Nikon D7000 manual Vibration Reduction

378 David Busch’s Nikon D7000 Guide to Digital SLR Photography

Vibration Reduction

Nikon has a burgeoning line of about a dozen and a half lenses with built-in vibration reduction (VR) capabilities. I expect another half dozen or so new VR lenses to be intro- duced rather early in the life of this book.

The VR feature uses lens elements that are shifted internally in response to vertical or horizontal motion of the lens, which compensates for any camera shake in those direc- tions. Vibration reduction is particularly effective when used with telephoto lenses, which magnify the effects of camera and photographer motion. However, VR can be useful for lenses of shorter focal lengths, such as Nikon’s 16-85mm and 18-55mm VR lenses. Other Nikon VR lenses provide stabilization with zooms that are as wide as 24mm.

Vibration reduction offers two to three shutter speed increments’ worth of shake reduc- tion. (Nikon claims a four-stop gain, which I feel may be optimistic.) This extra mar- gin can be invaluable when you’re shooting under dim lighting conditions or hand-holding a lens for, say, wildlife photography. Perhaps that shot of a foraging deer would require a shutter speed of 1/2,000th second at f/5.6 with your AF-S VR Zoom- Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED lens. Relax. You can shoot at 1/250th second at f/11 and get a photo that is just as sharp, as long as the deer doesn’t decide to bound off. Or, perhaps you’re shooting indoors and would prefer to shoot at 1/15th second at f/4. Your 16mm-85mm VR lens can grab the shot for you at its wide-angle position. However, consider these facts:

■VR doesn’t freeze subject motion. Vibration reduction won’t freeze moving sub- jects in their tracks, because it is effective only at compensating for camera motion. It’s best used in reduced illumination, to steady the up-down swaying of telephoto lenses, and to improve close-up photography. If your subject is in motion, you’ll still need a shutter speed that’s fast enough to stop the action.

■VR adds to shutter lag. The process of adjusting the lens elements, like autofocus, takes time, so vibration reduction may contribute to a slight increase in shutter lag. If you’re shooting sports, that delay may be annoying, but I still use my VR lenses for sports all the time!

■Use when appropriate. You may find that your results are worse when using VR while panning, although newer Nikon VR lenses work fine when the camera is deliberately moved from side to side during exposure. Older lenses can confuse the panning motion with camera wobble and provide too much compensation. If you’re not sure how your particular lens performs, you might want to switch off VR when panning or when your camera is mounted on a tripod.

■Do you need VR at all? Remember that an inexpensive monopod might be able to provide the same additional steadiness as a VR lens, at a much lower cost. If you’re out in the field shooting wild animals or flowers and think a tripod isn’t practical, try a monopod first.