IS on or off?

[PhotoluluGuy]

When shooting in well lit/sunny scene...do you have your IS on or off? Will it make a difference in image quality?

[RichNY]

You are as likely to have hand shake in sunny weather as in low light.

Keep IS on whenever hand holding, turn it off when you have your camera on a tripod.

[truflip]

I have been thinking about that for a while actually..
I have learned to use the camera without IS at anything over 1/80s and have no blurry pictures... i think at those speeds the shutter is fast enough that IS is not needed..
Ive tried it a few times to turn off IS (during day) and i havent seen much of a difference in picture quality... Ive seen a little bit of a difference at night though.. its still minimal in my opinion but if u want truly the best out of your shots, it may be worth turning it off...

[cvicisso]

I have learned to use the camera without IS at anything over 1/80s and have no blurry pictures... i think at those speeds the shutter is fast enough that IS is not needed..

You'll find that you might need it more at the long ends of the telephoto too. If you're zoomed out to 12X any motion from your hand will be magnified a bit. That's why those pro sports photogs on the sidelines have those ginormous image-stabilized telephotos. They're definitely shooting at faster than 1/80s, but they still need the IS because of the long zoom.

[Topher]

You'll find that you might need it more at the long ends of the telephoto too. If you're zoomed out to 12X any motion from your hand will be magnified a bit. That's why those pro sports photogs on the sidelines have those ginormous image-stabilized telephotos. They're definitely shooting at faster than 1/80s, but they still need the IS because of the long zoom.

Precisely, the rule of thumb is don't let your shutter speed drop below your focal length if you're hand holding it (without IS).

[GaryS]

Topher is right.

12x zoom is 432mm (around there), so your shutter speed needs to be 1/500 or faster to keep from getting hand shake effects. Full wide is 36mm, so 1/80 should be fine.

The advantage of IS is that even at 12x zoom, I find I can get sharp pics at 1/200, or even 1/100 if I am really careful. Turn off the IS, and you will not be able to do it...

[truflip]

I just took some shots at 1/100 full zoom without IS.. it s a pretty cloudy day here so the picture is too underexposed.. but the shots look fine.... maybe i have steady hands ? anyway i always thot those pros with huge long lens + IS only use IS because its easier to frame at such range....

[downtrodden]

Does IS effect the picture in any negative manner?

I use Shoot only IS at all times. I turned my IS off on a cloudy day and snapped some shots and found no difference in image quality, it may just be me though... so if there's no negative effect to leaving it on (Other than dependance on IS then you move to a non IS camera and can't do it) then... why not leave it on shoot only all the time so you don't have to constantly change it?

~Cory

[cvicisso]

Does IS effect the picture in any negative manner?

I've heard that it can have the opposite effect if you leave it on while the camera is on a tripod. IS trys to compensate for motion that isn't there and - voila! - blurry picture.

[truflip]

i once had IS + tripod and the picture on the LCD would bounce back n forth because IS is pretty much fighting with itself.. i wish i coulda taken a video of it.. was pretty funny to watch