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15 seconds exposure without tripod: way to go Olympus

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khaledgawdat

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I shot pictures of tower bridge in London 36 years ago, I remember going there by night with a heavy camera bag and sturdy tripod to get the shot with self timer and remote release. Few days ago I was there with Olympus EM! mk2 and 12-100 mm pro Olympus zoom. This is a combination giving the best image stabilization combining both the in body and lens stabilization. took several shots with the camera resting on the London bridge rail and hand holding for long exposures up to 15 seconds exposures. I did not hope that I can get any sharp pictures out of this experiment. To my surprise I got some decently sharp pictures at 15 seconds exposure. Good by tripods. What do you think?



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Get a life, before it is too late.
K.Gawdat
 
Nice job of hand holding these. I would say these are totally amazing given the long shutter speeds. Prior to this model from Olympus, this kind of sharpness at these shutter speeds would have been impossible.

Olympus once again shows how innovative the company is. They have pioneered quite a few designs and features that end up being used in cameras from other manufacturers.

Yes, I agree with you -- Way to go, Olympus!
 
In the past, I have encountered situations when a tripod was prohibited or didn't have one with me. I didn't have much hope for anything slower than about 1/50 of a second. Now with dual stabilization I have much more confidence for longer shutter speeds.

I can remember Kodachrome 12 and how limited I was with ambient light. Gone are those days!
 
daddyo said:
Nice job of hand holding these. I would say these are totally amazing given the long shutter speeds. Prior to this model from Olympus, this kind of sharpness at these shutter speeds would have been impossible.
Click to expand...
No, not really.
daddyo said:
daddyo said:
took several shots with the camera resting on the London bridge rail and hand holding for long exposures up to 15 seconds exposures.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
If you got any support for E-M1, you could get 8-10 second exposures fairly easily with couple frames at least if not in first try.

Free standing and getting a 2-4 second was possible if there was no wind. It isn't any difference than shoot to 600m from standing position with 2x on 20cm size target or from 300m with iron sights to cigarette box size target.

But the Sync-IS truly makes something more amazing as it makes everything so much easier and simpler. And how it makes so many people to get sharp photos in challenging situations
 
Nice shots, but upon viewing them at 100%, there is definitely some softness that is noticeable. It looks like you're shooting at f/9-11, which although past the point of peak sharpness, should still yield very good results. My guess is that due to the length of the exposure, there is some small motion blur present. Regardless, this is worlds better than any other stabilization system I've seen before, and definitely can save one's rear in the right scenario.

While the combo is amazing, it won't be replacing a tripod for me. I don't bring a tripod with me everywhere, and I suppose that's where the Sync IS will come in handy is the rare shot where I wish I would've brought one but didn't. However, when traveling and shooting long exposures I'll still be bringing my carbon fiber Sirui tripod. It's light, small, and allows me to shoot longer exposures or hi-res shots, which is something the Sync IS can't assist with.
 
I know the general rule with IS has been to disable it when using a tripod, but I wonder if that's necessarily the case with more advanced systems. I have a very compact CF tripod that's fairly stable, but the four segment legs can vibrate in wind. Time to see how Sync IS deals with that.
 
i regularly use hand rails and the like to rest cameras on for long exposures, but the Oly IBIS is quite exceptional it has to be said
 
Tommi K1 said:
daddyo said:
Nice job of hand holding these. I would say these are totally amazing given the long shutter speeds. Prior to this model from Olympus, this kind of sharpness at these shutter speeds would have been impossible.
Click to expand...
No, not really.
Member said:
Member said:
took several shots with the camera resting on the London bridge rail and hand holding for long exposures up to 15 seconds exposures.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
If you got any support for E-M1, you could get 8-10 second exposures fairly easily with couple frames at least if not in first try.

Free standing and getting a 2-4 second was possible if there was no wind. It isn't any difference than shoot to 600m from standing position with 2x on 20cm size target or from 300m with iron sights to cigarette box size target.

But the Sync-IS truly makes something more amazing as it makes everything so much easier and simpler. And how it makes so many people to get sharp photos in challenging situations
Click to expand...
Sorry, but your first comment makes no sense, in the context of this post -- we're talking about hand held, not "any support for E-M1". I've never seen anyone in my life hand hold an 8-10 Sec exposure and get anything but blurred mush.

Your second comment may be true for you, but again, I don't know of anyone who can hand hold a 2-4 Second exposure and get anything remotely as sharp as the OP's images.

If you can point me to some examples of sharp hand held 2-4 second E-M1 Mk1 images, I would be very interested in seeing them. If not, then I don't get the purpose of your post.
 
Those are simply amazing photos for 15 seconds. Were you standing completely free of support? Or were you able to rest your arms and/or hands on something stable?

