SL2 - Safe To Leave IBIS On w/ Tripod Use?

[PBart]

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I have 2 Leica SL2 bodies and often go back and forth between tripod and handheld. I'm wondering if anyone knows if leaving the IBIS on during tripod usage may result in anything less optimal? 

I hear mixed feedback with other camera brands. A lot of times I blend multiple exposures in postproduction and want to have everything aligned as best as possible, So far all is good if I leave the camera in manual focus but can't help wonder if I'm doing this wrong by leaving the IBIS on. 

Anyone seeing a diffrence? 

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[hoppyman]

I just shot six hundred  frames with mine with IBIS On and on tripod. Typically about 1/250th in any case. I cant see any negative effect. I have no idea about precise registration if you meant blending otherwise identical frames?
But you could pop the option into your favourites or program a function button if you want a quick on/off option?

Edited February 27, 2020 by hoppyman

[HeinzX]

I do not think there is any difference IBIS on or not on when using a tripod with the SL 2. When the promised HIRES function will be implemented with the hopefully soon coming Firmware Update, it is a must in my opinion,, that the IBIS is on, otherwise the HIRES function cannot work.

[Joakim]

You will save battery life of you turn it off, might be worthwhile to consider. 

[megamanex]

I did some long exposure with the tripod at 4 and 10 minute exposures and the IBIS ruined the first batch of photos until I realized what was going on and shut it off.

[hoppyman]

10 hours ago, Joakim said:

You will save battery life of you turn it off, might be worthwhile to consider. 

That’s an additional aspect  I had forgotten. The battery life isn’t wonderful for me.. IAF might be another factor, plus the Power Save Mode setting.

[Jeff S]

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On 2/27/2020 at 3:48 PM, hoppyman said:

That’s an additional aspect  I had forgotten. The battery life isn’t wonderful for me.. IAF might be another factor, plus the Power Save Mode setting.

Or pre-focus if you use it.  

Jeff

[jaapv]

On 2/27/2020 at 4:19 AM, PBart said:

I have 2 Leica SL2 bodies and often go back and forth between tripod and handheld. I'm wondering if anyone knows if leaving the IBIS on during tripod usage may result in anything less optimal? 

I hear mixed feedback with other camera brands. A lot of times I blend multiple exposures in postproduction and want to have everything aligned as best as possible, So far all is good if I leave the camera in manual focus but can't help wonder if I'm doing this wrong by leaving the IBIS on. 

Anyone seeing a diffrence? 

You mean for focus stscking? Normally Photoshop will correct for sensor shifting, but you will avoid possible artefacts created by the algorithm.

[Stonewall Brigade]

With any camera brand, it is always my practice to make sure to turn off any camera stabilization with tripod use, and I use a tripod about 75% of the time.  My Q2 and SL have 2 different Profiles set and therein difference is for handheld photography and IS on, and tripod use with IS turned off.

[thighslapper]

On 2/27/2020 at 3:19 AM, PBart said:

can't help wonder if I'm doing this wrong by leaving the IBIS on. 

Anyone seeing a diffrence? 

No. 

IBIS has never been off since I got my S1R nearly a year ago, and as a landscape photographer most of my images are tripod based.

I have carried on with the SL2 in a similar manner, but it is too early to tell if the results are the same. As the sensor and probably IBIS are from the same source (I can't believe Leica would have designed and produced their own from scratch) I anticipate the results would be similar.

As IBIS relies on accelerometers, theoretically with no movement there would be no compensation ..... but that assumes a level of jitter in the underlying sensors and electronics that is below the threshold that would result in sensor movement when not actually required. In my testing I could find no difference in images with and without IBIS. Switching from mechanical to electronic shutter with longer lenses and extending timed release to >2 seconds did however make a noticeable difference to image sharpness.  

Most of the advice regarding this appears to be based on assumptions rather than actual photographic evidence. 

I'd suggest some controlled tests and decide yourself whether you are worrying unnecessarily or not. I suspect the current generation of IBIS has come a long way from the days when switching it off for static shots was mandatory. 

