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From the Nikon documentation for the 800mm PF and the 400mm f/2.8 regarding vibration reduction it states that there is Normal and Sport and Off and that there are times when VR should be off. Per Nikon the VR should be enabled when using a monopod and one may want Normal or one may want Sport, and VR may be useful when using a tripod. No mention as to when Sport is optimum or when one should be using the Normal mode.
This is unlike every other Nikon telephoto lens with VR. Sport in the past was when shooting from a plane or moving vehicle and some lenses had a recommended VR setting when used on a tripod so image quality when panning would be improved. But with the two new S lenses Nikon is keeping the buyer in the dark.
Ok — so one needs to understand how VR (normal) and VR (sport) works and when to turn them off. Then Hogan and other have written chapters on this.
VR (normal) centres the VR lenses and finds the best VR solution between every shot. This slows down FPS. As a result if you are looking for the fastest fps then use VR (sport) - which makes micro VR adjustments for each shot and is much quicker, but may not provide as good results as VR(normal) when shooting single shot.
VR stabilises the image in the viewfinder and while the auto-focus is working. And these are both very good.
Many folk choose to turn off VR when shooting with shutter speeds above 1/320 —> 1/1250th second - views differ. This came from DSLR days when we only had ON or OFF and there was clearly an impact on fps. VR-Active was a fix for that, but VR(sport) is better.
There are many views on whether or not images are sharper with VR-ON OR VR-OFF when shooting at very high shutter speeds.
There are further options when shooting Video - I suggest looking at Nikon’s guide for Video Settings.
This is the only advice I've read, and taken aboard, is subject movement is relative using high magnification telephotos; and VR Sport helps a lot to frame subjects.
I keep the Z9 IBIS with 800 PF set to Sport as I forget to turn this back on. And I haven't noticed adverse effects but almost all my use of the 800 has been and is handheld.
The inference is to keep it turned on and my take is the intrinsic Z9 VR-Lock protects both lens as well as the sensor.
[EDIT} This tactic follows on from what i'd read with VR on the 300 PF and latterly 500 PF. Initially the recommendation was to keep these lenses on VR Sport on a DSLR. And I've carried on the same with Z7 and more recently the Z9.
I haven't looked hard for articles on this, but the emerging consensus is the VR on the Z9 and 800 PF rig is remarkable.
I have keepers handheld down to 1/200 @800, and a sequence at 1/400 on beanbag over car-door taken @ 1/400 with ZTC2, 1600mm.
2 articles on VR by Thom Hogan; there is a more Z centric overview in his Z9 ebook [pp 634-640]. Further along - pg 879 - he states he's using VR almost all the time with native Z Nikkors. If it's a telephoto or a F lens via FTZ , he uses the lens switch to control, if present.
Do you have to turn VR off before removing a lens from the camera?
www.dslrbodies.com
I did more research into Sports VR, which launched in the flagship 400 f2.8E FL. I have yet to read anything official from Nikon how / if Sports VR has been changed significantly in the Z products.
The following is a machine translated excerpt from an interview in 2015 with the designers of the 300 PF, which was Nikon's second lens to use Sports VR:
Next, it is said that the VR function of the VR system has about 4.5 steps worth. Is there any improvement?
Terao: The VR function is evolving every day, and as a part of that, we have achieved 4.5 stages by optimizing the design, or by accumulating parameters and algorithm tuning.
―― What is the newly installed "SPORT" mode for image stabilization?
Terao: Following the "AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f / 2.8E FL ED VR", it will be the second in adoption. As a function, it will be a mode that the finder image is more stable and easy to frame for subjects with high movement such as birds, animals and sports. You can use it during exposure as well as when you press it halfway or when you watch a movie.
-How is it different from the traditional "active" mode?
Terao: In the "active" mode, when the shutter release button was pressed halfway and fully pressed, the camera shake correction lens was once returned to the center and then the correction operation was performed again. This is because moving the compensation lens from the center can increase the movable range and obtain the maximum effect of image stabilization.
However, in this case, it is pointed out that the finder image seen just before pressing the shutter fully and the finder image after mirror return are slightly shifted, and if continuous shooting is performed, the finder image moves around and there is a sense of discomfort I received it.
Therefore, in "SPORT" mode, priority is given to the way the viewfinder looks, and the algorithm has been changed to an algorithm that emphasizes the continuity of the way of looking without performing the operation to return the compensation lens to the center when the shutter is fully pressed. However, in this case, the effects of image stabilization may be lower than before depending on the situation.
>>>>
(of relevance- to quote my database on this topic - the VR problem reported on some DSLRs with the 300 f4 PF should have been fixed in copies with serial numbers above 205101. )
With the original 80-400mm lens which had the first generation of vibration reduction the operation of VR was very evident in the viewfinder and the camera would wait for VR to finish and then initiate autofocus on the subject. This did not work very well for subjects that were not motionless.
Nikon's reference to Sport mode with moving subjects is regarding the VR setting in the camera and not the VR setting for the lens. As usual Nikon provides added documentation only for sports shooters.
The people who know how the different generations of VR are designed to work are the people at Nikon. They should be putting this information into their documentation for their lenses and not have people trying to guess. I am used to this with Nikon's exposure metering modes which change from camera to camera and often lens to lens but VR is a much simpler mechanism to explain how the two option settings are best used.
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