I Guess I Can Sell My Tripods!

Billowing storm clouds after dusk. This is the approximate brightness as I observed it. (click to enlarge)
I noticed this billowing cumulus cloud over the trees across the street from my home just after a storm had
passed.  I grabbed the E-M1 Mark II with the 12-100mm f/4 lens and stepped out onto my front porch to
make a couple of images as much to see how sharp an image would be in near darkness with the MKII as
well as to record the cloud's interesting characteristics.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 38mm (76mm field of view equiv.); 1.0 sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

I guess I can now sell my tripods.  What? 

Recently, I've been playing around with handholding slow shutter speeds using the Olympus E-M1 Mark II with the Olympus 12-100mm f/4 lens attached.  Olympus says that, together, there is a potential of 6.5 stops of image stabilization that is achievable.  I haven't tried to actually verify that claim, but I'll have to admit I'm amazed at how good the combination of the camera's in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) when coordinated with the image stabilization (IS) built into the lens.

Here is an approximate 100% crop of the full image from above.  I lightened it so you could clearly see the ends
of the small branches at the top of the tree.  Sharp?  I would say so.  Not bad for a mid-60s guy handholding
a camera with the equivalent of a short telephoto lens at 1 full second.  (click to enlarge)

The image above is not an anomaly.  I made about 10 images of this scene with shutter speeds in the area of 1 second and everyone of them is just as sharp.  I'll say it again—this is AMAZING to me!  Remember, I'm an old timer who grew up on manual film cameras and the only image stabilization I knew was either a sturdy tripod or good handholding technique.  You remember the rule from the film days—no shutter speed at longer than 1/focal length of the lens or risk blurry images.  Well, if you were really good, you could squeeze one or two shutter speeds slower and still get a good result.  

Here are some additional low light images I recently made of different subjects while getting to know the capabilities of the image stabilization in this camera/lens combination.

The "doors" to your future!  LOL (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 28mm; 1 sec. @ f/8; ISO 200; Handheld

Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 25mm; 1/2 sec. @ f/8; ISO 200; Handheld

Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 24mm; 0.4 sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200; Handheld

Well.... I don't think I'll be giving up my tripod anytime soon, but with the extraordinary abilities of the IBIS of the E-M1 Mark II in conjunction with the IS of the 12-100mm f/4, I can say I have less of a need for one. This camera/lens combination provides many opportunities for photographers to travel light and be unencumbered by a tripod as compared to days of years past.  Not totally, but more often.  I still believe you have to practice good technique and, if you do, that will open up additional possibilities to you for making images in situations you formerly could not without a tripod.

Without the IBIS/lens IS combination of this camera and lens, I probably wouldn't have even made the above images.  Why?  For the last two, I was in a museum where tripods weren't allowed.  One was inside a business where a tripod was not allowed.  The opening image probably wouldn't have been made as I probably would have been too lazy to get a tripod out, set it up, attach my camera, position the camera correctly....etc.  You know the drill.  When you have to go through all of that for an image that is not one that is really meaningful to you, you probably just will skip it.  So, this IBIS/IS combination may even provide opportunities to make images where you wouldn't or couldn't in the past.

I know that I will be taking advantage of this combination for the foreseeable future as it nicely complements my Fuji X-T2 and standard 16-55mm f/2.8 lens, neither of which has image stabilization.  With these two camera I have a couple of extraordinary tools that will allow me more and better versatility than I have had in the past.

Previously I have stated that my plan is for the X-T2 to be my primary,  "go to" camera for general photography in good light and my E-M1 Mark II to be my camera for situations which need its many, many unique features and abilities, its IBIS being one of them. 

Again, I'll make a plea to Fuji to find some way to a) either incorporate IBIS in future bodies and utilize their electronic and optical wizardry to compensate for edge falloff due to sensor movement and/or b) incorporate IS in all of their lenses, especially the well regarded 16-55mm f/2.8 standard zoom and ALL of their primes.  I'm wishing.

Indeed, I am fortunate to be able to afford to own both of these fine tools.  The only downside that I have so far detected is their vastly different menus and controls can be frustrating.  One has to practice a little mental gymnastics to keep everything straight and be able to quickly find and change settings as necessary.  However, in the end, I think the combination of attributes each brings will serve my photographic purposes well.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

All content on this blog is © 2013-2017 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.