Edited February 29, 2020 by thighslapper

[megamanex]

My Photographic evidence linked below (jpg exports of the dngs at full resolution)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ri1003m98uxxuqr/AAAslDNxpC1-SEp2n_yQAx97a?dl=0

4 Minute exposures, no NR, one with and one without Sensor Stabilization Enabled.  Take a look at how the stars started to arc oddly when the sensor started to bounce around with Stabilization on.  This shot is a throwaway from the actual shoot I was doing and was a quick tester of the sensor stabilization.

I've shot about 31,000 exposures on my SL2 so far using a combination of Mechanical and Electronic shutter and sensor on and off.  At long exposures it will jitter and move.

I, for one, cannot tell if you the sensor started to jitter because of heat buildup from the long exposure, or some other factor but it was 37 degrees Fahrenheit out there when I shot this.

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by megamanex

[megamanex]

I’ll also add that I use the tripod quite a bit as well and under normal 15-20 second exposures I don’t see any type of jitter from the sensor.

[Jared]

Personally, I just wouldn’t do it.  It’s never going to help your images (unless you are using an ill suited tripod), and there is the potential for harm at different exposure times, with different lenses, etc.  if you are like me, you have a separate profile for tripod use, anyway, so why not just ensure that profile disables image stabilization?

It would be different if, for some reason, one had evidence that image stabilization actually helped image quality, but that seems very unlikely.  Just setup your profile to disable it. 

[Joakim]

3 hours ago, Artin said:

I actually came across this issue yesterday I shot with the canon 500 mm f4.5 with Ibis off and the images were blurry, turned Ibis on and it helped a lot , so it is effective tripod or not. I was using a large Gitzo 6x tripod. 

A 500mm Super-tele is something quite different than a 50mm lens or a wide-angle lens, I wouldn't draw any general conclusions from this observation.

[Sandokan]

On 3/2/2020 at 12:58 PM, Artin said:

I actually came across this issue yesterday I shot with the canon 500 mm f4.5 with Ibis off and the images were blurry, turned Ibis on and it helped a lot , so it is effective tripod or not. I was using a large Gitzo 6x tripod. 

shutter speed? 

I can confirm with the SL and 24-90, image stabilization (lens) ruined my tripod based exposures of 2-15 seconds. At first I thought it was a tripod problem until I checked camera settings. Like the others above, I now have a landscape setting for turning off Lens stabilisation (and yes I know the question is about IBIS, but is it set to work in conjunction with lens stabilization?). My recommendation is turn it off, as with a good tripod, it will not help. 

[Exodies]

This is hard to understand if the IBIS is only using accelerometers to detect camera shake. Could it also be monitoring the image for movement? That would produce incorrect corrections.

[HeinzX]

Today I have contacted Leica regarding deactivating or no deactivating SL 2 stabilization when using a tripod. Their answer was, when using a tripod with SL 2, the stabilisation should be deactivated.

[Joakim]

4 hours ago, Exodies said:

This is hard to understand if the IBIS is only using accelerometers to detect camera shake. Could it also be monitoring the image for movement? That would produce incorrect corrections.

No it doesn't monitor the image, what made you come to this conclusion?

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[Exodies]

1 hour ago, Joakim said:

No it doesn't monitor the image, what made you come to this conclusion?

If it’s only using accelerometers then mounting it on a tripod should be ok. If it’s not monitoring the image then the only alternative I can think of is a bug.

[Jared]

I have never seen a good explanation for exactly what the positive feedback loop is that causes the problem.  Canon, for example, specifically manufacturers lenses that have a tripod mode that will lock out image stabilization.  Obviously, it is easy enough to test whether your particular tripod, camera, lens combination loses sharpness at various shutter speeds with IS enabled.  I last tested it with my Leica Q2.  Obviously, there was very little difference which is not surprising with a 28mm lens.  However, viewing at one hundred percent at shutter speeds below one sixtieth of a second did show a small but detectable blur when IS was left on.  That is with OIS rather than IBIS.  

If you REALLY want to be able to leave it on rather than just setting a tripod profile, by all means give it a try.  For me, there are enough parameters that are different when I use a tripod that I would want to setup a different profile anyway.