Who buys the 20f28 and why?

Started Apr 25, 2013 | Discussions thread
Senior MemberPosts: 1,201Gear list
In reply to EinsteinsGhost, 4 months ago

EinsteinsGhost wrote:

Try shooting at 1/5s handheld with a 20mm lens. Not everyone has a tripod with them.

Having OSS can never be a bad thing. 2-stops advantage is still a 2-stops advantage. Worse case you can still turn it off.

You'd need 3-stops of reliable stabilization to shoot 20mm at 1/5s. So, you're already out of that small window. The average optical stabilization is good for 2-stops. And the average IBIS is good for 1.5-2 stops (based on a white paper published by Photozine). So, you end up putting additional elements (and possibly reducing IQ further, and likely reducing t-stop as well), adding size and cost and complexity for something that you could easily work around and get better results.

OSS does not guarantee blur-free photo, but it increases your chance of getting an acceptable one.

There are tests being done but I don't have a link handy. To get an acceptable pic using a 30mm (equiv.) lens, at 1/30 without any stabilization, it is about (ballpark) 90%. 1/15, maybe 40%. The number drops exponentially as exposure time increases. I would say, at 1/5, it is about 5%. Meaning you take 20 and keep one. With 2-stop stabilization, it means you get a keeper rate with 1/5s similar to shooting at 1/20s with 30mm w/o stablization. That's quite an improvement.

Not tripod. IBIS turned off. Camera placed on a rock:

You can use any speed you want on a fixed surface.

A shutter speed of 1/60s was absolute minimum I wanted since the fruit fly was not completely still. Having the lens on my a55 with IBIS turned on would have done nothing. A shutter speed of 1/125s would be the minimum hand-held shutter speed for 70mm lens on APS-C.

If your subject requires a fast shutter speed, by all means use it. No doubt about that, as I have already stated up front.

Practically 100% of my photography happens without stabilization. When stabilization might be useful, I end up finding that the shutter speed would be too low anyway (and usually IQ not a high priority). The cameras of today are good enough that using a higher ISO, if absolutely necessary is also a solution and without having to add anything to the sensor or lens.

Even if you don't care about OSS for photography. It is a good feature to have with video. Handheld video without stabilization is just bad.

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