Photography Week

6 HARNESS IMAGE STABILISAT­ION

Change the image stabilisat­ion mode on your telephoto lens to suit different scenarios, such as panning for action shots

-

Whether you’re taking pictures of wildlife, motorsport­s or even landscapes, shooting with a long telephoto lens means there’s more risk of camera shake causing blurred images. A 50mm focal length on a full-frame camera gives roughly the same angle of view as the human eye, so any focal length higher than this is more zoomed in and considered to be ‘telephoto’. A 70mm focal length is called a short telephoto, while a 300mm is a long telephoto. The more you zoom in, the more apparent shake and blur will become in your photograph­s, so image stabilisat­ion can be handy.

If you can, it’s worth stabilisin­g your camera with a tripod, monopod or even a beanbag if you’re shooting from a wildlife hide. Most modern cameras and lenses have some form of stabiliser, although different names are used – Vibration Reduction (VR) on Nikon, Image Stabilizat­ion (IS) on Canon and Vibration Compensati­on (VC) on Tamron, for example. Image stabilisat­ion can be found optically (OIS) or in-body (IBIS), and both systems are sometimes used together to better effect. Optical image stabilisat­ion systems, where a group of lens elements can move to compensate for handheld vibrations, often come with several stabilisat­ion modes that will help you get better shots in particular scenarios.

If you have such a lens, it’s worth getting to grips with the stabilisat­ion modes. If your stabilised optic has a switch for different modes, Mode 1 is usually to correct movement on both the X and Y axes – great for handholdin­g where movement is coming from all directions. Mode 2 usually only corrects for vertical movement, which makes it ideal for panning shots, such as wildlife or motorsport­s, as it won’t cancel out the movement on the X-axis. Some lenses offer Mode 3, which does the same job as Mode 1 but only activates the stabilisat­ion at the moment the shutter is pressed, so when you look at the LCD screen or through the viewfinder, the stabilisat­ion won’t distract you.

 ?? ?? Most modern telephotos come with image stabilisat­ion, and various stabilisat­ion modes that can be used to get better results
Most modern telephotos come with image stabilisat­ion, and various stabilisat­ion modes that can be used to get better results

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom