Shutter

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Is it ok to use quiet shutter all the time? Also has fast does the shutter have to be before you turn the VR off? Paul
I use Quiet Shutter all the time and have for a long time. No issues on my end.

I think the better question regarding VR is when should it be enabled? VR is something that should be used when needed and when it's not, it should be shut off. If you don't fully understand Nikon's VR system you should read Thom Hogan's in-depth article: Nikon VR Explained.
 

SteveH

Senior Member
I use Quiet Shutter all the time and have for a long time. No issues on my end.

I think the better question regarding VR is when should it be enabled? VR is something that should be used when needed and when it's not, it should be shut off. If you don't fully understand Nikon's VR system you should read Thom Hogan's in-depth article: Nikon VR Explained.

That is a great article, thanks Paul!
 

tea2085

Senior Member
Fish, What an eye opener that article is-bet a vast majority of Nikon users were like me, just leave it on-wow. Thank You, Paul
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Fish, What an eye opener that article is-bet a vast majority of Nikon users were like me, just leave it on-wow. Thank You, Paul
I'm glad you found it helpful! I've taken Thom's suggestions myself regarding how, and when, I use VR and my experience tells me his advice is spot on.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
So Fish-how and when do you use VR?
I use VR when I'm shooting hand-held at shutter speeds that are going to be slower than the focal length I'm using. For instance... If I'm shooting at 200mm I want my shutter speed to be AT LEAST 1/200 of a second, and preferably even faster. I'll definitely (consider) engaging VR when doing hand-held shots at very slow shutter speeds. Generally I can hand hold pretty well down to 1/60s or so un-braced, but any slower and and I'll give VR a go and see what I get. Even then, while I trust VR do do its job, I still verify my shots visually. I don't remember if Thom's article mentions this, but VR can cause issues with framing to a small but annoying (to me anyway) degree. I really hope that's covered in the article because otherwise you're going to think I'm nuts!

The best "VR" in my experience, is keeping your shutter-speed well above the focal length. I think with higher resolution cameras (say, 20MP and higher, roughly) this "guideline" is critical to getting consistent sharpness. Personally, even though I shoot with a full-frame body, I like to stick to the old adage of using a shutter speed that is 1.5 times the focal length that DX body-users are told to use (e.g. for a focal length of 100mm use a shutter speed of no less than 1/150s). It doing that means I have to let my ISO creep up a little bit, then that's what I do (typically). ISO noise I can deal with during post-processing; but a blurry shot from unintended motion-blur is trash 99.9% of the time. Of course things don't always work out perfectly but that's just photography for ya, and those are the guidelines I tend to follow. Try them... Stick with what works, discard the rest.
 
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