Not that it makes much difference as 15 seconds would still be amazing, but I am just curious.
 
I sit the camera on the rail of the London bridge support with 2 hands and pushed the shutter release
 
daddyo said:
Sorry, but your first comment makes no sense, in the context of this post -- we're talking about hand held, not "any support for E-M1". I've never seen anyone in my life hand hold an 8-10 Sec exposure and get anything but blurred mush.
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Well...

I used to get 5s exposures with film TLRs. Rangefinders and non-SLR leaf-shutter cameras (like the LX100) might be able to do it as well, at least with a wider lens. You just have to be braced against something, which is also the case with the longer 12-100 stabilization exposures as well.

The OP's examples are good enough for him, and work fine for viewing on a standard computer display. Thus, this potentially saves him a bit of time and effort. But the images aren't particularly sharp, and there's no question that the images would have been sharper if he'd used a tripod.

And of course, if you use a tripod, you can use a lower ISO, add a filter, use whatever f/stop you want, use as long a shutter speed as required, can use a remote release and/or self-timer, and can use the high-res feature on some cameras. That will matter more to some people than to others.

IMO this quality of stabilization isn't going to replace tripods for night work in most cases. Rather, it's a benefit for situations where you want to hand-hold in the first place, especially with tele lenses. such as sports and action photography.
 
khaledgawdat said:
I sit the camera on the rail of the London bridge support with 2 hands and pushed the shutter release
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Nicely done. The photo is pretty amazing.

I have done the same kind of thing with the high resolution photos. Not sitting the camera on a rail on London bridge, but sitting it on a table at a campsite.
 
453C said:
I know the general rule with IS has been to disable it when using a tripod, but I wonder if that's necessarily the case with more advanced systems. I have a very compact CF tripod that's fairly stable, but the four segment legs can vibrate in wind. Time to see how Sync IS deals with that.
Click to expand...
I have wondered for some time if IBIS needs to be turned off when using a tripod.

I learned to turn the Canon lens IS off when using a tripod but I am not so sure about IBIS. The Olympus manual states that IBIS works when it detects motion so, if the camera is mounted on a tripod and there is no motion, does IBIS work at all? And, if not, why bother to turn it off?
 
SpinOne said:
daddyo said:
Sorry, but your first comment makes no sense, in the context of this post -- we're talking about hand held, not "any support for E-M1". I've never seen anyone in my life hand hold an 8-10 Sec exposure and get anything but blurred mush.
Click to expand...
Well...

I used to get 5s exposures with film TLRs. Rangefinders and non-SLR leaf-shutter cameras (like the LX100) might be able to do it as well, at least with a wider lens. You just have to be braced against something, which is also the case with the longer 12-100 stabilization exposures as well.

The OP's examples are good enough for him, and work fine for viewing on a standard computer display. Thus, this potentially saves him a bit of time and effort. But the images aren't particularly sharp, and there's no question that the images would have been sharper if he'd used a tripod.
Click to expand...
He was on London Bridge. I am not too sure how a tripod on that bridge would fare with all that traffic going along. Bridges, even concrete/stone ones, can be surprisingly wobbly at 10+ seconds exposure.
SpinOne said:
And of course, if you use a tripod, you can use a lower ISO, add a filter, use whatever f/stop you want, use as long a shutter speed as required, can use a remote release and/or self-timer, and can use the high-res feature on some cameras. That will matter more to some people than to others.
Click to expand...
The f/stops used in the OP are needlessly small. Maybe just an investigation into how long one can expose and still get a satisfactory result.
SpinOne said:
IMO this quality of stabilization isn't going to replace tripods for night work in most cases. Rather, it's a benefit for situations where you want to hand-hold in the first place, especially with tele lenses. such as sports and action photography.
Click to expand...
Very true. Of course if you are on a bridge, and supporting your elbow on the concrete, there might not be that much difference anyway.
 
daddyo said:
Tommi K1 said:
daddyo said:
Nice job of hand holding these. I would say these are totally amazing given the long shutter speeds. Prior to this model from Olympus, this kind of sharpness at these shutter speeds would have been impossible.
Click to expand...
No, not really.
daddyo said:
daddyo said:
took several shots with the camera resting on the London bridge rail and hand holding for long exposures up to 15 seconds exposures.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
If you got any support for E-M1, you could get 8-10 second exposures fairly easily with couple frames at least if not in first try.

Free standing and getting a 2-4 second was possible if there was no wind. It isn't any difference than shoot to 600m from standing position with 2x on 20cm size target or from 300m with iron sights to cigarette box size target.

