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 100mm, we see what we'd expect with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) turned off: consistently sharp images at the 1/125s mark (well, 90% sharp, it's a big lens). With OIS activated, we see sharp, hand-held images at speeds as slow as 1/8s, and 70% sharp at 1/4s - for a hand-holding improvement of around four or four-and-a-half stops.
 |
| Mouse over this chart to show results with IS activated. |
At 400mm, it's almost the same story: consistently sharp images at the 1/500s mark. With OIS activated, we see sharp, hand-held images at speeds as slow as 1/30s, and 90% sharp at 1/15s - for a hand-holding improvement of around four stops.
 |
| 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.
