Not sure if I can phrase this technically correct.. or explain it clearly..

but..

If I slap on the Canon 2x telephoto lens, and given my unsteady hands -

say I'm at 10x optical zoom w/o teleconverter.. if I put on the 2x converter - and all things being equal - will my shaky hand cause the same or more disorder in the video with the 2x?

If so, can I estimate that the shakiness w/ converter (10x on HG10 and 2x converter) = 20x optical zoom shakiness w/o the converter? (Do I effectively just multiply the #s?)

Or is 10+2x converter = same amount of shakiness I'd get at 10x?

you effectively double it if you are at the full 10x plus 2x, since you are seeing the field of view of a 20x lens, magnified that much. So its very shaky, and for best results, it needs a very good solid tripod even as light as it is.

Think of it this way - as you increase the multiplier, the smaller the area your "frame" will be covering, and any movement will be amplified - the same amount of movement will APPEAR much larger, because the "target" will bounce around more in the frame.

This is one of the reasons that mounting a WA lens and getting close in with a steadicam type shot will make the footage look smoother. Take a good look at a lot of the "steadicam wannabe" footage - you'll see lots of barrelling in many of the demos, indicating the WA is doing a lot of the "apparent" stabilization!

If you can't get close to your subject and fill your frame at a low zoom, plan on a tripod... EIS/OIS can only compensate so much.

If you can't get close to your subject and fill your frame at a low zoom, plan on a tripod... EIS/OIS can only compensate so much.


Thanks Dave and Steve for clearing that up.