Why would I want to turn IS off?

My Canon A570 IS has a menu option to turn image stabilization off. Is
there some tradeoff or downside to just leaving it on all the time?

Is there some circumstance where it's best to turn IS off?


--
sw2U

Apart from battery drain, you probably shouldn't use IS when the camera is in a fixed position on a tripod or something similar -
with some cameras (not necessarily your's) it might actually blur the photos.

Cheers
--
cmyk
"sw2u" wrote in message ...
My Canon A570 IS has a menu option to turn image stabilization off. Is
there some tradeoff or downside to just leaving it on all the time?

Is there some circumstance where it's best to turn IS off?


--
sw2U

On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 02:37:25 GMT, sw2u wrote:

My Canon A570 IS has a menu option to turn image stabilization off. Is
there some tradeoff or downside to just leaving it on all the time?

Is there some circumstance where it's best to turn IS off?

It will depend on your camera. Most of the newer ones automatically turn off IS
when on a tripod. Dampening down its function within 2 seconds of no motion
detected. The nice part of not turning this kind of IS off, if the tripod is
subjected to small vibrations or a breeze it will automatically kick-in and
correct for it. Mine behaves this way, but it's not an A570 IS so I don't know
how yours behaves.

Some cameras don't automatically dampen the IS when the camera is still. It is
always searching for and trying to find motion to dampen. Moving your image
around even when it's locked steady on a tripod.

You'll have to test your camera to see if the image moves when on a steady
tripod. If it does then turn it off for that use. Some just feel better turning
it off when on a tripod.

To test it mount it on a tripod with IS turned on. Then zoom in on some distant
high-contrast detailed image. Use full digital-zoom too so that you can see in
the viewfinder down to almost pixel level. Wait about 2-5 seconds for the IS
action to dampen down. Try to not even shift your weight on the floor by the
tripod because even this might be enough to shift the tripod+camera to make the
IS try to correct for it. If you don't see the image move the distance of even
one pixel for 30 seconds then it automatically turns itself off. That's the good
kind. Many base their experience of always turning it off when on a tripod from
outdated or poorly implemented versions of IS that didn't do this.

When a camera is solidly attached to other optical instruments like microscopes
and telescopes then IS becomes useless too. That's another instance where
turning it off might be helpful, just to save on battery life if for no other
reason.

On 2007-09-22 19:37:25 -0700, sw2u said:

My Canon A570 IS has a menu option to turn image stabilization off. Is
there some tradeoff or downside to just leaving it on all the time?

Is there some circumstance where it's best to turn IS off?

The image stabilization on the A570 IS does not turn itself off when
the camera is on a tripod. The optical stabilization can continue to
hunt around when the camera is on a tripod and actually blur your
picture. At the very least, it drains the battery. So turn it off when
the camera is on a tripod or sturdy support.

Also, the IS has very little effect when shooting wide angle or close
focusing distances. You can turn it off then, too, to save battery
power.

I think this is a very nice camera for the money.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

On Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:43:01 -0700, C J Campbell
wrote:

On 2007-09-22 19:37:25 -0700, sw2u said:

My Canon A570 IS has a menu option to turn image stabilization off. Is
there some tradeoff or downside to just leaving it on all the time?

Is there some circumstance where it's best to turn IS off?

The image stabilization on the A570 IS does not turn itself off when
the camera is on a tripod. The optical stabilization can continue to
hunt around when the camera is on a tripod and actually blur your
picture. At the very least, it drains the battery. So turn it off when
the camera is on a tripod or sturdy support.

Also, the IS has very little effect when shooting wide angle or close
focusing distances. You can turn it off then, too, to save battery
power.

I think this is a very nice camera for the money.


Excellent info. Thanks to you and to all who replied.

I haven't given it a real workout yet, but so far I'm very pleased
with the A570 IS. BTW, I have a strong suspicion it has the same
internal mechanism as the more-expensive A710 IS.

--
sw2U

cmyk wrote:
Apart from battery drain, you probably shouldn't use IS when the camera
is in a fixed position on a tripod or something similar - with some
cameras (not necessarily your's) it might actually blur the photos.

Cheers

In some cases, if you intend to pan up, or down, the camera may not be
able to make a good picture with IS on. It may try to correct for the
motion, rendering your subject blurred.

On Sun, Ron Hunter wrote:

cmyk wrote:
Apart from battery drain, you probably shouldn't use IS when the camera
is in a fixed position on a tripod or something similar - with some
cameras (not necessarily your's) it might actually blur the photos.

Cheers

In some cases, if you intend to pan up, or down, the camera may not be
able to make a good picture with IS on. It may try to correct for the
motion, rendering your subject blurred.

I guess your camera or lenses only have horizontal IS. Most all P&S IS cameras
have both options. Setting it for horizontal-only for panning sideways.

In article ,
says...
On Sun, Ron Hunter wrote:

cmyk wrote:
Apart from battery drain, you probably shouldn't use IS when the camera
is in a fixed position on a tripod or something similar - with some
cameras (not necessarily your's) it might actually blur the photos.

Cheers

In some cases, if you intend to pan up, or down, the camera may not be
able to make a good picture with IS on. It may try to correct for the
motion, rendering your subject blurred.

I guess your camera or lenses only have horizontal IS. Most all P&S IS cameras
have both options. Setting it for horizontal-only for panning sideways.


Wouldn't you want to set it for vertical only if panning sideways? And
who has the option anyway?

Eddie Flanks wrote:
On Sun, Ron Hunter wrote:

cmyk wrote:
Apart from battery drain, you probably shouldn't use IS when the camera
is in a fixed position on a tripod or something similar - with some
cameras (not necessarily your's) it might actually blur the photos.

Cheers
In some cases, if you intend to pan up, or down, the camera may not be
able to make a good picture with IS on. It may try to correct for the
motion, rendering your subject blurred.

I guess your camera or lenses only have horizontal IS. Most all P&S IS cameras
have both options. Setting it for horizontal-only for panning sideways.


The point is that panning is something that might require you to disable IS.