Very interesting experiment/comparison test. Sometimes I forget to turn IS off when I’m making long exposures. But my camera is always on a tripod and I always use cable shutter release or timer. 👍🏻👍🏻
I think that as long as it does not malfunction and start oscillating trying to correct itself, it should help. Tripods still have vibration. Attach a laser pointing at the ground and you will see there is far more vibration than you would think. Of course if you really don't need it, then you can save battery life with it off.
I rarely turn off the IS when on a tripod. Most, if not all, of the lenses made today are able to detect when you're using a tripod and therefore don't provide any issues. Some of the older lenses with early generation IS may indeed have noticeable issues, and I think everyone needs to be aware of what works for the equipment they have. I think you've proven that, as a general rule, it's not necessary to turn it off. My only issue with IS on a tripod happened last summer with my Tamron 150-600. It had some noticeable movement blur on the images, so I turned it off to get the keepers. I'm pretty certain that it was due to my EF to RF adapter though. The adapter is third party and had some screws loose on the mount, which I have since tightened. I haven't repeated the use scenario with that lens, however some other issues that I was noticing around that same time have been eliminated.
Craig - Sony should update their manuals. I looked it up and they recommend turning it off when on a tripod. You'd think that manufacturers would brag about this new technology but I've never read or seen anything about it. I agree that with older lenses and equipment odds are you will get sharper images with it off.
I know this may be a nit, but when you were comparing Cable-to-Cable, to my eye, I see a little degradation of some parts of the image (not talking about pixel shift). One such place to see the difference is to look at the numbers "2?00" under "Class Code" on the lower left of the plate. To my eye, those numbers become less sharp when you click to the IS-ON version.
Because you use in the test only Sony lens that's why you don't see difference. It will be sooo nice if you could include in this test also "ANY" non Sony lens. If you could do a extra small test with any "non" Sony lens it will be sooo helpful for many of us! They say that if you use Sony camera (always modern camera not old) with Sony lens they understand when is on a tripod and deactivated the ibis but when you use a Sigma or Tamron or what ever other brand this is not hapent. So that why it will be super nice and interesting to see what happens in that scenario. Your test about that matter is the best that I have EVER seen. Inside you garage the absolutely suberb test. Please dear sir have it on your mind to do one video with non Sony lens... Thank you for all of your WONDERFUL and MOTIVATION videos❤️
