis regardless whether the camera is being used in portrait or landscape orientation.) I'm not sure about the other manufacturer's lenses, but on Canon this is labelled "Mode 2" ("Mode 1" is standard 2-axis stabilization. "Mode 3" on some newer lenses is also 2-axis, but is instant IS that only occurs during the actual moment of exposure). Reportedly, some of the most recent Canon IS lenses don't have a user-operated switch and instead "self detect" panning movement combined with slower shutter speeds, and will switch into a form of Mode 2 automatically.

With Canon lenses, my general rule is to simply leave IS on. In fact, on some I've got gaffer tape over the switch to prevent accidentally turning it off. Even when I'm using faster shutter speeds, especially with longer focal lengths, I find IS can be helpful steadying the image in the viewfinder when I'm tracking a moving subject. I suspect I'd do similar with Nikon VR, but may turn it off at times when AF speed is a major concern. (Personally I feel Canon IS helps AF perform better... but have no way of proving it. I can't say about OS, VC or OSS.)

dbfrancy

Thanks all!

Bill P

I can't remember seeing this question before. Since a gimbal head is sort of halfway between locked down on tripod and handheld. I thick testing is in order.

With the gimbal, you are not panning as with handheld, you are more guiding.

Kristian Loc: Monrovia, CA

Some camera's have an autofocus fine tune feature. There are various products/methods to use this feature. I use one which uses software to analyse the results. Basically you take a series of exposures at each adjustment point, turning the focus ring between each one so the autofocus has to re-acquire lock. The software graphs the results, showing which fine tune value is the most accurate for your camera/lens. The other thing the graph shows you is how much variation there is in the autofocus from shot to shot.

On a tripod shooting at 1/500 f2.8, my 24-70 f2.8 ED VR lens on a Nikon D-810 the variation between frames is larger with the VR on than off. The problem is that this information is hard to interpret since the graph does not give you the value of the points on the vertical axis. When I asked the maker, he simply said they are arbitrary.

My experience is that at slower shutter speeds the benefits of VR far exceed any inaccuracies of the AF system, but above 1/500th, or on a tripod, I turn it off because it makes me feel better.

A camera tech told me that the problem with VR on a tripod is that when it sees no motion it hunts around looking for it.

I haven't found a reliable answer as to whether my newer VR lenses turn off VR on a tripod, but I suspect, from my AF fine tune results that they do not.