A Potential Technique To Allow You To Handhold Slower Shutter Speeds?

This is the target I used while conducting the long shutter speed handholding test. I stood
about 6 ft. from the target.  (click to enlarge)

As my wife's and my new home is slowly being constructed, that leaves me much too much time on my hands for thinking.  Yes, I know.  I've been told that a) me thinking is dangerous and, b) me thinking hurts the team effort!  Lol

While recently musing about something or other about photography, a thought hit me.  Can handholding a camera with in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS), image stabilization in a lens or both combined, be improved by a) using the electronic shutter versus the mechanical one and, b) setting the 2-second delay for exposure after the shutter button is pushed or, c) a combination of them both?  The only way for me to satisfy my curiosity is to test it.

Since I currently own three cameras using three different formats and each of my camera bodies includes IBIS, I thought I needed to test all three to find out if sensor size (more mass to move around) also made a difference. 

With my goal to answer my initial questions and wanting a test that is somewhat valid, but not necessarily scientific, I tried to equalize the test for all three cameras.  One of the first things I considered was what focal length to use and, not coming up with any logical reason to pick one over another, I decided to use (a normal) 50mm for the Nikon Z7 or equivalent in the smaller format cameras—35mm for the Fujifilm X-T4 and 25mm for the Olympus E-M1 Mark III.

A case can be made for a whole other set of tests using long focal lengths but I'm not quite that curious to put myself through all that extra work.  Additionally, an argument can be made to test each format at both equal as well as equivalent focal lengths.  I'm not going to do that either.  I'll put myself only through so much.  However, I did want to know if the Sync IS in the Olympus camera and lens combination would be of additional benefit over just having IBIS.  When choosing which lenses to use and since I don't have any primes for the Fujifilm camera, I chose a standard zoom—the one I normally keep attached to each camera.  For the Nikon Z7, the lens used was the 24-70mm f/4 S, for the Fujifilm, the lens used was the 16-55mm f/2.8 and for the Olympus, the lens I chose (which has Sync IS) was the 12-100mm f/4.

I made a series of 6 images at each shutter speed to get an idea of whether or not I can handhold the camera and lens steady and was not relying on a lucky (or unlucky) one exposure.  The first set of tests were made using the camera's mechanical shutter.  The second set of tests were made using the camera's electronic shutter and the third set of tests was using the camera's electronic shutter and a 2-second shutter delay.  I considered a final set of tests was using the mechanical shutter with a 2-second shutter delay, but time I had available ran out.

Sequentially, I tested the Olympus, then the Fujifilm and last, the Nikon.  Testing took quite a bit of time and I could tell I was tiring of concentrating on holding the camera as steady as possible through all those repeated exposures when I got to the middle of the Nikon part of the test.  I'm 69 years old, not nearly as steady as I used to be (or hoped I still am) so the test might have been a bit skewed against the Nikon.  That said, in my mind, the Nikon had a big negative going for it that made testing it more difficult than testing the other two cameras.  

When using long shutter speeds in both the Olympus and Fujifilm cameras, the target in the electronic viewfinder was always visible.  In the Nikon it was blacked out.  In my opinion that makes a difference as if one can see the target, it provides a reference point for holding the camera steady.  With the Nikon there was no reference point.  

To illustrate my point stand and point your index finger straight up at arm's length.  Now place that finger in front of an object and hold it still for several seconds.  When you are looking at the position of your finger, you can easily keep it on the object with very little movement.  Now, close your eyes for a second and when you open them see if your finger has drifted off the object.  It doesn't have to drift much for a resulting photograph to be blurry.  Nikon needs to correct this as, to me, this hurts a photographer's ability to better handhold the camera at slower shutter speeds.  This same phenomenon occurs when focus stacking with the Nikon.  The EVF and LCD are completely blacked out during the series of exposures.

Here are my findings.  Take them for what they are.  I suggest running your own set of tests as, I believe, handhold ability is entirely individual.

Olympus E-M1 Mark III + 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens 

Mechanical Shutter:  1/2 second

Electronic Shutter:  1 second

Electronic Shutter + 2 second shutter delay:  2 seconds

Fujifilm X-T4 + 16-55mm f/2.8 lens 

Mechanical Shutter: 1/2 second

Electronic Shutter:  1/4 second (got worse!)

Electronic Shutter + 2 second shutter delay:  1/2 second

Nikon Z7 + 24-70mm f/4 S lens 

Mechanical Shutter: 1/2 second

Electronic Shutter:  1/4 second (got worse!)

Electronic Shutter + 2 second shutter delay:  1/8 second (even worse)

Obviously there are flaws in this short informational test.  I may conduct it again in the future and remove some of the variables such as testing one camera and lens, then waiting a significant period before testing the next.  That takes out the factor of potentially my arms getting tired after making dozens of exposures and trying to hold as still as possible.

One additional test could also have been made and that is using a single press of the shutter versus one press with about three sequential exposures.  That is a technique I adopted several years ago as I found the second or third exposure was, in many cases, just a bit sharper than the first exposure, which was made at the initial press of the shutter.  That downward pressure on the shutter did create a tiny bit of camera movement at slower shutter speeds.

I don't know if any of this matters.  I think of things, questions arise in my mind so I set out to answer my own questions.

I can say that, for whatever reason, Sync IS, better IBIS, smaller mass in the sensor and lens, or maybe since it was my first test and I was fresh, the Olympus outperformed the other two cameras.  I don't find that necessarily surprising and I also think this is another feather in the cap for micro4/3 format in giving its users more technology and versatility than other formats.

One last thing.  If you conduct the same tests, I'm sure your mileage will vary.  If you do, leave a comment so we have the benefit of more than a sample of one.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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