Fact or Fiction? | Testing Image Stabilization on a Tripod 

I'm not sure how direct this info pertains to most of my shooting, as I'm a birder who often shoots with an 800mm lens, and much of the time, with a 1.4 TC for 1120mm. I used to do mostly landscapes. In spite of the fact I use a really solid tripod, as soon as I grab ahold of the camera, looking through the viewfinder, my subjects start bouncing all over the place. I'm sure using a wide angle lens, you wouldn't see any shake at all > however, there would ne no need to touch the camera for landscapes. So, unless it was windy, the image should be rock solid. BTW, interestingly, I have put my 1120mm setup on the tripod (inside the house, so flat calm) and with the image stabilizer on, but not touching the camera, I have seen that the image will slowly wander around, as the IS tries to stabilize the image even though it doesn't need to. If this happened, even to a tiny degree with my landscape shooting, that might screw me up, as I always shoot bracketed sets for exposure stacking. Think I will probably keep turning IS off for landscapes, but maybe I wouldn't need to. Hmmm.

I agree for 95% of situations, however, not in live music settings. I regularly film live music where the subwoofers vibrate the tripod. I use the Sigma 70-200 2.8 and when the image stabilization is on, it creates a wobbly effect when the tripod vibrates. It seems image stabilization is designed to compensate for hand jitters, yet not fast vibrations.

Fantastic test! Especially the sanity check at the end comparing the two unstabilized images showing the atmospheric effect. Thanks!

Thank you so much James for performing these tests. I’ve often made the same argument to my friends when we’re out shooting. We often go out shooting along the riverfront where it can be quite windy, so I leave the IBIS on even when my camera is mounted on my tripod. I’ve argued that the IBIS can’t tell the difference between camera movement due to hand-holding or the movement due to the wind. But even when it’s calm, I haven’t seen any detrimental effects with the IBIS turned on.

I’ve used Sony cameras for a good number of years, currently I have the A1 and A7iv and I never turn the stabilisation off whether it be birds in flight or landscape photography. So I agree with you

Thank you for making an actual test. This is much appreciated.

I often forget to turn it off too. But after this, I think I’ll just not worry about it all together.

Thanks so much James. Like many of the other RU-vid members mentioned in the comments, I sincerely appreciate your effort and attention to detail when performing this investigation / comparison. I, too, have tended to leave IBIS on while on a tripod... Especially when windy (Sony Alpha A7 III). Again, thank you very much for your time and effort to document this topic.

Thank you for running these tests. Like you, I sometimes forget to turn stabilization off. In addition, I have one particular lens/camera combination where I cannot turn stabilization off at all. The lens defaults to being on and has no switch and the camerea offers no options either. I have wondered how much of a problem this would be and I am happy to see from your test that there is not likely to be an issue. Thank you again.

Good to know, James; thanks for checking!

Hi and thanks for your video. I agree with you and have sometimes forgotten the VR and left it on with no effect..... EXCEPT with long exposures (like 15/30 seconds or more) when I get crazy blurry artefacts. I ruined a whole shoot with this and did not know why all the crazy blurring was there. When I found out I replicated the settings and same effect exactly. Turned off VR and all perfect. I have a Nikon D850 and use the latest Tamron G2 zooms, which are superb. Hope this contributes to the sum total of knowledge!!!!

Glad I saw this before I read somewhere about turning stabilization off. One less thing for me to worry about.

thanks a lot very clear and nice to know a real knowledge about this topic

Thanks James, very helpful video.

Thank you!

Hey James I just tested my old Nikon 200-500mm in my new Z9 and I can confirm your results completely... 👍

Image stabilization should be redundant when there's no movement between the camera and the image within the frame. So I agree with you. That said I would like to hear the explanation for the necessity to turn the IS off when using a tripod from those who stick to that rule.

A simpler and more reliable way to "see" the difference is to set the blend mode to - what else - Difference. Pixels that are identical between the two layers will show as black.

