Nikon 70-200 f4 - The best vibration reduction I have ever seen!

[Hamish Gill]

I had a go with the new nikon 70-200 f4 vr today ... the VR is nothing short of stunning!
I popped into London Camera Exchange for 5 mins and Gareth rather excitedly showed me it ... telling me they could easily shoot sharp photos down to 1/8th of a second.
I thought I would have a go a he was right ... So I thought I would see just how slow a shutter speed I could go.

The following shot was taken at 1/2sec ... ok its not perfectly sharp when you zoom in ... but its pretty damn sharp! And, this is at 200mm ... That, by my maths is 7 stops of vr! ... Ok I didn't get every shot this sharp, but one in 5 were! And every shot was spot on at 1/8th for me ... at 200mm!

You can zoom into original size on flickr on this image if you want to have a closer look...


Nikon 70-200 f4 vr test by Hamish_Gill, on Flickr

 

[Pete Askew]

That is impressive Hamish. Tempted?

 

[Hamish Gill]

Nah, I only use mine for people at weddings ...

 

[Beth Carter]

7 stops is pretty impressive.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Meh - image stabilization is for wussies

 

[Hamish Gill]

Wusses eh? Come on the big man show what you got! 200mm with one of them ca-non things no "image stabilisation", arf a second ... Money where ya mowf is! Quid says no ficking chance!

- - - Updated - - -

No tripod either... before you start getting clever

 

[Pete Askew]

Fight, fight, fight!

 

[David Mitchell]

Old school image stabilization, in Russia, the image stabilizes you (although with added D3100 on the back lol)

 

[Robert Lyons]

Most things I shoot with my Sigma 70-200 are moving, so I never use the IS.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Most things I shoot with my Sigma 70-200 are moving, so I never use the IS.

I have mine switched on, but like you, subjects are often moving ...

I can imagine the "normal" mode on this lens would be very good for panning mind ... And I can see it would work fairly well for video ... Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'd find it useful for really.
Still, impressive!

 

[Peri Trigkas]

ca-non things

to the point. Really impressive!! Is it VR II? You should ve taken a photo of the lens! I have to search for it myself now

 

[Chris Dodkin]

I still don't own an IS lens Hamish

The 300 and 600 are non IS, and have mostly been used for motor-sports, with high shutter speeds where IS would not be a benefit.

My 70-200 was bought pre-IS, and I'm too tight to buy a new one!

Same with my 28-70.

However - I've seen amazing motorsports shots with slow shutter speeds in the last few years, which I assume have come about because of tracking IS on long lenses - but given the current pricing on a 300 or 600 L, I'll not be upgrading

SWMBO has an IS kit lens on her Canon - seems to work nicely, although I question why an 18-55 focal length would really need IS.

I see people on DPR complaining that they can't get an IS model of a super wide lens - WTH?

 

[David Mitchell]

I have the Nikon 18-55mm kit lens which does have image stability, its probably due to the lower build quality of the lens meaning that everything moves around more than if it were made from metal lol

I guess photographers have got around not needing IS for a hundred years or so, I think if out and about with a longer length lens I would probably put a mini tripod in my pocket or something. Or I might just *have* to get a Berlebach...shame

 

[Hamish Gill]

Chris, super wides, vr, interiors .. That's why I chose mine

 

[Paul Lange]

That is impressive and looking at the image the writing at the top of the Nikon poster seems to be pretty sharp.

 

[Jeannie Girard]

very interesting. I have the original 70-200VR, and I thought it was wonderful, but pricey. I find I don't use it as much now, as I use my original 80-400vr for birding shots