Thoughts on using the 50-200 SWD (1 Viewer)

As I wrote above, ALL my BIF shots are taken with IS off. Surely you need fast shutter speeds, but this is must for BIF shots anyway... Most of my BIF shots are taken with exposure times from 1/800 to 1/2000.

Cristian Mihai said:

As I wrote above, ALL my BIF shots are taken with IS off. Surely you need fast shutter speeds, but this is must for BIF shots anyway... Most of my BIF shots are taken with exposure times from 1/800 to 1/2000.

Click to expand...

Hi Cristian,

I am inclined to agree with your guidelines regarding exposure times. I try to aim at 1/1000 ... 1/2000 myself. My experience is that most pictures taken at 1/500 or longer are beyond what I would call "acceptable sharp". Around 1/800 may be the 'sweet spot'.

Next: I am curious if your decision to turn off IS is based on your own experience that it actually improves the IQ in the application area BIF. How did you come to the conclusion? If not, what other source of information makes you believe it should be turned off?

BR
/Tord

If a bird is flying fairly level and you are panning sideways to follow it, I suppose IS2 is the setting to use. Once again that is something which I have never tried.

Ron

NoSpringChicken said:

If a bird is flying fairly level and you are panning sideways to follow it, I suppose IS2 is the setting to use. Once again that is something which I have never tried.

Ron

Click to expand...

True, but birds are not predictable. What I mean that in the majority of the cases the direction of flight will not be perpendicular to the axis between bird and photographer, and furthermore quite often the bird will not fly level, two parameters that both speak in favor for the need to pan vertically as well. Hard to predict if IS.2 will be the correct setting...

/Tord

Hi Tord,

I've read somewhere on the web about the use of non-IS for BIF, but I'm not able to find again the source...
Yes, the use of IS off for BIF is also based on my experience.

Hi Cristian,

I made a quick search using keywords "image stabilizer birds in flight", Google search engine returning 100k + hits. I restricted the search to pages freshly updated (updated during past year)

There seems to be a split opinion on this topic.

Do we know that the IS is impacting the AF performance on Olympus bodies? Is there a source that confirms this? (This would be a valid point).


Samples of arguments for/against:

Speaking in favor of IS off:
http://www.evergladesphotosociety.org/articles/flightpart01.html
Turn the Image Stabilizer (IS) or Vibration Reduction (VR) of the lens off. Most people think that the best setting is to leave the image stabilizer on and to set it to panning mode. However the image stabilizer slows down the auto focus system, and faster auto focus is more important than image stabilization, especially at shutter speeds of 1/500s and faster.

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/75369.aspx
This is a feature which is of use when using slow shutter speeds and low light. As we’ll be using fairly high shutter speeds of 1/500 and above, the only purpose image stabilization would serve would be to reduce auto-focus speed. I would recommend to switch off this feature.


Speaking in favor of IS on:
http://improvephotography.com/743/tips-birds-in-flight-photography-animal-bird-digital/
Bird Photography Tip #10: Don’t skimp on Image Stabilization. It is unfortunate that image stabilized lenses often come at a premium, because some photographers opt for the cheaper lens without image stabilization. Especially for telephoto lenses, your image stabilization will be absolutely vital to the success of your photography of birds in flight.

http://jefflynchdev.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/getting-tack-sharp-wildlife-shots/
Birds in Flight
Shutter Priority (Tv)
Shutter Speed 1/500th or faster
Center AF Point
Evaluative or Spot Metering
ISO 100 – ISO 400 to obtain a 1/500th minimum shutter speed
AI Servo Mode using Back Button Focus (allows me to switch between One Shot and AI Servo)
High Speed Burst
Image Stabilization turned ON – Mode 2 (Panning)