Guidance and experience for using 300/4 PF VR

[jon_reisegg]

<p>Hi all. <br>

I have quite recently upgraded from 300/4 AFS to the 300/4 PF VR. Most shots handheld using TC 14II on a DX body. I see that there has been written a lot about VR not having an effect with faster shutter speeds that 1/500, and I'm wondering about the effect of this.<br>

With the 300/4 AFS I normally used 1/1600 to 1/2500 to have a decent success rate for handheld shots, and the 300/4 PF seems to require the same regardless of VR on or off. But if I reduce the shutter speed to 1/250-1/500 with VR on, my surprise came. It seems to be an increase in success rate and generally sharper pictures, with sufficiently low shutter speeds.<br>

It actually makes sense, if the VR improves stability with 4.5 steps and has less effect above 1/500, that 1/360 VR-on gives better stability than using 1/2000 regardless of VR. If this is correct I have to change my practice dramatically when selecting shutter speeds. <br>

Any experience or guidance on above? I’m mostly shooting birds, insects and flowers, and trying to find the most optimal shutter speed. Above of course without any motion blur effects impacting the results. I have no systematic testing to justify the above, it is only a subjective and undocumented experience.</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>You should separate blur due to hand shake and subject movement in your analysis. For purposes of testing, I've done a few series of shots from 1/50s, 1/100s, 1/200s, 1/400s, 1/800s etc. on a static subject and I find that there is a subtle but noticeable gradual increase in sharpness going towards the faster shutter speeds. However, since I can almost always use a tripod when shooting static subjects, I don't in practice use this lens hand held at 1/50s or 1/100s (a moving subject would be blurred at these speeds).</p>

<p>For moving subjects, I generally use faster shutter speeds; 1/500s to 1/1600s is typical. 1/500s I might use for a walking subject, 1/800s or faster if the subject is moving rapidly (e.g. sports). I typically have the lens on VR SPORT when the subject can be moving at any time, it helps hold the lens (and in particular, the active AF sensor) precisely on the subject and towards slower speeds also helps reduce the effects of shake on sharpness. I don't use it on VR NORMAL all that often but it should work a bit better if the subject is static or at least isn't moving in rapidly changing directions. In practice I find it easier to work with VR SPORT as the VR system doesn't then fight where I point the lens.</p>

 

[nick_baker]

<p>I used this lens for only 10 days as a rental but I did not notice this. Instead whereas I hoped to use shutter speeds slower than 1/500 with VR on in fact I got the strong impression I was getting sharper images using 1/750-1/1000. I did not try faster shutter speeds. I generally had VR normal on throughout. I was shooting insects handheld and I do not think subject motion has much to do with these impressions.</p>