One of the most frequent question asked by people trying to gear up for cinemaphotography is which lens they should buy, and most specificaly if they should get a lens with IS (VR for Nikonians) or not.
While this question as been answered many times when SLR were only able to shoot pictures, few people have looked into it from a cinemaphotography perspective.
So here it is! My totally unscientific side by side comparison between IS and non IS at two focal length. I do not have a 24-105ISf4 so I had to use the only IS lens in my bag, the 70-200LISf/4. I did two simple test: one at 70mm ELF and another at 200mmELF (coming soon, need editing!).
Disclaimer: My hands are not steady at all, this is why I always carry a tripod around! And to make things worst, I took these clips after working out. This is a worst case scenario test, I was holding the camera without any support but my elbows pressed against my body.
Image stabilization and the 5DMrkII @70mm
Image stabilization and the 5DMrkII @200mm
As a bonus, I have done some post processing in the last segment of the clip to show how much more improvement can be done by applying a software based IS filter. In this case, I used the one from Final Cut Pro.
I guess it is clear how much the IS contributes to the overall quality of the clip. I would love to have somebody do the same test at an EFL of 24mm to see how much of a difference it makes. In fact, I am thinking about getting rid of the 24-70 for a 24-105, a move I would have never dared to think of a few months ago!
Note: sorry for the 200mm video being in low def, seems like I cant be a pro user of Vimeo since I am not USians…
Comments
Nice little test but I wouldn’t get rid of your 24-70 lens just yet! After a couple of weeks testing my new 5Dmk2 I am concerned about the tendency to jitter when panning – even quite slowly. I initially thought it might be due to a slow memory card but now I think it is due to the lens IS system on my 24-105. I’m too busy with other work just now to test my theory but don’t buy a new lens just yet!
Hum… interesting comment George! I will try some panning with my 70-200 and see if I see the same thing…
The choice between the 24-70 and 24-105 has to be the eternal struggle of photographers :-S
Have you made more tests with the IS lens? I’m planning to buy 24-105 IS to use with shoulder mount/steadicam but I have my doubts how it will perform when moving sideways or panning. Is there more “jello” effect?
IS will not really help on a steadicam since there are not supposed to be any shake when you use one.
As for the shoulder rig, yes it would help when panning slowly.
Keep in mind that IS is made to reduce shake, not steadying the camera.
The jello effect is mostly created (from my experience) when the background has a lot of horizontal lines or when the camera shakes on all axis at the same time (as when moving).
I have about 12 hours of practice with the Rapid Fire Zacuto rig so far and I am able to minimize shake and jello most of the time. The only exception is when walking.
If you want to move the camera, the steadicam or dolly is the way to go. Walking around with the camera in hand/shoulder would introduce too much shake unless you have a very heavy rig.
I am working on a few article right now and one of these is about shoulder rigs. I still have a bit of research to do but it should be done by the end of the week, so stay tuned!
So did you buy 24-105? 
I’m mad to myself because I didn’t buy the 5D kit because I would have got that lens for half the price that I have to pay if I buy it now :/ I don’t have any steadicam yet, but I’m planning to buy some cheap model or make my own.. i still have my doubts how well those will perform :p
Nope. I kept the 24-70 because my wife (who use our second 5dMrkII) loves the lens…
I have a review coming very soon (this week) where I will redo IS tests with rigs this time. Stay tuned!
Regarding the steadicam, I think you get better results with a gunstock rig or shoulder rig. It is only really useful if you plan to do tracking shots and even then, plan to shoot at small aperture to keep the image sharp!
I sold my 50-500 to get the 100-400 IS.
The more zoom, the more your shakes are magnified as well. So for 24mm: forget about it, not worth it. For 400mm: yes get IS.
On the other hand, you can always disable IS, so also from that perspective: go for it.
I did the same test also with my 100-400mm lens and it can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5a4ei1h41c
On the 24-70 or 24-105: get the 105 man! More range, it’s super sharp and has IS. I can’t live without it haha.
Thanks for the article!
Steven : the 100-400 is clearly better than the 50-500 from a pure IQ perspective, even without the IS so this is a nice upgrade for you.
While IS is more effective at longer focal range, even 24mm would benefit from it for video (not really for stills). Regarding the 24-70 vs 24-105 debate, I am keeping the 24-70 for now. While the 24-105 has versatility, the bokeh of the 24-70 is clearly superior for photography.
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Its normal you have problems panning with IS on
there’s TWO modes of IS, the second mode should allow you to pan
Zark: even with the mode 2 activated, the image jecks off some times. Dont forget that the IS was made for stills and not video. I was this happen while panning and while using a slider but not often enough to prevent me from using the IS.
Well that’s the great thing about IS: you can disable it. When I don’t move my camera and it’s on a tripod, I have it disabled.
For bokeh I got my 50 1.4 since 2-3 days ago… so I’m supplied.
