Downsides to Shake Reduction

Hi, have a few questions.

Are there any downsides to shake reduction? I have noticed that a number of my pictures have some shake blur in them where i wouldnt have expected any. My last body had no SR and i rarely got any shake unless using long lenses or slow shutters.

Why does the shake reduction icon on the k7 take a few seconds to stop flashing? what is happening?
Why is it necessary to turn off SR when using a tripod?

thanks,

Fraser

I've not experienced it myself and I'm skeptical, but some users believe that SR sometimes introduces blur. Some also believe that the latest firmware (unpublicised update) helps to fix the "problem".

I suspect that misfocusing is sometimes confused for motion blur.

SR does reduce blur for handheld long exposures (in relation to focal length). Professional reviewers such as DPReview have shown that it provides benefit.

You can turn SR off it you like, anyway.

SR takes a while to activate. The icon only appears when SR is ready. It shouldn't flash.

SR is designed specifically to compensate for shake from human hand movements rather than any vibration from a tripod, so it is advised to turn off SR for tripod use. This is a controversial subject with hardly any reliable evidence either way.

There are limits to the ability of shake reduction, lens and body based, of around 3 stops. Having shake reduction sometimes induces a false sense of security where technique is not as rigorous as it should be and you attempt shots you would not normally try.

Also to be considered: shake reduction reduces blur introduced by the user, to compensate for a slow shutter speed. it cannot compensate for subject movement and slow shutter speeds.

Thanks for the help. Will have a shot with it off.

Thanks

Fraser

The first is in relationship with the second.

If the SR is not ready and you press the button then in introduce motion blur since the sensor is trying to get ready while you press the curtains open.

The update was there to speed up the process that the SR gets ready.

If the SR is working properly then it does make a difference in long exposures.

Interestingly, for the first time ever I actually saw evidence of this with my own eyes only last week. Was photographing the moon with a 500mm mirror lens, SR set to 500mm. Halfway through I switched to a tripod and the first few shots had incredible streaks of moon on them. The length of the streaks was probably double the width of the moon itself.

Unfortunately I didn't even think to save the pics, just deleted them and turned SR off and the problem went away.

If you want to see how good shake reduction is have a look at janneman's post on depressing review:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=32435455

He did this test with his K10D too. Nothing like a ride on mower to give it a good try out.

By the way, SR is automatically turned off when using the 2 second timer or remote control.

Who said that? Someone with a vivid imagination?

That was with the K20D or do I got that one wrong, thought ready reports here about people saying that...

Fraser has a K-7, so I was thinking about the K-7!

I thought you talked about the K20D since I remember the K20D getting one but I never read the K7 got an SR update.

Sorry for the confusing

It hasn't officially, but some users are alledging (perhaps imagining) that it has.

Oh really, it's only very hard to test SR so it's hard to prove anything.

I just did a little test with my K7, I switched to live view, focused on a subject and then used the 6X magnifier to see what effect it had on steadiness, I have to say it made quite a big difference to the viewed image on the screen. It`s not quite the same as taking a photo but at least i have more confidence in it working for hand held shots at low shutter speeds. (Not that i go very far without a tripod anyway)If i need to.
Delving into my murky memory banks, I seem to recall that SR uses something called "Fuzzy Logic" which actually creates it`s own vibration and somehow this counters any vibration from the user. So if you are using a tripod then there is no vibration from the user, Just the vibration from the SR.

Regards - Pete