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VR on or off when using a support system?

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NikD300

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Hi,

Recently received a Nikon 18-200mm VRII lens from my wife as a gift. Had a chance last evening to go out and shoot few pictures. Considering it was dusk and ambient light was low, I ended up using a bridge pillar as my tripod for longer exposure to capture the reflections of casino in water. However, my VR mode was ON.

My question is, when you are using some sort of support (say a railing/pillar) apart from a tripod, should I still turn off the VR and take pictures? Would leaving VR ON make pics little blurry?

Yet times, I found myself hand supporting the zoomed lens even though the body is on the railing for extra support. Should I still turn off the VR in this scenario as well?

I could post few pics from last evening but haven't uploaded them yet. I will share a few tonight.

Really appreciate your inputs/comments.

Regards,
NikD
 
NikD300 said:
My question is, when you are using some sort of support (say a railing/pillar) apart from a tripod, should I still turn off the VR and take pictures? Would leaving VR ON make pics little blurry?
Click to expand...
From what I understand it is preferable to turn the VR off when the camera is supported.

Terry

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Thanks Terry.

I understood from multiple reads here turning off VR is necessary while on a support (tripod/or any other). But, if you say leave the VR on, would it be IGNORED by the camera or Counter productive to the picture quality?

Also, what happens in a hybrid scenario (camera base supported but lens extended to 200mm is hand supported?)

Thanks.
 
The only circumstance I would turn VR off at normal shutter speeds is when the camera is 100% locked down on a tripod. If there is ANY aspect of human support, then the camera is not shake free and I would use VR.

There are multiple generations of VR in Nikon cameras. In some of the earlier generations (I don't know which generation the 18-200 has in it), leaving VR on when the camera is locked down on a tripod will actually degrade the image because the VR is expecting some camera movement and tries to find that movement and correct it. Later versions of VR either have a tripod mode or will auto-detect when there is very little movement and will not do harm on a tripod.

The other circumstances when I turn VR off are when my shutter speed is more than 1/800th since the VR is unlikely to help at those shutter speeds and it can get in the way.
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Thanks John. That's pretty clear now.

The Lens I was using is a VRII generation (latest from Nikon). Not really sure if it has the auto detect capability (assuming it does).
 
If the camera is well supported leave the VR off. If in doubt you could use a shutter release aid & or a 2 second timer delay.

Fred
 
Hi!

My biggest problem with turning VR off is forgetting to turn the darn thing back on!

I tend to leave it on unless there is a really good reason not to do so.

Just my personal preference!

RB

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You should turn the VR off when the camera is supported by a tripod or other support system. VR compensates for camera motion. If the camera is locked down by a support it is no motion to compensate for.

I leave VR off on my 3 lenses that have it (all VR2) until I need it, which is when I am shooting a low shutter speeds or panning. I rarely pan. I shoot a lot at slow shutter speeds doing interiors without a tripod in many cases.

I also shoot indoor and outdoor sports. I never use VR when shooting sports since it slows down autofocus speed and the lens has to stabilize before focus is locked in. That fraction of second most often means the loss of peak action moments. For sports I rely on high ISO and fast shutter speeds.

So for me VR is a matter of shutter speed and whether there is subject motion, which VR cannot correct. When shooting stationary things I turn on VR whenever I have use a shutter speed slower than the focal length of the lens from 400mm down to 100 mm. Anything under a 100 I use VR.

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Richard Weisgrau
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Well as a new D7000 owner I can definitely tell you to turn the VR off when on a tripod. I shot several images yesterday trying to learn the camera and when I looked at the images they were all soft and that's when I remembered the VR. Turned it off and reshot some of them and they are sharp with out VR. I was using a 16-85mm lens and the remote release.
 
I have made some tests by taking pictures of an artifical star with my Nikkor 80-400 VR. I have noticed that the real difference is not if you are using a tripod or not.

The problem is that the gyroscopes of VR system are crawling at long shutter speeds. Having 400mm focal length it is possible to take sharp pictures with VR on using 1/60s exposure time handheld or with a tripod. If you try to shoot with 1 s exposure time VR on (on a tripod of course), crawling of the VR sytem makes the small artifical star to wander around the picture.
 
Depends on the lens.

Some lenses are smart enough to not be a problem when you leave VR on. I think you should test your lenses. Regardless of what you read - even from Nikon - some empirical testing to see what your lenses do is always a good idea.

I didn't use my 18-200 much on a tripod, but I don't recall VR making any difference. But my 80-400vr (first generation VR) needs VR off. I did a test with it locked down well on a tripod, and took a burst of 6 shots with VR on. Every other shot had the image moved vertically, like the lens was jumping up and down between shots. However, the shots themselves didn't seem less sharp (that I noticed), just that the subject was way off center every other shot.

My 105vr is the only other VR lens I have, and I don't think it cares if VR is on or off.

I generally remember to turn VR off when I'm using these lenses on a tripod.

If I'm hand-bracing against a support and not using a tripod, I'd be inclined to still leave VR on with a newer lens, unless shooting pretty high shutter speeds.
 
