Vibration reduction lenses

[Dr Jekyll]

I've just bought a second hand Nikon 70/300 AFS with VR, my first VR lens.

The vibration reduction on my Lumix compact is impressive, but on the Nikon it seems to do very little.

Comparing VR on and off at 300mm and 1/400th both look OK on a laptop screen if I don't enlarge, both are blurred if I look closely, maybe a marginal difference.

Doing another test 1/8th of a second at 100mm, 2 shots on with VR on and two with it off. One of the VR shots is best of the four, number 2 is one of the non VR shots.

On shots at around 1/250th at 300mm where expected the VR to be really beneficial, to give me a higher percentage of sharp shots. I genuinely can't see a difference. To the point I initially suspected the VR wasn't working.

What kind of effect should I reasonably expect? If I can normally shoot hand held at 1/500th at 300mm (DX format) what should I be able to use with VR on?

[thebraketester]

Sounds like it's not working to be honest. You should be able to handhold a 300mm lens with VR/IS at a much slower speed than without.

[8bit]

I had the 55-300, at 300mm the difference between VR on and off was night and day just through the viewfinder. It shouldn't "jitter" at all when hand-held, more like a very gently sway. It's no guarantee of getting a sharp shot though, plenty of other factors that influence that and VR does allow some movement, just smooths it out hopefully enough to get a clean image. Does sound to me like it's not working right or you'd be able to tell before you even take a photo.

I have Tamron's equivalent of VR on their 24-70mm lens, I can't use it at the wide end because it makes me feel slightly seasick!

[Simpo Two]

When you semi-depress the shutter release do you hear a very high pitched whine and see the image 'float' a little when the camera is moved?

Note also there are two modes for VR - tripod and non-tripod so make sure you have the right one.

[Dr Jekyll]

Thanks everyone.

I've tried it again and there is a high pitched hissing sound when VR is engaged and a click shortly after I release the shutter button and it stops. Now that I'm looking for it there does some slightly less visible shake in the viewfinder and a slight delay to the image when I move the camera. Having done some more tests at 1/250th and 300mm I can now see a difference so it is working, not sure what the issue was before.

[Simpo Two]

Dr Jekyll said:

I've tried it again and there is a high pitched hissing sound when VR is engaged and a click shortly after I release the shutter button and it stops. Now that I'm looking for it there does some slightly less visible shake in the viewfinder and a slight delay to the image when I move the camera. Having done some more tests at 1/250th and 300mm I can now see a difference so it is working, not sure what the issue was before.

1) Good news!

2) You

[8bit]

Could be worth cleaning the electrical contacts on both the lens and the camera body with a dry, lint-free cloth.

[Simpo Two]

8bit said:

Could be worth cleaning the electrical contacts on both the lens and the camera body with a dry, lint-free cloth.

Or meths...

[shed driver]

If it has been warm when you have taken your photos it could also be haze or air currents due to temperature differences.

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Ti...

SD.

[utgjon]

forgive me if i'm stating the obvious, but at shutter speeds of more then 1/(lens length), you should be able to get stable shots anyway!

if you're looking to highlight the difference between VR on/off, try at something like 1/30th!

[Dr Jekyll]

utgjon said:

forgive me if i'm stating the obvious, but at shutter speeds of more then 1/(lens length), you should be able to get stable shots anyway!

if you're looking to highlight the difference between VR on/off, try at something like 1/30th!

I was working on the principle that since 300mm on my DX camera is equivalent to 450mm on FX or 35mm, I should be using at least 450th of a second without VR. Not sure that's valid though..

[utgjon]

Dr Jekyll said:

I was working on the principle that since 300mm on my DX camera is equivalent to 450mm on FX or 35mm, I should be using at least 450th of a second without VR. Not sure that's valid though..

yes... so at 1/450th you're not really going to see much difference between VR on/off. the point of VR is that you should be able to achieve stable shots at slower shutter speeds... so try it at something you can't handhold without VR (say 1/60th) and see how much difference it makes with it on/off.

also be mindful of your technique... brace your elbows against your body and the eyepiece against your face, control your breathing and squeeze the shutter gently.