I haven’t turned off the stabilization in any of my Sony cameras since my ancient A100. It made a difference on that early, 15 year old camera. But I haven’t seen a difference since my A65 from 2012 and that was 4 cameras ago.

The only reason I turn off IS when not needed is because I have really old bodies that have poor battery life and turning it off conserves battery power.

I turn IS off to save some battery life. :) In very windy conditions it's better to leave IS on because the wind may shake tripod and camera.

Very interesting video Sir. However as I think may have been mentioned, if you had the time and energy to test a range of cameras and lenses you might find some different results. I shoot with a Nikon D500 and a small range of lenses mostly for wildlife. If I am hand holding then obviously I leave VR on most of the time, my Nikor 200-500 is a bit of a beast. If I am using it on a tripod then I tend to use my very unscientific rule of thumb where if my shutter speed drops below 250/sec then I tend to turn VR on.

I'm sure this can vary from one brand lens to another and even one mirrorless camera to another. I don't think you'll see any problems with something like a 1 to 10 second shutter speed. I think if you're shooting really long exposures, like 2 or more minutes, you might see something then. And you may not even see anything with the new lenses that are out.

I have a side by side test on my channel shooting video with a C100 M2 (no in - body IS) and there is definite, unacceptable movement when the IS is on the lens vs when not. Still photography - not a issue

The only problem I have EVER run into with stabe is having the in body setting for lens length way off from whatever lens was last on. I use a bunch of vintage and non native glass currently on a 7riii. I'll go to an ef 200L prime from a fd35 without remembering to change my focal length I'll get some not so great photos. I'm pretty good at remembering now after being with Sony a few years now though lol. I'm strictly photos though so can't say anything for video work.

Image stabilization redundancy perhaps but on certain even high-end lenses, You may ever so slightly have noticed that the image through the view finder almost seems to barely but yet move somewhat during image stabilization. I even noticed this with my Nikkor 200-400 afs vr in the past.

This is a video that should go viral….all the young chaps keep talking about shutter speed and such not covering in camera stabilization.

I think for a follow up test, it would be interesting to see if IS can alleviate the tripod shake from pushing the shutter, vs IS off doing a self timer/ remote shutter.

At one time I had found an article on the Canon CPS site stating that Canon lenses designed after 1999 it was okay to leave IS on when on a tripod. It stated IS continued to work through out the exposure and would help correct for vibration caused by the shutter and reflex mirror. In my own tests I pretty much confirmed what Canon said. What I understand is the older lenses when IS was turned on the internal lenses tended to float. In the lenses designed after 1999 there were sensors that had to reach a certain threshold of vibration for IS to activate. I have now moved on to the Sony system, Steady Shot (IS) is always turned on and I see no ill affects even though the Sony A1 manual says to turn off Steady Shot. I guess this is a myth that has been around for years and even the Sony tech writers are still believing it.

I'm guessing that, in the early days of image stabilization, the systems were not so precise as they are now and there might have been an issue. I see no degradation to stabilization on tripods. I've tried this at 800mm where the issue should show up if it existed. I never turn stabilization off. Thanks for doing this test. Even if this was a real issue, more images would be blurred by wind hitting the camera/lens/tripod than by the stabilization system.

My experience is different. I took a shot of Atlanta skyline from about 10 miles away using Canon M6 MII with Tamron 18-400 and a x2 teleconverter. I forgot to turn off the lens mage stabilization. The tripod was firm in the ground, the level was set and all the knobs in the ball head were tight. And yet, the "city kept moving", there was no wind at all, and I was going crazy, why the "city keeps moving". Then it hit me... the lens image stabilizer. When I turned it off, it solved the problem.

I have the Sony A7RII and the A7RIV and I have the same results as you. If its windy, 10 to 15mph or more, having the stabilization on is important with a long lens.

What I have read is that in some cases it COULD get a not sharp photo. Depending what lens, shutter speed and other variables. So this simple test doesn’t debunk it entirely.

To be Honest James I forget about it everytime. maybe it start off as a sales pitch from Tripod manufactures, saying their tripods were so good with stabilisation, so you didn't need the lens/ camera system.

