Nikon 500 PF and VR

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

..Basically I want to know if I switch the VR on the lens from Off to either of the other two modes, should I see some change in the steadiness of the shot in the viewfinder or not ? Because there is no change at all at the moment and that's why I started to doubt if it's working or not.
You could experiment with slower shutter speeds.
 
The answer is - like so often - "it depends" :).

Beside the individual circumstances that @Steve mentioned, it can also play a role which lens generation lens you use.
I had some opportunities shooting my old 500 f4 G side by side with its younger E series sibling and it turned out, that my G gave better results on the tipod when keeping the VR off until I reach critical values with the shutter speed. The E series lens didn't seem to care about having VR on or off.

I think in the end everybody has to find its way here depending on the scenario (s)he shoots and even "almost forgetting about the switches" can be a solution, as @Ado Wolf described above.
 
yes, but since it can't be turned completely off it's hard to know if it's actually doing something...the sharpness on 1/125 is around 80-90%, at 1/60 is maybe 40-50%, but I have no idea if the VR has helped for that or not.
PM Rassie. He has been shooting the 500pf for at least a year with the Z8. He should be able to answer your question.
 
PM Rassie. He has been shooting the 500pf for at least a year with the Z8. He should be able to answer your question.
Thanks Ralph, but it doesn't allows me to do that..I don't have enough posts it seems....After all I just think that the VR on this lens is not working, I've just tested another F mount lens on my body, the 200-500, and it worked perfectly.
 
Thanks Ralph, but it doesn't allows me to do that..I don't have enough posts it seems....After all I just think that the VR on this lens is not working, I've just tested another F mount lens on my body, the 200-500, and it worked perfectly.
You can contact him by posting it with him. Go to members and search his name(Rassie). Use his most recent post and use the reply to ask the question? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.
 
Yeah, sorry maybe I wasn't that clear in what bothers me...Basically I want to know if I switch the VR on the lens from Off to either of the other two modes, should I see some change in the steadiness of the shot in the viewfinder or not ? Because there is no change at all at the moment and that's why I started to doubt if it's working or not.
You should.
After all I read, I think the VR of your 500PF is not working properly.
 
Yeah, sorry maybe I wasn't that clear in what bothers me...Basically I want to know if I switch the VR on the lens from Off to either of the other two modes, should I see some change in the steadiness of the shot in the viewfinder or not ? Because there is no change at all at the moment and that's why I started to doubt if it's working or not.
Whether you'll see a difference in viewfinder steadiness depends on a couple of things.

- If you're rock steady, or shooting from a steady support like a tripod or table top you really won't see any difference in viewfinder steadiness with the different VR modes. Basically if the camera is rock steady the VR system doesn't have to do much if anything at all and the image stays centered regardless of VR mode or really even if VR is disabled assuming a solid support.

- If you're handholding and your handholding is less than perfectly steady especially when panning or following the subject then VR Sport mode will generally lead to a steadier image in the viewfinder while shooting bursts. In all VR modes there's a group of lens elements (the VR group) that is moved laterally or vertically (or basically across the frame) to try to reduce the impact of camera motion and to keep the image steady on the sensor. In VR Normal mode that group of elements is re-centered after each shot which gives the most theoretical ability to reduce camera vibrations as that set of lens elements has the greatest movement range in all directions if they are re-centered after each image. But that re-centering can lead to the image jumping around in the viewfinder when shooting bursts of images. The re-centering is generally not noticeable when just shooting a single image but can become annoying when shooting high speed bursts. Again if the camera had no motion at all during those bursts the VR elements wouldn't move and wouldn't need to be re-centered so you wouldn't see jumpiness with a perfectly steady camera during burst shooting.

- When shooting in VR Sport mode the VR group is not re-centered between each shot. That theoretically reduces the total amount of VR effectiveness as the VR group could end up way off to one side or the other of the lens and have less room to travel while shooting a burst of images but the upside is without that VR group re-centering there's much less image jumpiness in the viewfinder which is why many of us shoot wildlife and bursts in VR Sport mode.

- Of course it's not an all or nothing thing. If you're fairly steady but not perfectly rock steady with your handholding you'll have less VR group movement and will see less viewfinder jumpiness in either VR mode. So with improved handholding and panning technique it matters less which VR mode you use but if you find the image jumping around a lot in the viewfinder while shooting bursts, especially while panning to track a subject, it can pay off to switch to VR Sport mode.
 
Back
Top