q2: ois questions

[gteague]

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in his very extensive review of the q2, overgaard is adamant that ois is not for still photography.

"OIS for still photos (is a no-no)

The Leica Q2 also offer the possibility for OIS for still photos, and by default it is set to Off from the factory. And it should stay that way. It will degrade the image quality a little, and there is no reason to turn ON Image Stabilization for a 28mm lens on a camera that goes high in ISO. ... Leave it off."

it's my understanding that the cl uses electronic stabilization for video and stills which will steal a thin slice of your image for movement corrections and i leave it off on that camera. but it's also my understanding the ois in the q2 is a physical correction which doesn't steal any image area. that's why you can hear it rattling when it doesn't have power applied to keep it stable. in other words, like the panasonic gh5 and s1/x cameras.

do you think that overgaard is confused on this issue? i've had ois on since i got the camera and i don't shoot video. also, i'm not sure it was defaulted to /off/ as he suggest. [just looked, there's also an /auto/ setting and that is the default. it kicks in at below 1/60th of a second which is as it should be to cover a 75mm crop] he also claims it's not necessary for a 28mm lens and i mostly agree with that. but the crops go to 75mm where it's very useful indeed. based on the manual description i changed mine from /on/ to /auto/ and it might save some battery although savings is hardly needed with the q2. 

/guy

Edited May 25, 2021 by gteague

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[ianforber]

I have adopted the same approach as you - OIS on auto. I think Overgaard is talking nonsense, although I haven’t done forensic tests to confirm, but neither have I seen any noticeable degradation in image quality. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by ianforber

[tjz]

as an elderly person with an intention tremor i will be greatly thankful if cameras even with  wide angle lenses offer very potent ois and/or ibis fort still photography;   presently my tremor forces me to use exposure times faster  than 1/250, and when that is not possible i have to try to take the same shot as many times as possible, in order to get at least one without motion blur;   think of it as trying to practice photography on the back of a bucking horse or on board a boat on a rough sea.

[vedivv]

22 hours ago, gteague said:

in his very extensive review of the q2, overgaard is adamant that ois is not for still photography.

"OIS for still photos (is a no-no)

The Leica Q2 also offer the possibility for OIS for still photos, and by default it is set to Off from the factory. And it should stay that way. It will degrade the image quality a little, and there is no reason to turn ON Image Stabilization for a 28mm lens on a camera that goes high in ISO. ... Leave it off."

it's my understanding that the cl uses electronic stabilization for video and stills which will steal a thin slice of your image for movement corrections and i leave it off on that camera. but it's also my understanding the ois in the q2 is a physical correction which doesn't steal any image area. that's why you can hear it rattling when it doesn't have power applied to keep it stable. in other words, like the panasonic gh5 and s1/x cameras.

do you think that overgaard is confused on this issue? i've had ois on since i got the camera and i don't shoot video. also, i'm not sure it was defaulted to /off/ as he suggest. [just looked, there's also an /auto/ setting and that is the default. it kicks in at below 1/60th of a second which is as it should be to cover a 75mm crop] he also claims it's not necessary for a 28mm lens and i mostly agree with that. but the crops go to 75mm where it's very useful indeed. based on the manual description i changed mine from /on/ to /auto/ and it might save some battery although savings is hardly needed with the q2. 

/guy

Mr. Overgaard certainly has a tendency to make broad statement.  Unfortunately, broad statements without nuance often tend to be wrong.  Based on his rationale, Overgaard's suggestion seem to be only based on default factory setting, not on any real use experience or evidence.  As bad a many online reviews are, at least they offer control testing (percentage of blurry image OIS on/off).

BTW, why "OIS is not for still photography"?  As opposed to OIS is for action photography?  

Every tool has it uses, and Leica made OIS very useful.  My experience has been that even with OIS, 1/15 still often results in blurry shots.  My solution is either don't use 1/15 handheld or take multiple shots to ensure a sharp one.  Auto OIS kicks in at 1/60, and that means if I set OIS to auto, it only works at 1/30 (or whatever between 1/15 and 1/60).  

At shutter speed faster than 1/60, every now and then I still get blurry shots (poor technique when quickly moving to places).  Very small (likely negligible) IQ degradation could be a good trade off in preventing blurry shots on a 47MP sensor.  Nothing scientific, but I have not noticed much difference in battery performance with OIS on and off.

Unless we are downsampling from 47MP to same MP as 75mm crop, the amount of pixel shift is the same.  

We also have different shooting techniques.  Mr. Overgaard might be super stable and does not need it.  But other might need it.  A day with too many coffee and shaky hands could prove OIS useful than non coffee days.

[Anakronox]

On my former Q2 and now Q2 Monochrom, I leave OIS set to auto.  As I almost never shoot below 1/125 second, it doesn’t engage and I never worry about the camera shake causing image quality problems.  As I shoot street mostly and the occasional cityscape/landscape this is a non-issue for me as I’ll just use a tripod with OIS turned off I I need that slow of a shutter speed.