Airshow question

i think this makes a good read,
http://www.pentaximaging.com/pdf/All_Bodies_Shake_Reduction_012208.pdf

I have only used SR for static subjects. Panning shots don't nead SR or VR or IS. Either way it won't spoil anything.

Regards

Well found Scott!............."Only turn off when using a tripod or panning!".......straight from the horses mouth I would say!

Not entirely on topic but as an aviation buff you might like to browse this link for my local aviation group link

I no longer take my Camera to airshows though i do point my 300mm skywards on occasion! (I work on the noisy things every day so the novelty has worn off a bit)
I still find my old Kaiser rifle grip useful for handheld shots. Now very much modified to accept a digital cable release.

Regards - Pete.

SR should be on unless the camera is mounted to a tripod or a monopod.

What is perhaps more important is that whilst the shutter release is half pressed, you should wait for the SR indicator in the viewfinder to confirm that SR is stabilized before fully depressing the shutter release. Failure to do so can result in blurred images.

Those of you who have experienced blurred images with SR on should look at the EXIF data of those images in Photome to establish if SR was stabilized or not and check what shutter speed was used.

I would bet a pound to a penny that either SR was not stabilized or an inappropriate shutter speed was used.

monopod should be sr on, tripod sr off

I disagree, but then, I can.

I use simple logic to determine whether or not to use SR. If my camera is rigidly supported such that I am not likely to impart any camera shake, it's off.

fare point i have always been told that on a tripod its solid and no chance of movement where as on a monopod there is still movement,but everyone is different

Well it is, but it's the typical 'make sure you don't really explain anything' kind of marketing stuff that you also get in the manual, which also annoyingly fails to actually explain anything.

The crucial bit is

So it works, but they recommend you switch it off?

With a panning shot, of course, just as with any other handheld shot, there isn't any shake 'more than by hand', so SR not 'appropriately compensating' for such vibration is irrelevant here.

Camera shake 'more than by hand' would be the sort of thing you get by accidentally holding the camera against something that's already suffering a high frequency vibration (such as an aircraft canopy while taking aerial photos).

Out of interest, are there any tripods (and the attachment between them and the camera) that are so rigid, that even physically pressing the button to release the shutter causes no shake at all?

I ask, because my own tripod most definitely is not that rigid.

It's perfectly rigid enough for there to be no visible shake when using any of the remote or delay modes, but for longish exposures of say 1/15s or more, the finger-induced shake is very obvious, and as I reported some time ago, if there is such a thing as SR-induced blur, it is negligible in comparison.

I still think the whole "SR causes blur" (on tripods, monopods, or anywhere else) idea is a myth, and is a product of Pentax's poorly explained recommendations, coupled with Matt's finding that unstabilised SR is very bad, that as Peter says is quite likely often the case.

As an aside, it's perfectly possible to provoke SR into behaving badly, by dialling in a focal length that's much longer than the length of the actual lens - so that it interprets a small vibration as requiring an enormous compensation - but that's another red herring IMO.

Interestingly, other marques that use in-lens shake reduction also recommend switching it off when using a tripod.

There may be something in it - it just hasn't been explained fully.

I`m not really sure that SR would make an awful lot of difference whether it was on or off as the shutter speeds used to photograph an aircraft in flight would be too short to make a great deal of difference either way, SR is most effective at slow shutter speeds. I have used mostly off but at shutter speeds 1/350th sec for prop and Rotary A/C and -1,000th sec for everything else i would`nt expect it to have any observable difference.
I just use a rifle grip for all of my hanheld long telephoto shots. A monopod is useless at an airshow unless photographing stuff at or near ground level. I do however occasionally use SR on even with my Manfrotto 055 pro Tripod when i`m shooting static subjects in very windy conditions as the vibration can be quite pronounced with a 300mm lens when buffeted. A couple of weeks ago i was taking some air to ground shots from a Cessna with my K7 and 50-135DA* with the window open i found it difficult to keep the buffeting under control so i had the SR on and used 1/600th sec in shutter priority at 200 iso. I don`t know if the SR had any effect but i felt more reassured that it was on!
Regards - Pete.

The problem is that we don't know whether they mean: "it makes no difference, so don't bother", or: "it will damage the camera/blur the picture/frighten the horses, etc..".

My money is on the "it makes no difference" interpretation.

G

If my depleted memory banks serve me correctly, When Shake reduction was first announced to the world i recall the term Fuzzy Logic, What i think they said was that the SR worked by creating its own vibration so that when you captured the image it would cancel out you`r own natural vibration.
Anyhow to make things less fuzzy in my own mind i have decided to conduct a trial just to satisfy my own curiosity!
Next week we have a Families day organised at work and there will be aircraft visiting. It`s not an airshow as such but some do a bit of a display. So i have booked the day off and will attempt to use my K7 with my tatty old Pentax 300mm and even tattier Kaiser Rifle grip. I will try and get some shots using Catch in focus so that i won`t have to adjust the point of focus at all and the same shutter speed with SR on and Off.Hopefully the weather will oblige with a constant light source and the Aircraft complete a couple of runs at the same speed and altitude! not much to ask!!!

REgards- Pete.

Easier to get someone to throw a stick for a dog. If they can throw accurately, you should have a pretty consistent test subject - 'til the dog runs out of steam or enthusiasm.

G