To hell with VR!!!

Rich H said:

I agree that there are some posts saying how crummy the 17-55 is and
how great the 16-85 is.

I own the 17-55/2.8, 17-35/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 35-70/2.8, 28-70/2.8 and
the 16-85/2.8 so I think I am pretty neutral here.

Click to expand...

WOW you must really like the midrange

Rich H said:

I do believe that the 16-85 is designed to be better than a typical
consumer lens, which may be why it is more expensive then the others.

Rich H

Click to expand...

--
l2u/l\Le

If you are comparing "stops" and shutter speeds, with VR, all things are NOT always equal. Yes, VR lets you hand hold at lower shutter speeds that usual, and I love my VR lens. There are numerous examples posted here where shots would not be possible without VR. I agree. But VR does not help you if your subject is moving.

Consider: A trip to the zoo, particularly small active monkeys in an indoor enclosure. VR will stabilize your 70-300mm lens, so you can hand-hold using f5.6 at 1/60 of a second without getting too much blur.

But VR does not work on the monkeys and 1/60 is not going to freeze their motion. A tripod won't help much either. But, if you get your 2 stops faster from a lens with f2.8 instead of f5.6, now you can shoot at a higher shutter speed and freeze the monkey, too.

Yes, I know I could get an f2.8 70-200mm VR lens and have the best of both worlds, except that I'm not independently wealthy and I'm not willing to carry that beast around all day - I am a wimp.

Yes, of course f/2.8 has a place, as does f/1.4 and 1.8. I keep all these tools at hand as well as VR. My wife is very interested in quilt designs. We spent today driving about the Kentucky countryside shooting, among other things barn quilts that have become so popular here, TN and IN.

Thanks.



http://www.pbase.com/kmsmall/image/95041637
Canon Canon EOS 40D 1/400s f/10.0 at 44.0mm iso400



http://www.pbase.com/kmsmall/image/95085344
Canon Canon EOS 40D 1/60s f/11.0 at 100.0mm iso400

--
-jts
http://www.pbase.com/jtsmall
Canon, Nikon and Olympus
equipment in profile

'From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour.' Julia Margaret Cameron

--
Nikon freak!



http://myhanoi.fotopic.net/
http://www.photo.net/photos/namnguyen
http://flickr.com/photos/namnguyen/

Not trolling here, but I saw this thread in the "most active loist"so I hopped over as I have just tested the Pentax SR system.....
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=27444954

So yes, it does work and yes, it does allow you to take pictures while doing some chores....

It does NOT beat a tripod in the dark, but often you will find that thanks to SR/VR/whatever you are still able to take nice pictures without a tripod.

I think it is very usefull for the police and firebrigade hobbyist and pro shooters alike when it is dark....



Pentax K10D ,Sigma 18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC IF ASP
1/10s f/4.0 at 23.0mm iso1600

(I am not one of them shoters I mentioned, I was in the firecrew and had the "wrong"lens mounted so SR was not only usefull but even necessary for this kind of shot. )

--

Rumle said:

The difference between genius and LBA is that genius has its
limits.

• Janneman ( adaptation of the Kings quote from Albert Einstein)

Click to expand...

I need to sell some of them - probably the 17-55 and 28-70. The 35-70 stays on my F100 film body. The 24-70 and 17-35 are for the D3 and the 16-85 stays on the D200.

Rich H