But the Sync-IS truly makes something more amazing as it makes everything so much easier and simpler. And how it makes so many people to get sharp photos in challenging situations
Click to expand...
Sorry, but your first comment makes no sense, in the context of this post -- we're talking about hand held, not "any support for E-M1". I've never seen anyone in my life hand hold an 8-10 Sec exposure and get anything but blurred mush.
Click to expand...
Actually the OP says:
daddyo said:
daddyo said:
daddyo said:
daddyo said:
took several shots with the camera resting on the London bridge rail and hand holding for long exposures up to 15 seconds exposures.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
And yes, 8-10 seconds free standing (no any kind other support than your legs) with E-M1 is fairly often possible.
daddyo said:
Your second comment may be true for you, but again, I don't know of anyone who can hand hold a 2-4 Second exposure and get anything remotely as sharp as the OP's images.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know people who couldn't get a sharp image with 50mm on 35mm cameras with 1/125 shutter speed. I as well know people who can do it too.
daddyo said:
If you can point me to some examples of sharp hand held 2-4 second E-M1 Mk1 images, I would be very interested in seeing them. If not, then I don't get the purpose of your post.
Click to expand...
And how would you know that the camera wasn't on a tripod or on monopod or not supported by any means than free standing?

Yeah.... Your request doesn't have purpose and is just a strawman.

You do know that holding a camera steady for a few seconds is fairly easy, and when you add anykind good image stabilization, you can get totally sharp images without problems because the stance holding the camera is so stable in the first place!
 
MichaelInGC said:
453C said:
I know the general rule with IS has been to disable it when using a tripod, but I wonder if that's necessarily the case with more advanced systems. I have a very compact CF tripod that's fairly stable, but the four segment legs can vibrate in wind. Time to see how Sync IS deals with that.
Click to expand...
I have wondered for some time if IBIS needs to be turned off when using a tripod.

I learned to turn the Canon lens IS off when using a tripod but I am not so sure about IBIS. The Olympus manual states that IBIS works when it detects motion so, if the camera is mounted on a tripod and there is no motion, does IBIS work at all? And, if not, why bother to turn it off?
Click to expand...
I recall that the manuals for earlier Olympus IBIS bodies (E-PL1) recommended turning stabilization off when the camera was mounted on a tripod. Due to that, I've always turned IS off when using my E-M1, but I'm not sure that's still recommended. I'll dig around for an answer later.
 
453C said:
MichaelInGC said:
453C said:
I know the general rule with IS has been to disable it when using a tripod, but I wonder if that's necessarily the case with more advanced systems. I have a very compact CF tripod that's fairly stable, but the four segment legs can vibrate in wind. Time to see how Sync IS deals with that.
Click to expand...
I have wondered for some time if IBIS needs to be turned off when using a tripod.

I learned to turn the Canon lens IS off when using a tripod but I am not so sure about IBIS. The Olympus manual states that IBIS works when it detects motion so, if the camera is mounted on a tripod and there is no motion, does IBIS work at all? And, if not, why bother to turn it off?
Click to expand...
I recall that the manuals for earlier Olympus IBIS bodies (E-PL1) recommended turning stabilization off when the camera was mounted on a tripod. Due to that, I've always turned IS off when using my E-M1, but I'm not sure that's still recommended.
Click to expand...
It is for the E-M1. Check the manual.
 
SpinOne said:
453C said:
MichaelInGC said:
453C said:
I know the general rule with IS has been to disable it when using a tripod, but I wonder if that's necessarily the case with more advanced systems. I have a very compact CF tripod that's fairly stable, but the four segment legs can vibrate in wind. Time to see how Sync IS deals with that.
Click to expand...
I have wondered for some time if IBIS needs to be turned off when using a tripod.

I learned to turn the Canon lens IS off when using a tripod but I am not so sure about IBIS. The Olympus manual states that IBIS works when it detects motion so, if the camera is mounted on a tripod and there is no motion, does IBIS work at all? And, if not, why bother to turn it off?
Click to expand...
I recall that the manuals for earlier Olympus IBIS bodies (E-PL1) recommended turning stabilization off when the camera was mounted on a tripod. Due to that, I've always turned IS off when using my E-M1, but I'm not sure that's still recommended.
Click to expand...
It is for the E-M1. Check the manual.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

I figured it was, but I don't have a copy handy. Has Olympus issued any further recommendations WRT Sync IS? I'm guessing it's still best to disable all IS when mounted, but I'd like to know the official word.
 
SpinOne said:
It is for the E-M1. Check the manual.
Click to expand...
Are you referring to the Mark I or Mark II manuals?

The Mark II manual contains the following statement about IBIS:

The camera detects the panning direction and applies the appropriate image stabilization.

That statement indicates to me that the camera does nothing until it detects movement and then applies stabilization. If it says what I understand it to say, then there should be no stabilization if there is no motion and hence it should not be necessary to switch IBIS off when the camera is mounted on a tripod.

Of course I may be misunderstanding, but that is what it says to me, and hence my question.
 
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