Is IS/VR affected by the shutter mechanism / mirror?

<p>Is a leaf/electronic shutter better than focal plane shutter? And a fp mirrorless better than a dslr? Better meaning going to a lower shutter speed. Or they have no effect what so ever? Of course, FL matters and, say, if you had a few cups of coffee or not, etc...</p>

<p>But on average, does the shutter mechanism/mirror matter enough?</p>

<p> I would think that yes. the less mechanism "jiggle" (mirrors, fp shutters etc), the less the IS/VR has to over come.</p>

<p>I was curious about that with the Nikon V1, since some owners reported VR seemed more effective with the electronic shutter rather than the mechanical shutter. But I don't know whether those reports were before the firmware upgrade that resolved some early problems with Vibration Reduction in the V1.</p>

<p>So far VR has been very effective for me with both the mechanical and electronic shutters. I can feel a slight vibration with the mechanical shutter so the electronic shutter probably offers a slight advantage with VR at slow shutter speeds. I haven't done enough pixel peeping to tell, or done any side by side tests yet. So far I've just taken lots of photos.</p>

<p>I haven't owned a VR Nikkor for my dSLR for a few years and when I did own one my hands were steadier. So it's difficult to say whether the mirrorless design offers me significant advantages in terms of fewer moving parts. It's mainly an advantage because it's smaller and lighter than my D2H.</p>

<p>A VR lens uses accelerometers to detect and counteract vibration. Obviously, the less vibration, the less VR action is required. However, the problems you ascribe to DSLRs with mirrors and focal plane shutters are less than you might think. Most of the vibration occurs after the exposure, when the mirror is returned to battery. Very little vibration occurs when the mirror closes and the shutter opens. You can see this for yourself if you use a slow shutter speed, or pre-release the mirror. The last Nikon to have a mechanical mirror lockup was the F5, and I used that device only twice in two years (before going digital), for closeups.</p>

<p>I use my Hasselblad differently. There is no VR on an Hasselblad, and the mirror and focal plane shutter induce considerable vibration. When possible, I pre-release the mirror and use the leaf shutter in the lens. Although I have that capability in my Nikon D3, I have never used it in 70,000 exposures.</p>

<p>A VR lens uses accelerometers to detect and counteract vibration. Obviously, the less vibration, the less VR action is required. However, the problems you ascribe to DSLRs with mirrors and focal plane shutters are less than you might think. Most of the vibration occurs after the exposure, when the mirror is returned to battery. Very little vibration occurs when the mirror closes and the shutter opens. You can see this for yourself if you use a slow shutter speed, or pre-release the mirror. The last Nikon to have a mechanical mirror lockup was the F5, and I used that device only twice in two years (before going digital), for closeups.</p>

<p>I use my Hasselblad differently. There is no VR on an Hasselblad, and the mirror and focal plane shutter induce considerable vibration. When possible, I pre-release the mirror and use the leaf shutter in the lens. Although I have pre-release capability in my Nikon D3, I have never used it in 70,000 exposures.</p>

<p>A VR lens uses accelerometers to detect and counteract vibration. Obviously, the less vibration, the less VR action is required. However, the problems you ascribe to DSLRs with mirrors and focal plane shutters are less than you might think. Most of the vibration occurs after the exposure, when the mirror is returned to battery. Very little vibration occurs when the mirror closes and the shutter opens. You can see this for yourself if you use a slow shutter speed, or pre-release the mirror. The last Nikon to have a mechanical mirror lockup was the F5, and I used that device only twice in two years (before going digital), for closeups.</p>

<p>I use my Hasselblad differently. There is no VR on an Hasselblad, and the mirror and focal plane shutter induce considerable vibration. When possible, I pre-release the mirror and use the leaf shutter in the lens. Although I have pre-release capability in my Nikon D3, I have never used it in 70,000 exposures.</p>

<p>I apologize for the duplicate responses. The server timed out twice, telling me that the upload had failed. I looked to see, but there is a considerable delay at times before the post appears.</p>

<p>Alternatively, I'm shouting, digitally, because I think I'm being ignored ;)</p>

<p>So, there ought to be no difference, Edward? Not even a stop? I can handhold my mirrorless down to 1/8 second pretty much all the time and 1/4s like half the time. Dslr ought to be similar?</p>