Panning shots....VR or no VR?

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MoonManMike

Senior Member
Back in the day, when I had an 'old' pre-digital Pentax, I was pretty good at doing panning shots, ie getting the subject nice and sharp and a bit of blurring in the background. I can't seem to master it with my 3100. Most shots have some blurring on the moving subject and only a small percentage seem to come up really sharp.

Should I be turning VR (vibration reduction) off for better panning shots? Would it make any difference?

Any other tips for panning with DSRL's?

Cheers
Mike
 
G

gqtuazon

Gear Head
Hi Mike what is the shutter speed that you use? Normally for panning shots 1/60 - 1/120 depending on the subject's speed such as car, bicycle, runner, etc.

If my memory is correct, VR compensates for the vertical movement and not the lateral movement. I normally leave it "off" for panning shots since your subject is already moving. VR doesn't compensate for a moving subject.
 
M

MoonManMike

Senior Member
Hi Glenn
Thanks for the quick reply. Most of the shots I'm talking about are flying aircraft. I generally use a shutter speed of around 1/200th.

On pre-digital, I often used to get away with around 1/125 quite happily, but I'm really struggling to get consistantly sharp inages with the 3100. I do tend to leave VR on, so maybe I should try with it off (I haven't had the chance to do so yet)
 
G

gqtuazon

Gear Head
MoonManMike said:
Hi Glenn
Thanks for the quick reply. Most of the shots I'm talking about are flying aircraft. I generally use a shutter speed of around 1/200th.

On pre-digital, I often used to get away with around 1/125 quite happily, but I'm really struggling to get consistantly sharp inages with the 3100. I do tend to leave VR on, so maybe I should try with it off (I haven't had the chance to do so yet)
Click to expand...

Are we talking about jets or propeller type aircrafts? The D3100 might be more challenging due to its AF mechanism.

For jets, I prefer 1/1000; Helicopters less than 1/160; and props around 1/320 just to get a slight blur on the props.
 
M

MoonManMike

Senior Member
Yes, good point on the different types of aircraft. One thing I have found is that a very fast shutter speed does tend to give the sharper image, but I hate seeing prop planes with 'frozen' props. I don't think I've found the balance yet between sharp images and props that arent frozen. Interesting that you use 1/1000 on jets.

Here's a shot I took at Luton airport (UK) yesterday that I was quite pleased with:
DSC_0069final-1.jpg


That was taken using 1/200, 100mm, F18 and ISO 400

I got away with 1/200 as it wasn't travelling as fast as the military aircraft you tend to see at airshows
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
MoonManMike said:
Hi Glenn
Thanks for the quick reply. Most of the shots I'm talking about are flying aircraft. I generally use a shutter speed of around 1/200th.

On pre-digital, I often used to get away with around 1/125 quite happily, but I'm really struggling to get consistantly sharp inages with the 3100. I do tend to leave VR on, so maybe I should try with it off (I haven't had the chance to do so yet)
Click to expand...

The thing with VR is that you must give it some bit of time to settle up. If you just push the shutter without waiting for VR to work, you'll might get into some problems. I think it was pretty well explained in the lens manual that I got with my VR lenses. And so the 2 VR settings (one for panning) and the other one for stable shots.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
MoonManMike said:
Back in the day, when I had an 'old' pre-digital Pentax, I was pretty good at doing panning shots, ie getting the subject nice and sharp and a bit of blurring in the background. I can't seem to master it with my 3100. Most shots have some blurring on the moving subject and only a small percentage seem to come up really sharp.

Should I be turning VR (vibration reduction) off for better panning shots? Would it make any difference?

Any other tips for panning with DSRL's?

Cheers
Mike
Click to expand...

My first DSLR was a D3000 and i took hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of aircraft landing and taking off. I always had VR on - it does not hurt. Never sacrifice shutter speed when doing this. Get it up to atleast 1/1000, don't be shy about it. From my D3000, i have some very nice 8 x 11s hanging on my wall of some A330s, 737, Embraers, etc. Out of the thousands of pictures that i have taken (with D3000, D5100, D80) of aircraft, only a handful came out soft and i put that down to operator malfunction, lol. The D3100 is very capable of doing what you want to do. As i always say, when panning, follow through with your pan. Don't stop once you take the picture. It's just like skeet shooting:) Good luck
 
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