tedorland

I don't know if it's "normal", but my XH-1 does the same thing when I turn it on. If it puts your mind at ease, however, it does not seem to cause any problems in anything that follows.

In the opening Post of this discussion I posed a simple question about whether anyone else shared my interest in (or desire for) Image Stabilization. I appreciate the responses -- especially the early ones -- and have a much better understanding now of the strengths & limitations of IS. After fifty-odd posts, however, the Forum dialog seems to have devolved into personal attacks & sarcasm, or migrated into tangential issues (e.g. wedding photography) that deserve their own topic heading. That's fine -- consider it the Tao of Forums -- but clearly we've reached a point of diminishing returns on the initial question. So, I propose placing a cap on this Topic, declaring it Done, and opening a new Topic to explore some fresh technitory incognita.

Yes, using a monopod or an external gyroscope (?!), or raising the ISO, does offer greater latitude for hand-holding your camera in dim light. Then again, aren't those approaches just slightly kludgy work-arounds to having Image Stabilization already available in the first place? Consider that from time to time we all confront lighting situations that require ALL the tools in our technical toolbox to resolve. So if you begin with Image Stabilization already built in to your camera’s body or lens, you still have the option to raise the ISO and thereby gain ANOTHER two-to-four shutter speeds. That seems helpful to me.

Yes, the x-trans sensor and the sharpness of the Fuji x-lenses do trump the lack of image stabilization. Still, it puts a damper on my interest in Fuji's prime lenses, none of which have OIS. (Macro photography in the field, for instance, can become hopelssly clumsy if a tripod needs to be introduced into the equation; ditto candid photography indoors or at twilight.)

Does it bother anyone besides me that so many Fuji lenses lack OIS, and that NONE of the Fuji X-bodies have in-camera stabilization? For those of us who hand-hold the camera in dimly lit situations, three or four additionally usable shutter speeds would make a big difference.