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tests still in progress, but early results are that the Mk1 14-42mm
lens has unavoidable shake at certain focal length and shutter speed
combinations. See this link and look for "anomalous image blurring" about half way down. Also early results show that the image stabilisation actually makes images worse when the shutter speed is comfortably faster than the usual minimums for hand held. Only use image stabilisation when shutter speeds are slower then the usual rule of 1/(focal length x 2). That is at 150mm then 1/300 second is the minimum hand held shutter speed and at say 30mm then 1/30 second is the minimum, this will vary for some individuals. Here's a copy of something I posted in the DPReview forum on May 28th 2011 that sums up my findings so far, later I will do proper tests and have same crops etc........ Stabilisation Issues I also bought the 14-150mm at the same time as the 9-18mm, and I am using the 150mm end to judge my hand holding ability. A few times when just playing about with low light focus ability I find that I am getting good results at 150mm with hand-held down to about 1/50 second with no IBIS. What the heck I thought... as previously everything I did just proved the old rule about 1 over equivalent focal length. Then I realised that hand-held rule is for a standing person, on my low light tests at home I was sitting down and possibly also occasionally leaning an elbow on a cushion at times. So it does not take much extra to make hand-holding improve dramatically. So now I leave IBIS off all the time and only turn it on for that odd really slow shutter time when the first non IBIS shot shows up bad. On a test effort yesterday saw me sitting with an elbow on a table aiming at a print on a wall maybe 10 feet away. With 150mm at 1/50 second and IBIS off I was getting perfect "hand-held" results, then I turned on IBIS and the results were a little blurred. It does not show as shake, only as a mild blur, a bit like bad resolution or slight mis-focus. So if the platform is steady, like on a tripod or "perfect" hand holding technique by leaning against a pole or wall etc, then IBIS is just not needed until it gets to totally silly slow shutter speeds. The reason for the IBIS blur is the theory that the IBIS is always in some sort of motion but always trying to move in a direction to oppose the shake detected, if no shake detected it must get confused and wobble about a bit anyway, waiting for action. I've now proved to myself many times that IBIS causes slight blur at all shutter speeds, but will help at silly slow shutter speeds. A few people have reported that the lens OIS system can do much the same at times. Leave stabilisation off by default and be careful and suddenly your lenses look a bit sharper when pixel peeping. |