«

I bought a Panasonic FZ 15 with 12x zoom and image stabilizer for my
wife who takes animal shots.
When I managed to get it from her for an experiment, telephoto and
macro, it outperformed my Nikon 4500, a respected camera, especially
for macro work.
My conclusion is that image stabilizers must become the norm for
digicams. There is just no comparison. I have a link to a difficult
macro picture from the Panasonic in the bushes, where a tripod would
have been impossible, and the Nikon pictures without stabilizer just
did not compare.
DonB

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?t...to_sel_index=0

I know what you mean, I have a KM Z3 and image stabilization at 12x
(48x) is simply a must.

DonB wrote:
> I bought a Panasonic FZ 15 with 12x zoom and image stabilizer for my
> wife who takes animal shots.
> When I managed to get it from her for an experiment, telephoto and
> macro, it outperformed my Nikon 4500, a respected camera, especially
> for macro work.
> My conclusion is that image stabilizers must become the norm for
> digicams. There is just no comparison. I have a link to a difficult
> macro picture from the Panasonic in the bushes, where a tripod would
> have been impossible, and the Nikon pictures without stabilizer just
> did not compare.
> DonB
>
> http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?t...to_sel_index=0

Yep, i totally second that!

I have the FZ20 and could not live with IS.

A question : If I use a tripod, should I turn the stabilisation off? I
have heard somewhere that image stabilisation does not work well with
tripods.

Cheers,
Russell.

Russell wrote:
> I have the FZ20 and could not live with IS.
>
> A question : If I use a tripod, should I turn the stabilisation off? I
> have heard somewhere that image stabilisation does not work well with
> tripods.
>
> Cheers,
> Russell.

As for your question I suggest you experiment. My personal experience
may not be the same as yours.

Now for the question you did not ask. I would say that it is not a
question of it working or not working with a tripod, it is simply not needed
with a good tripod.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

Since it does save battery power if turned off and you want to use a
tripod, then it might be a good idea

In article <>, says...
> I have the FZ20 and could not live with IS.
>
> A question : If I use a tripod, should I turn the stabilisation off? I
> have heard somewhere that image stabilisation does not work well with
> tripods.
>
> Cheers,
> Russell.
>


The only problem you should get from using IS on a tripod is battery life.

It takes some power to run the stabilizer, but Im not sure if it uses much
power while on a tripod as the lens is already stable...

What could it hurt to shut it off???

If outdoors the wind COULD affect the stability of the camera on a tripod,
depending on your shutter speed.

As for the "somewhere" you heard... ignore it, unless it was siting specific
intelligent reasons.


--
Larry Lynch
Mystic, Ct.

Russell wrote:
> I have the FZ20 and could not live with IS.

I presume you mean /without/ IS!

> A question : If I use a tripod, should I turn the stabilisation off? I
> have heard somewhere that image stabilisation does not work well with
> tripods.

There was an issue with some older IS lenses - expensive ones designed for
SLRs - whereby if they do not detect motion they may still move the IS
elements, thereby introducing a small amount of blur into the picture. I
don't know if this is still true with today's IS lenses.

On the FZ20, I'm sure I've used a tripod and accidentally forgotten to
switch the IS off. I haven't noticed any ill effect from so doing. Very
pleased with the FZ20, though, and I hope you are as well!

Cheers,
David

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 14:10:08 -0000, "David J Taylor"
<david-> wrote:

>Russell wrote:
>> I have the FZ20 and could not live with IS.
>
>I presume you mean /without/ IS!
>

Oops, yes, that was a typo

Cheers
Russell.

DonB wrote:

> I bought a Panasonic FZ 15 with 12x zoom and image stabilizer for my
> wife who takes animal shots.
> When I managed to get it from her for an experiment, telephoto and
> macro, it outperformed my Nikon 4500, a respected camera, especially
> for macro work.
> My conclusion is that image stabilizers must become the norm for
> digicams. There is just no comparison. I have a link to a difficult
> macro picture from the Panasonic in the bushes, where a tripod would
> have been impossible, and the Nikon pictures without stabilizer just
> did not compare.


Something you should be trying for hand held macro work is an off camera
flash cord/bracket. The instantaneous light (less than 1/1000 sec) from a
flash freezes any camera motion and is going to end up MUCH better than
even an IS image would be. I did this for years with my old OM 35mm TTL
camera. Was able to shoot at f22 for more DOF and still get very sharp
images in any light condition.

For sports etc IS is great at keeping the lens size reasonable but for macro
use, this flash technique is a better way to go. Given how automated the
flash units are with TTY off camera flash control, this is simple to use in
the field.
--

Stacey