I`ve shot various 8-10 seconds pnotos of rocks on the seashore in the past and on my last excursion when I got home to process them , I was very disapointed cause they were pretty much all ruined due to the fact that I could see a faint but yet obvious offset overlapping immage on each of them. I was using a Nikon D810 plus my 70-200 afs vr II telephoto on my manfrotto tripod. Guess what, I had simply forgotten to turn off the image stabilization.

So I ran into this issue, where I was using the A7R4 for a bcam for video for speaking event. And I noticed that the background where she was standing was shaking and my tech guy asked me did I have IBS on. So I agree.

A question comes to mind.... You shut off IS on the camera and allow the tripod to "stabilize" the image (camera) - which basically is the basic purpose of using the tripod... What if you use the timer on the camera with the 18 - 35mm... This way you get the benefit of the tripod as well as the timer function of the camera. That would definitely turn that lens into an IS lens.

Very interesting; I've always wondered about this and have done my own sort of crude tests. I've always deferred to the Sony lens engineers; obviously they are going to know more about this than I do and my G lens recommends that I turn off stabilization when shooting from a tripod. So far, my tests have been inconclusive and I'm still wondering why so many of my shots are coming out blurry. I know the lens is capable of taking some amazingly sharp shots, but it seems like for everyone of those, I have to take 10-20 unacceptable ones.

Just now found this, and I want to say thanks for going through the hassle of debunking another photography myth, which is all this "turn off IS (or for Nikon users, VR) when on a tripod. It really makes no sense, and never has. The whole thing smacks of someone who has no idea what they are doing having a problem, and looking for anything to blame their failure on except their own inadequacies, followed by another bunch of inadequate "photographers" jumping on the bandwagon. Again, thanks for taking the time and effort to debunk this myth. Great photos on the website BTW.

I think that in modern lenses and cameras it really doesn't make a difference to turn the IS on or off. I use a t3i and Canon's basic lenses (18-55 , 55-250) and I notice a significant loss of sharpness using a tripod and IS on, especially at fast shutter speeds. The gain in sharpness is clear when turning off the IS in this scenario.

The lens is the key element in the question. I could indeed see a difference when using my Canon EF 70 - 300 on either my EOS M50 or EOS R with IS on or off on a tripod. I absolutely had to have it off when on a tripod in rock-solid conditions. On the other hand, my RF 24 - 105mm f4L on my EOS R doesn't care. And in windy conditions I always have lens IS on since no tripod is 100% stable in those conditions. That said, when in 100% solid conditions I turn lens IS off.

Good to see Sony trying to keep up with Olympus and OMDS. very good.

I would like to know what tripod you are using I'm looking for a taller one

Did a similar test and found no difference. I never tern off the stabilisation, infect I have put tape over the switch on the lens so it can't be turned off accidentally. Do not know way we have the option of terming it off in the first place.

I turn it off for tripod video as I'll generally do combos, pictures and video.

I believe the conditions you tried this in were not ideal for this test. I can tell you with my DSLR i accidentaly left it on shooting lights at dusk and in the dark. It ruined the photographs. It created circles where the lights were. I have heard that you can leave it on with a mirrorless camera but have not seen anthing conclusive on this yet.

It largely depends on the lens and camera combination you are shooting. Many modern lenses and cameras no longer have this issue- especially with first party glass. If you are shooting on older equipment, especially older third party lenses, it will absolutely result in what looks like camera shake.... So to test it on a modern sony camera with sony lenses is a completely irrelevant test for someone using say a canon 5DII and old sigma lenses.

What about mechanical vs electronic shutter?

I believed that only at fast shutter speeds should stabilization be turned off.

I am guessing results with different camera systems could vary because I have results with Nikon D850 and multiple of lenses that prove differently.