NikD300 said:
But, if you say leave the VR on, would it be IGNORED by the camera or Counter productive to the picture quality?
Click to expand...
I believe (I could be wrong) the camera's focussing slows down also because it "waits" for the VR to stop.
NikD300 said:
Also, what happens in a hybrid scenario (camera base supported but lens extended to 200mm is hand supported?)
Click to expand...
Personally I would try to support the lens especially if the lens is bigger.

Terry
--
Graham Fine Art Photography
http://www.pbase.com/windancer
http://gallery.reginaphotoclub.com/TGraham
See my profile for all my equipment.

Disclaimer: This e-mail is intended to impart a sense of humor. Given e-mail's inability to carry inflections, tone and facial expressions it may fail miserably in its intent. The sender acknowledges the limitations of the technology and assigns to the software in which this message was composed any ill feelings that may arise. ;-)
 
RBFresno said:
I tend to leave it on unless there is a really good reason not to do so.
Click to expand...
Interesting because I am just the opposite ;-) Like you said "just a personal preference.

Terry

--
Graham Fine Art Photography
http://www.pbase.com/windancer
http://gallery.reginaphotoclub.com/TGraham
See my profile for all my equipment.

Disclaimer: This e-mail is intended to impart a sense of humor. Given e-mail's inability to carry inflections, tone and facial expressions it may fail miserably in its intent. The sender acknowledges the limitations of the technology and assigns to the software in which this message was composed any ill feelings that may arise. ;-)
 
Thank you Richard. Great tips here. Have couple of questions from what you mentioned below:
Richard Weisgrau said:
You should turn the VR off when the camera is supported by a tripod or other support system. VR compensates for camera motion. If the camera is locked down by a support it is no motion to compensate for.

I leave VR off on my 3 lenses that have it (all VR2) until I need it, which is when I am shooting a low shutter speeds or panning. I rarely pan. I shoot a lot at slow shutter speeds doing interiors without a tripod in many cases.

I also shoot indoor and outdoor sports. I never use VR when shooting sports since it slows down autofocus speed and the lens has to stabilize before focus is locked in. That fraction of second most often means the loss of peak action moments. For sports I rely on high ISO and fast shutter speeds.
Click to expand...
Question: How do you deal with the noise that comes from the high ISO? I have tired at least 1 noise reduction software (Neat Image), but I observed a slight loss of sharpness after completing the NR. Did you observe the same? Do you have to run the unsharp mask?
Richard Weisgrau said:
So for me VR is a matter of shutter speed and whether there is subject motion, which VR cannot correct. When shooting stationary things I turn on VR whenever I have use a shutter speed slower than the focal length of the lens from 400mm down to 100 mm. Anything under a 100 I use VR.
Click to expand...
Question: I am not clear here. Are you saying, you are turning ON the VR when the focal length is 100 mm or less? I thought you would actually use VR when extending as it could introduce some shake? Should I assume that with 100mm, you would be hand holding anyways and that requires VR?
Richard Weisgrau said:
--
Richard Weisgrau
http://www.weisgrau.com
Author of
The Real Business of Photography
The Photographer's Guide to Negotiating
Selling Your Photography
Licensing Photography
Click to expand...
 
Wow. So many good suggestions. Didn't realize I would attract these many comments. Probably my longest chain:)

Thanks again for all the input.
 
This question is always answered with multiple truths:
-Those who say VR-ON on tripod...are some times right, not always
-Those who say VR-OFF on tripod...are some times right, not always
-Those who say it is VRI vs. VRII issue are either wrong or sometimes rigth
-Those who say it depends on the lens in question are right

There is EASY WAY for this. Nikon tells you the answer in the little booklet (User Manual the call it) that came with the lens. Can't be sure if this true for all lenses. Sometimes it really is useful to open the user manual, even in the case of lens.

Also the link to Nikon site (in Colin Hartley response) is a good source for reliable info. I have made experiments with my own gear, and I can tell that my own experiments support the recommendations in the Nikon user manual as well as the web site.

Just an example of two VRI lenses:
70-200/2.8VRI does NOT work well on tripod when VR is on
300/2.8VRI seems to work well on tripod when VR is on

So, as a summary:
1. Read the user manual for YOUR lens
2. Read any info provided by Nikon on their support site
3. Experiment, YOU with your lens

In this kind of cases it may be of some use to get info from strangers on a forum like this...but for each good advice you'll get another one that is not so good. Just trust Nikon info and you'll be fine. If you don't know, VR off is laways the safe bet.
And yes, this is still another "just my opnion"....
 
Why not look at the lens instructions - they tell you how to best use the lens :)

For either 18-200 they advise leaving VR on using a monopod, but switching it off on a tripod.

The only suggestion I make is sometimes in strong side winds tripods are less stable so take shots with VR on and off and see which is sharpest.

Lenses which have tripod mode detection are the 200 f2, 300 f2.8, 400, 500, 600 and 200-400. They come with different guidance about using tripods.
--
Leonard Shepherd

Good photography is mainly about doing simple things well. The challenge is doing simple things well enough for good results.
 
I have the 18-200 zoom but don't use it much.
I find its optical compromises a bit too much.
But, I have made a few good images with it.

Thom Hogan has a discussion of VR on or off on his website.

maljo
 
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