The myth of OIS and tripods

[ianpiper]

I've read a lot of articles about the importance of turning off OIS when using a tripod, and I've always been a bit skeptical about this. So I thought I'd carry out some tests, and I'd like to share the results.

 

In summary, I can see no significant difference between having OIS on or off, and I am not going to worry any more about turning it off when I'm using a tripod. Another urban myth exploded,  though of course that's just for me - your experience may be different. You can see the annotated images here if you are interested: https://ianpiper.smugmug.com/Test-images/OIS-tests/ 

 

 

Method and materials (yes, I was once a practicing research scientist)

• I used a Fuji X-T1, firmware v4, with a Fuji 18-55mm XF lens, firmware v3.12. The tripod was a Gitzo Mountaineer Basalt model with a Manfrotto Junior geared head, adapted to have an Arca plate.
• Each picture was taken using auto-focus on the centre of the image. I used the self-timer to minimise movement.
• I took two sets of images; one with OIS on and the other with it off. For each set, I took images at f8 and f11 (the sweet spot for this lens, in common with most Fuji lenses in my experience) at 18mm, 23mm, 35mm and 55mm.

 

[Antony]

I found that the 18-55 was not as sharp when using OIS at fast shutter speeds. Good enough reason to turn it off for me.

[Jürgen Heger]

So we have a new item for our wish list for future firmware updates: Disable OIS when shutter speed is faster than xxxx

[milandro]

unfortunately your link is dead (it says page not found) 

[CRAusmus]

What was the shutter speed?

[frod]

f/8 is not the sweet spot for any of my Fuji lenses. Certainly not f/11.

[milandro]

page still not found

[Vidalgo]

Just remove extra symbols at the end of link.

[milandro]

thanks, so this is it

 

https://ianpiper.smugmug.com/Test-images/OIS-tests/

 

I am not sure of the significance of the test, since, as I understand ( and maybe I don’t) if there is any undesirable effect of the OIS it would show at a very slow speed ( slower than the OIS can compensate for) and it would be more visible at the very edge of the format rather than in the middle?

 

Otherwise, I agree, in the picture showed the things don’t appear to be much different either way.

[Aswald]

I think it depends on the lens/ois design and picture taking conditions.

 

I've found that on older Canon ef lenses, turning ois on/off on the tripod had significantly different results. If anything, consistencies were challenged when ois (IS) is turned on when on tripod. On newer ef lenses, the difference is lesser somewhat.

 

With the XF55-200, I've found that I still got fairly sharp pictures even when I forgot to turn off the ois on tripod.

 

However, it's become such a habit that it doesn't bother me. I do it almost without knowing.