Shooting With a Nikon VR Lens
I brought my camera, along with my new VR lens, to the Blue Man Group concert (more performers should explicitly allow cameras like they did).
The VR certainly worked as advertised, I was getting sharp pictures at 200mm with only a 1/30 shutter speed (one elbow on the chair back for stability but otherwise handheld).
Of course, the difference between a VR lens and a fast lens is that in this case the slow shutter still meant I lost a lot of shots to motion blur from the performer’s movements, but when it worked it worked very well.
The results using VR with a 3.5-5.4 lens makes me want this lens with VR on a 70-200 at 2.8, the combination would be killer shooting indoors.
Oh and just to note, the edge darkening in the photo is actually the edges of a pin spot, the lens is not doing that. The full set is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhillyer/sets/72157602163624573/
September 28th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Is that the 18 - 200 you’re talking about? I like its small size, but it’s kinda dark near the 5.4 end, making me want the 70 - 200 2.8.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Yes, this was the 18-200. I wish it did have a consistent speed, and I also have heard reports of pincushion that I need to look into. That said the relatively compact size makes it great for travel and also is what got me into the concert with it. When I called ahead to confirm that the Blue Man Group allowed cameras I was told ‘anything but cameras with long telephoto lenses like a photographer would use’. So I think I would have been blocked with the 70-200 in this instance but I would still want it very much.