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E-P1... why IBIS is invaluable to me.

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Brian Mosley

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Hello everyone,

following the discussion in this thread :
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=32893700

I thought I'd illustrate why having In Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) can be so useful for my photography. Yesterday I found myself with a few minutes spare to pop into our city cathedral - I wanted to take a shot of this statue - which was in a fairly dark corner of the cathedral, and from chest height.

I wanted a reasonable depth of field, and the lowest possible ISO for good IQ... so selected ISO 200 and f4.5 - this resulted in a 1/2 second exposure handheld .

E-P1 + 17mm f2.8
1/2s f/4.5 at 17.0mm iso200



So, sometimes you won't be able to rely on a large aperture to capture a low light shot you want, and the pleasure of having the E-P1 with you is not having to be weighed down with a tripod - also, you won't always have something to lean on (to get the necessary angle, this was taken with the E-P1 up above chest height and forward)

Kind Regards

Brian
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LOL, the camera was being held out away from my body, waving in the air...

This may have some relevance, having the camera too steady held may actually be counter productive.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=32763033

Stabilisation is potentially very complex... all I know is, it works on the E-P1 when I forget about it and shoot :)

Kind Regards

Brian
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Below is a picture of The Garrison Church in Portsmouth in which King Charles II was married to Cartherine of Braganza, taken with my G1 and 14-45 mm OIS lens ISO 100.

 
But for some reason they haven't stabilised the 20mm f/1.7.
 
Why would they want to satblize a fast 20 mm lens, which when fitted to a Panny will AF very quickly. The 7-14 mm f/4 lens does not have OIs for the same reason as the shutter speed will nearly always be more than double the focal length. I will agree that if you have Oly 4/3 lenses which don't have OIS then in camera IS will be invaluable. But I want to invest in Panny lenses such as the 20 mm, 45 mm Macro, the 100-300 mm OIS and the 7-14 mm lens if the price comes down.
Richard
 
Sometimes, it will be desirable to shoot the 20mm f1.7 at its' sweet spot (probably something closer to f4-5 for sharpness across the frame...) and when you want a small aperture in dark conditions (as shown above).

You will have that flexibility with the E-P1 + 20mm f1.7 pancake.

Kind Regards

Brian
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Lamprecht said:
Why would they want to satblize a fast 20 mm lens, which when fitted to a Panny will AF very quickly. The 7-14 mm f/4 lens does not have OIs for the same reason as the shutter speed will nearly always be more than double the focal length.
Click to expand...
The trouble is that 'nearly' bit. You can get some interesting shots around dusk where it will be difficult to keep the shutter speed above the focal length even at 7mm. You could use a tripod, except that it is in the car at the top of the cliff (see some of Louis Dobson's work for examples taken with the Oly 7-14). Then there are those places where tripods are forbidden.
 
Brian Mosley said:
Sometimes, it will be desirable to shoot the 20mm f1.7 at its' sweet spot (probably something closer to f4-5 for sharpness across the frame...)
Click to expand...
Just for the sake of DOF, I will stop down... and without IS, a fast lens is revealed a one-trick pony. IBIS is very useful, especially with lenses with no IS option (pancakes).

--
-CW

よしよし、今日も生きのいい魂が手に入ったな
 
I believe that IBIS is quite great, it would be even better if they invented a form to utilize both to make it even steadier, to be able to shoot in slower speeds or stabilize with larger telephotos.

Here are some shots that I handheld 1600mm (cheap 800mm mirror) :
(just for testing nothing really photographic)



Here are some handheld but propped against a chair , handheld at 1200mm (600mm nikkor - old one)





--



http://www.hondurasart.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=2180
 
Hi Brian. Indeed you share the same reasons I do for buying into the E-P1. Regarding IS do you know any good test that shows that IBIS or ILIS are different or even relevant in performance? One thing purely subjective about the E-P1 that I simply love is the looks and design... I love PEN's, you got to be a Olympus/Maitani fan to appreciate the effort put in the E-P1.
Anxious for these new panasonic lenses....

