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Revised VR stops advantage
- Thread starter Leonard Shepherd
- Start date
fishy wishy
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Someone tell us what it means. If it means 50% of shots are successfully stabilised to a close tolerance I'm not impressed because it's a lottery. If it means 90% are, it's more like the figure I'd get dependng on my own care and attention.
Glen78
Senior Member
With the current generation of VR I can normally expect to get "tripod sharp" shots about 3 stops less than what I would get tripod sharp shots without VR. However if I am comparing the speed at which I can get pretty sharp shots (meaning sharp except at 50-100% viewing) that effectiveness increases to 4-5 stops. For example, with my 80-400 I would normally need 1/640 sec at 400mm to get 90%+ tripod sharp shots. With VR I can achieve this at 1/80 sec (3 stops). At 1/500 of a sec I am more like 50/50 and by 1/400 I am at 25% tack sharp, 50% pretty sharp and 25% noticeably blurred. By 1/250 sec all of shots will be noticeably blurred. So over 1 1/3 stops I go from nearly always sharp to never sharp. With VR that transition is more gradual. It takes more like 2-3 stops to go from tack sharp almost all the time (1/80 sec) to almost always noticeably blurred about 1/10-1/15 sec.
I guess what I am trying to say is VR effectiveness varies by how sharp you need the shot to be. If you need "tripod sharp" don't expect more than 3 stops performance. If you are okay with pretty sharp except at 100% viewing, you can achieve closer to the rated performance.
I guess what I am trying to say is VR effectiveness varies by how sharp you need the shot to be. If you need "tripod sharp" don't expect more than 3 stops performance. If you are okay with pretty sharp except at 100% viewing, you can achieve closer to the rated performance.
Leonard Shepherd
Forum Pro
It means from 1st July all manufacturers should use the same basis when calculating VR/IS/etc so 3 stops VR and 3 stops IS will be the same.
The test procedure appears to be based on placing the camera and lens on an electronically controlled vibratory apparatus, and measuring the improvement at 1/focal length and slower.
In theory the test procedure is close to average hand held shooting performance. In reality some photographers are better at hand holding than others. The variation for an individual photographer should be the same regardless of camera brand.
wasserball
Senior Member
Thanks for your explanation. I was wondering why I never took that into consideration when I decide to press the shutter. No wonder my photos look so crappy. 
Leonard Shepherd
Forum Pro
The best I found was a draft version of the CIPA standard, which seems to have since been updated to a final version.
The test system is unlikely to have changed in the intervening months
Loading…
www.cipa.jp
Often final standards are copyright material, and only available on payment of a fee.
My current Google searches indicate, but do not confirm, Nikon are first to switch from their own basis to the CIPA basis.
Leonard,
Thanks very much for taking the trouble to provide the above link and the additional information.
I've just downloaded the pdf file and look forward to studying it in detail when I have some free time.
Jimmy
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J C Brown
Last edited:
Photo Pete
Veteran Member
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