Stabilization: need turn off for tripod?

[Kevin Carter]

I accidentally left steady shot on while shooting on tripod for a project. The footage looked fine. So wondering if this age old tip is really necessary?

sony hc3

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Nothing "old" about it. You may have gotten lucky and the camera didn't attempt to stabilize anything, or you may just not notice the difference.
It's always a risk, and will cause a softer image as a result. Shoot a focus chart with stabilization enabled and disabled on a tripod, with slight movement of the chart. You'll likely see a loss of resolution.
Will this *always* bear out? Probably not. But why risk it?

[Kevin Carter]

thanks Doug, I'll try that. Would I notice the inferior results looking on a 19" CTR TV in 4:3?

the only risk, is forgetting to go back to stabization for handheld, if you are going back and forth. Would that be a disaster to have handheld without IS?
(I should probably test that too)

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Depending on the quality of the standard def 4:3, you probably wouldn't notice the softness difference, no.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Kevin Carter

the only risk, is forgetting to go back to stabization for handheld, if you are going back and forth. Would that be a disaster to have handheld without IS?
(I should probably test that too)

Think this would be the main question to worry about, if you have the time to switch I would turn the stabilisation of on a tripod and back on again when handheld.
But if time doesn't allow you to do that, when you do wedding f.i., I would just leave the stabilisation on. I do it in this way but use very slow panning movements and a lot of stationary shots. In that way I haven't noticed any loss in image quality or the stabiliser causing strange movements during panning.

[Dave Blackhurst]

At least with the HC series, the "P-Menu" capability would allow you to assign this function to a menu you could then have right at your fingertip, literally.

The P-Menu capability allows you to put the things you need the most only 2-3 touches away - really quite slick if you take the time to set it up - I ended up with a 2 page P-menu with everything I need to access regularly, now takes seconds to change settings!

[Kevin Carter]

YEs, Dave, just did the P menu today. I didn't know what they heck all those boxes were until today. So deleted them all except menu, p menu, steady shot.

[Laurence Kingston]

I look at steadyshot on a tripod not so much as an issue of softness, but as an issue of fluidity of the pans and zooms. What happens is that the steadyshot can't really tell the difference between intentional movement and accidental movement. On a tripod, during smooth pans and zooms the steadyshot kicks in and messes up the fluidity of the movement giving you pans and zooms that kind of lurch as the steadyshot tries to compensate for the movement that in this case is intentional.

Thus if I was to leave a camera on a tripod fixed on say a wide shot, it wouldn't hurt to leave the steadyshot on, whereas if you are doing zooms and typical fluid head movements, you will get better results turning it off.

[Tom Hardwick]

Your HC3 has electronic Steadyshot so generally this has more artefacts than OIS cameras. Of all the tools at our disposal, Sony's OIS is as transparent a technology as you'll find - much more invisible (say) than auto focus, auto white balance, auto exposure.

As my Z1 is on and off the tripod all day I have no hesitation whatsoever in leaving the (standard setting) Steadyshot switched on at all times. If I'm set up on a slightly sprung marquee floor or if someone bumps the tripod then OIS will save you far more tahn it will hinder you in pans and tilts.

Reasons to turn OIS off: saves battery power, makes the camera quieter (PD170 VAP especially). Kevin - have you tried handholding your camera on full tele with the EIS turned off yet? You'll see your pulse interrupt 65 times a minute, and if you're stressed, 75 times a minute. Soon as you see that you'll leave your EIS on.

tom.

[Kevin Carter]

Laurence, for the project I'm doing, I'm only really using tripod for a fixed, tight or 1/2 body shot interview. If I need to pan or zoom, then, I will probably just take it off the tripod.

So you are saying then, if you are not panning / zooming, steady shot, on is ok? maybe even better!

(btw, the zoom, can you use that footage? with hc3, it zoom to fast, not sure that looks good)

Tom: thanks, what artifacts am I getting with steady shot would not see with an OIS. You concur then with Laurence to leave it on tripod with steady shot? interesting.

[Tom Hardwick]

No, I don't go along with Laurence, but then I don't know what camera he's talking about. Sony's OIS (VAP and vibrating elements) sits there primed, waiting for camera movement. If no camera movement occurs the gyros aren't activated, and no image movement takes place. As I say, I find it almost totally transparent, and tripod wind-up gives far more spring-back than Sony's OIS does.

EIS on the other hand often halves the shutter speed (you'll have to replay your HC3 footage having filmed with the EIS turned on to see if this is so on that camera). EIS is looking for movement of the image across the chip face, so can be used for instance to stabilise re-filmed ciné footage.

OIS works in the fog, in the dark even. EIS needs light. EIS can be made more powerful, but this brings with it 'sticky' zooms and pans, so generally they're never as powerful as OIS systems. It's certainly a cheaper systenm to impliment.

tom.

[Victor Wilcox]

Are there any suggestions on stabilizing with the VCL-HG2037Y 2x converter?

I’m shooting with an A1U on a SUNPAK 7500 Pro tripod. I've been using OIS since the tripod is less than adequate at full zoom. I've never dared panning with this tripod at 20 x.

Is OIS good are bad in these cases?

[Tom Hardwick]

Just to point out that the A1u has EIS and not OIS as far as I'm aware. Steadyshot is indeed good for full tele pans as it'll help to smooth out the small blips and blops in a less than fluid head.