I wonder if the urban legend about not using stabilisation on long exposures might have arisen from much older stabilisation tech that did exhibit some jitter. As the tech matured, maybe it was tuned out? I'm just speculating. The legend must have come from somewhere. I shoot with Olympus, and that uses uses both in body and lens stabe, and I have not noticed any artifacts leaving IS on when doing longer exposures. So it makes me wonder if it was some of the earliest stabilisation tech that made have caused the softness at longer shutter speeds.

Some Canon cameras self detect they are on a tripod and auto shut down stabilization...maybe the camera you were using does the same.

So glad you took the time to investigate this. There are myths and do's/don'ts for many pursuits and photography is just one such example. On a forum this very topic of image stabilization came up with a stern-reading "...you _must_ turn of image stabilization..." And then there was this, which I happened across a while ago: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j8E1u3MGuGQ.html which prompted me to start taking a look into it for myself. I haven't tried truly slow shutter speeds as yet, but so far, I've found no difference. I would encourage everyone to make up their own minds after doing a (fairly easy) bit of research, and then decide.

I don't bother turning IS off (camera or lens) when making long exposures with my Lumix G9 (which has 6.5 stops of IBIS + dual IS with compatible lenses, so I can go hand-held at any FL unless I'm using an ND or IR filter or it's a dark night) and I've never noticed any loss of sharpness, regardless of exposure (rarely more than 2 minutes). I use a Manfrotto BeFree GT XPRO Carbon tripod which is very stable, especially for a "travel" tripod.

Maybe in 4-5 seconds shutting time would see some difference?

When you know that your camera won't even move or shake like when using a good tripod and shots indoor or in the studio, just turn it of your VR or IS. But when you shots outside when the wind are blowing and you know that the camera will move or shake even a little bit i suggest just turn ON the VR or IS. Thats what VR or IS for. If you not sure??? Just take two shots with VR ON and OFF. DONE!

Maybe that stabilization on and off works on non mirrorless cameras?

I think to see the effects of IS take your longest focal length and zoom to an object, put the camera into live view, zoom into a detail and manually sharpen. With IS on on my camera I can see the image in love view to move around slightly. It doesn’t do that with IS off, but the camera has to settle to be truly still. With a shorter focal length and/or a relatively fast shutter speed it’s probably not noticeable. But with a very long focal length and a long shutter speed I believe it does. I tested this myself with my Nikon D500 and the 200-500 lens. At that focal length the tiniest vibration gets amplified, and if the shutter speed it somewhat slow the effects are noticeable. During that experiment I also learned that it takes more than two seconds for the camera to settle, so if a delayed shutter is used set the delay to maybe 10 seconds. Or wait a bit and then use a cable release. @alex.s.photo

Leaving stabilizer on whilst on the tripod had ruined my best self portrait pictures

I'm guessing your shooting Sony by the comments & not looking at your equipment during the vid. I thought Sony cameras knows when they are on tripods & turns IBIS off. Anyway, when you were at the stone building & moved over to the right, I really focused in on the dude with the cowboy hat & thought he was slightly sharper with the IBIS turned off. Not knowing your channel when I clicked on it I thought it would have been long lens wildlife orientated. No matter because I'm considering switching to Canon or Sony sometime in 2023 for the AF for wildlife. My older Nikon D810 (2014 tech) = no IBIS but VR on 3 of my lenses. On a tripod with the 200-500 lens, it depends on the shutter speed. Once I crank it up around 1200-1600 it is better with VR turned off. I leave it off for the macro unless handheld & the 70-200. 14-24 doesn't have VR. Your lucky to live in such a photogenic part of the country. Happy shooting & thanks for the vid.

My gfx100s goes completely wild if I dont turn off stabilisation when doing longer exposures using a tripod.

Image Stabilization doesn't do sh!t if you put the camera on the tripod to shoot stills. IS only helps when you are doing hand-held with slow shutter speed. If your shutter speed is fast enough, you don't even need IS.

Some cameras can actually detect that the camera is on a tripod and switch off stabilization automatically.

Tha matter is you should have a sturdy tripod without any shakyness.

Lol I think it's more with action shots it effects it