Image stabilization

[lew]

I'm thinking of asking Santa for a new camera for Christmas and I see now where alot of them come with image stabilization, and am assuming that would help prevent blurred images if the camera is accidently moved while taking pictures ??

 

I fish alone quite often and use a homemade stand to hold the camera. It sits in the front seat post hole on the raised casting deck, but if I move around waiting for the 10 second timer, it causes the boat to rock, which then sways the camera and blurs the image.

 

99% of my pictures taken this way turn out very good, but every once in awhile a picture of a nice fish is ruined. I get my fish back in the water very quickly to avoid stressing them, so I normally only take one shot, then she's back in the drink where she belongs.

 

My current camera is a Sony DSC-P72 which doesn't have Image Stabilization, plus it only has a tiny viewing window on the back. Often the picture looks good there and the problems aren't noticible till after I download them to the puter.

 

 

Here's a picture that was ruined last week. It's been sharpened as much as possible but is still a very poor image.

 

Will the stabilization feature help eliminate this problem ??

 

 

BTW, I'm not looking for camera recommendations just yet, but will be asking your opinions in the near future.

[brandon]

Lew,

 

I highly recommend a camera with image stabilization over one without it. My canon digital SLR is the first digital SLR canon came out with and it doesnt have any image stabilization nor do my older lenses and it gets to be a bother sometimes. If I plan to use my 70-300mm zoom lens at all I better get out my tripod or not even shoot the pic at all. Now most of the newer digi SLRs have the image stabilization built into the camera as well as the lenses so you can freehand shoot very easily however I still recommend a tripod. I know you didnt mention anything about SLR cameras but that was just an example. That blurry photo you posted looks like the cameras auto focus didnt pick up on you......it doesnt seem to be the same blur caused by a shaking camera. Then again it doesnt look like it picked up on anything closer to the camera to focus on either. Hopefully some of the other guys will have some insight.

[Raf]

absolutely Lew, the IS helps with shots in low light and high zoom conditions.

[lew]

Thanks Brandon, it's not an SLR, just a plain old point & shoot. It was about $350 when I bought it several years ago, but now it looks like I can get twice the camera for about 1/2 the price.

 

It normally takes decent pictures and they only come out blurry the odd time when the camera is in the home made stand, so I'm just assuming it's caused by camera movement. Perhaps the auto focus isn't fast enuff to work properly when the camera is moving.

[lew]

absolutely Lew, the IS helps with shots in low light and high zoom conditions.

 

Thanks Raf, we were posting at the same time.

 

Guess I'll start looking at some cameras with IS built into them.

[pameladallaire]

Hi Lew:

 

My camera wasn't expensive, isn't an SLR but takes great raw images and has 2 stages of image stabalization. It also zooms 12x optical. It is a Lumix FZ7 and I bought it from an OFNer Dave Chong who sells cameras.

 

I can be bouncing around the front seat while hunting and take the photo on the go, no problems.

 

Pam

[spanky]

just to add on a bit, different brands have different names for the same thing.... as an example with DSLR's you have Nikons VR (vibration reduction- in lens), canons IS (Image Stabilization- in lens) and Pentax's SR (Shake reduction- in body)- it's a completely different ball game in the way they work with vibrations as compared to your typical P&S camera... here's a bizarre test someone did with their pentax, comparing the SR on VS SR off...

 

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat...7176&page=1

 

If it doesn't work... then here's the same pics http://www.pbase.com/jl2/k10d_sr_test

 

How real world it is, well it's not but it gives and idea of what IS/SR/VR can do...

 

Be warned tho, IS doesn't always work... especially at the long end of the zoom... i have a Kodak P850 (recently upgraded to a Nikon and didn't like the idea of $500. lenses, so switched to Pentax SLR) and the IS will save alot but not all... overall, i wouldn't go without it!!

[lew]

Thanks for the info folks, that's very helpful and I'll use it when it comes time to make a decision on which camera to buy.

[danbo]

Canon A720 is at BestBuy for $300 now..8meg,6x Zoom... I got it & dig it..

Even has an auto lens cap that closes up when you shut off the power.

 

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...=&langid=EN

Edited October 2, 2007 by danbo

[lew]

Thanks Danbo, $300 is just about exactly the price range I'm looking at and Canon definetely has a good name. That'll be added to my list when the shopping excursion begins.

[danc]

Image stabilization isn't for taking shots from several feet away, like you're doing with your setup Lew. It's main purpose is for taking shots at your cameras full zoom range. It's of no use for such close shots. I don't know just what you do when you're taking your own photos by yourself Lew, but I suspect that you're not setting your focus for the proper distance that you want the focus to be achieved. This has nothing to do with how fancy your camera is, because even the cheapest and simplest auto focus cameras require this simple step. You must half press your shutter button to focus. In your case you must set your focus on something close to the same distance that your camera is from yourself, which is the subject. Set your timer, do the half press focus, which will lock it, place your camera in your holder, and then get to the back of the boat and pose with your fish and SMILE. Practice this a bit and I'm sure you'll be getting perfect results in no time.

[lew]

Thanks Dan, your advice is always appreciated.

 

I take my pictures exactly the way you described, and as I said previously, 99% turn out good, so perhaps I'm just not always setting the focus properly before each shot.