Regards

João
 
Brian Mosley said:
Hello everyone,

following the discussion in this thread :
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=32893700

I thought I'd illustrate why having In Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) can be so useful for my photography. Yesterday I found myself with a few minutes spare to pop into our city cathedral - I wanted to take a shot of this statue - which was in a fairly dark corner of the cathedral, and from chest height.

I wanted a reasonable depth of field, and the lowest possible ISO for good IQ... so selected ISO 200 and f4.5 - this resulted in a 1/2 second exposure handheld .

E-P1 + 17mm f2.8
1/2s f/4.5 at 17.0mm iso200



So, sometimes you won't be able to rely on a large aperture to capture a low light shot you want, and the pleasure of having the E-P1 with you is not having to be weighed down with a tripod - also, you won't always have something to lean on (to get the necessary angle, this was taken with the E-P1 up above chest height and forward)
Click to expand...
I don't want to get into the whole debate about IBIS and in lens IS, or whether Olympus' approach is better than Panasonic's approach. However, I do wish Panasonic and Olympus could sort out a more integrated approach. My own feelings are that IBIS should be on most cameras and lens IS used for applications like video, where maybe OIS has an advantage.

I often see the argument put forward that you don't need or want IS on shorter focal length lenses, so people will say that the f1.7 20mm doesn't need IS. However, even with a short and fast lens you will find some situations where you will need to use a shutter speed that is slow enough to make motion blur a problem - and it is here that something like IBIS can be a real saviour.

It is very difficult for me to say this without it mistakenly appearing that I am trying to make some point about one brand being better than the other. The only lens IS approach is always going to be limited in that there will always be situations where you have no IS, but it would be useful. No lens range has IS on every lens, and lenses from other systems never have IS with the lens IS only approach. Whereas IBIS at least gives you some sort of IS option with any lens attached to the camera. I just wish this whole issue could be discussed without it descending into the Panasonic vs Olympus type squabbling that often occurs. I think it is not too late for an integrated approach to be adopted and it would be best done in the early days of m4/3, rather than in a few years time when it is realised how many problems this dual approach to IS creates.
 
meh.. on my d700, i would have cranked it up to iso3200 without a second thought, output would have been better too
Brian Mosley said:
Hello everyone,

following the discussion in this thread :
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=32893700

I thought I'd illustrate why having In Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) can be so useful for my photography. Yesterday I found myself with a few minutes spare to pop into our city cathedral - I wanted to take a shot of this statue - which was in a fairly dark corner of the cathedral, and from chest height.

I wanted a reasonable depth of field, and the lowest possible ISO for good IQ... so selected ISO 200 and f4.5 - this resulted in a 1/2 second exposure handheld .

E-P1 + 17mm f2.8
1/2s f/4.5 at 17.0mm iso200



So, sometimes you won't be able to rely on a large aperture to capture a low light shot you want, and the pleasure of having the E-P1 with you is not having to be weighed down with a tripod - also, you won't always have something to lean on (to get the necessary angle, this was taken with the E-P1 up above chest height and forward)

Kind Regards

Brian
--
Join our free worldwide support network here :
http://www.ukphotosafari.org/join-the-ukpsg/
UK, Peak District Local Olympus Safari Group : http://snipurl.com/bqtd7-ukpsg
Keep up with me here : http://twitter.com/alert_bri
Click to expand...
 
This is not a brand issue - I will gladly continue to buy and recommend panasonic m4/3rds lenses - while also pleading for HG/SHG options too.

I believe the Olympus E-P1 doesn't support all the features of the Lumix 14-140 OIS for video, which should be addressed if possible.

The 20mm f1.7 is the fastest m4/3rds lens so far, and should be very useful indeed - but I'll be using it on the E-P1 for the best of both worlds.

Kind Regards

Brian
--
Join our free worldwide support network here :
http://www.ukphotosafari.org/join-the-ukpsg/
UK, Peak District Local Olympus Safari Group : http://snipurl.com/bqtd7-ukpsg
Keep up with me here : http://twitter.com/alert_bri
 
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