Most people tend to think of image stabilization as being mainly for telephoto lenses. While it's true that their longer focal lengths tend to magnify the effects of camera shake, image stabilization can provde a very useful assist at wider angle focal lengths as well; anyone who's ever tried to blur the image of a waterfall, while keeping the surrounding landsape tack-sharp knows exactly what I'm talking about.
At 24mm, we see around three to three-and-a-half stops of hand-holding improvement. With the IS system disengaged, we see 100% sharp images taken at the 1/60s shutter speed (this is actually a bit high for what you'd expect with the "one over focal length" rule of thumb. Rob might have had more than a little coffee in him that day). With IS engaged, we get 100% sharp images at the 1/8s shutter speed, or an improvement of three stops - there are also 80% sharp images at the 1/4s shutter speed, which is pretty remarkable.
Mouse over this chart to show results with IS activated. |
Zoomed in to 105mm, we also see around three to three-and-a-half stops of hand-holding improvement. With the IS system disengaged, we see 100% sharp images taken at the 1/125s shutter speed. With IS engaged, we get 100% sharp images at the 1/15s shutter speed, or an improvement of three stops - there are also 90% sharp images at the 1/8s shutter speed, again, pretty remarkable.
Mouse over this chart to show results with IS activated. |
IS systems tend to provide more benefit to less-stable shooters than very steady ones, so most users will see the same or greater amounts of shake reduction as we measured here. You can read more about our IS test methodology here: SLRgear IS Test Methodology, v2.