I used my 150 at the shooting range the other day when a police SWAT team member was trying out his new Barrett 50 caliber sniper rifle. Whenever he let that thing go, the image in the viewfinder would jump. Then I noticed that with a MP5 (9mm machine gun) that it would jump on single shots although a lot less.

I wonder if the thump I felt in my chest when the 50 cal. let go was hitting the 150 in some strange way.

This makes 3 external events that I know will screw up Steadyshot:

1. Radios
2. Strobe lights
3. Large-caliber weapon reports

BTW, we call this particular guy, Inspector Gadget. He owns the rifle, the PD would never allow it to be used as it would go through 'bout 55 buildings before coming to rest.

Wow! A 50 caliber sniper rifle!Now that would be a sight to see ! I would hate to be the poor guy on the receiving end .

I jump whenever anyone fires a large caliber weapon near me too.

.50 cal isn't that in line with what the p-51's and the f-14's use to shoot down other planes? I guess depending on your proximity, the sound waves created by that puppy will resonate quite a large and powerful wave that will make something vibrate in the camera. H&K MP5's are much less in sound level, but are these test fires in an indoor or outdoor range, since the walls can intensify sound waves by making them reverb or echo?

Mike, what makes you think SS is in cause? Did you verify this with a non SS cam? It is known that air turbulences and pressure gradients bend lightwaves. So your cam (and its internal parts ) can be perfectly motionless but the air between the scene and you camcordeer can bend the lightrays and generate the shaky images. Strobe light puzzles me, but maybe it's allways associated with loud musuc..

It was easy to verify the cause because of the similarity of the SS excursion. I turned the SS off. End of problem.

The strobes generate RFI to which the camera is very susceptible.

The Police range is out of doors but between berms on three sides.

50 calibre, not .50 or so the purists tell me, was indeed the size that P51's and other WWII aircraft used. The sniper rifles use a short cartidge version of the round. The aircraft round would probably drive the shooter back a couple of feet instead of 3 inches or so.

Modern warplanes use 20 mm or 30 mm gatling guns. Larger shell, much more expensive.