How does it work?

Snakeguy101 · Feb 8, 2011

I have been looking into some Vibration Reduction and Image Stabilization lenses and I read that a majority of them create the effect of shooting 4 shutter speeds faster. I was wondering how this worked. Is it something in the lens itself or is there some sort of software that does this or something else?

I was just curious, thanks!

tirediron · Feb 8, 2011

It's a mechanical function of the lens or body which works by sensing the movment of the camera/lens and moving a lens element/sensor in the opposite direction to compensate.

gsgary · Feb 9, 2011

If you use one with a slow shutter and the subject moves you will still get a blurry image and if you shoot sport they are not needed, they are not the be all and end all

Snakeguy101 · Feb 9, 2011

does it drain the battery more quickly?

Trever1t · Feb 9, 2011

tirediron answered the question, in lenses the elements shift slightly to compensate for camera shake and as gsgary noted that this will not compensate for moving sujects.

I'd bet it does use some battery life?

Snakeguy101 · Feb 9, 2011

Okay, thanks, I was just curious.

Big Mike · Feb 9, 2011

Yes, it does use more battery power, and that will vary, depending on the lens...but it's not a huge difference.

It combats blur from camera shake...so you can hand-hold the camera at slower shutter speeds, and still get sharp images of static subject. However, if your subject is moving as well, they may still be blurry (dependent on the shutter speed).

Snakeguy101 · Feb 9, 2011

I understand that in only combats camera shake and not motion blur, I was just wondering how it did that (did the lens itself shift/ was it corrected by software or if the sensor moved, etc...).

Again, thanks. I was just curious about it and figured I should ask here instead of spending the money and taking one apart myself. haha

KmH · Feb 9, 2011

The motion is detected by accelerometers Accelerometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. A lens element is themn moved to compensate for any movement detected. Most image stabilization systems only detect motion in one axis, or have 2 settings so one setting can be configured to allow panning.

An accelerometer is aloso used to determine if the camera is held in the horizontal or vertical format.

Never turn on image stabilization, unless it is needed. Nikon VR explained