Nikon VR II Effectiveness in reducing camera shake when shooting hand-held

I've got a mail from one of my blog readers, asking me how effective is the VR II (VR2) in Nikon's lenses. Luckily I have the Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5 - 5.6G IF-ED to make a test. Nikon claims 4 stops advantage with the VRII compared to 3 stops with VR (first generation). When I bought my two Nikkor lenses (18-55 and 70-300) I wanted them both to have VR. I am probably a good candidate for testing the effectiveness of the VR II mechanism. I've got shakey hands. So let's see some VR before and after sample images to see how effective the VR really is?

I've tested the VR2 in my room and took test images of text, with and without vibration reduction. In order to get reliable results, I did a sequence of three complete tests shots and chose the best (the sharpest) images from each test according to the ISO sensitivity that I've shot the pictures.

Here is the test result image:

Nikon Vibration Reduction effectiveness
(Click the image to enlarge)

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* The test shots crops in the above images are taken from 100% scale, but scaled by 50% to minimize the image file size.

I wanted to test the VR II at my lens' longest focal length (300mm). That's where I wanted to test the effectiveness of the VR II and see if it can help stabilize the camera movement and help me come up with reasonably sharp and usable images. All images where shot at F5.6 hand-held. In order to test the images at various shutter speeds (1/8s / 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60/s), I've used different ISO sensitivity levels to help get the right shutter speed for the test.

For each test of the three, I've shot 5 images, starting with ISO 100 and climbing to ISO 1600.  I didn't worry that the noise will ruin the reliability of the test, because the Nikon D3100 produces low noise in that ISO setting. So I've shot a total of 30 images, all from the same position at 300mm hand-held.

I must have to say that the results has astound me. The Nikon 70-300mm VR is certainly not my favorite lens for indoor shooting. Although I shot the images in a lighten room, still, at F5.6 I could only shoot at 1/3s shutter speed at ISO 100. As you will see in my test images, the VR2 is very effective in reducing camera shake when shooting pictures hand-held.

Many people are debating whether to purchase a lens with VRII or not. It's true that the vibration reduction mechanism add to the price of the lens and its weight, but for long focal lengths and low-light shooting it's a must. All the pictures which I've taken without VR until 1/60s where very fuzzy. At 1/60s @ ISO1600 I got somewhat a usable image, but far away from being sharp.

By the way, I could have shot the images in manual mode and set the shutter speed while keeping the ISO at the same sensitivity. The problem with that is that I would have gotten blow highlights at short shutter speeds.

The VR II is very effective as you can see in the comparison image. Even so, it doesn't solve the blurriness completely as people might think. However, the difference in shooting with VR On or Off is obvious. If we are following the shutter speed rule of thumb, it means that I when I am shooting at 300mm (actually 450mm; 35mm equiv. on 1.5 crop factor sensor), I shouldn't shoot slower than 1/focal length (1/500sec). As you can see in the test images, I've got pretty sharp results at 1/60s. If I follow the shutter speed rule of thumb and expect sharp results at 1/500s, I would say that I've got 2.5 stops advantage in practice. At 1/8sec shutter speed, with VR on, the image looks damn good compared to the total blurry image that I've got without VR.

If I can summarize my test in one sentence, I would say that the VR II is very effective in reducing camera shake when shooting hand-held at long focal lengths in slow shutter speeds. If you are buying a 70-300mm lens (whether Sigma/Nikon/Canon/Tamron, etc.), buy a lens with VR, it will help you get usable images that otherwise (without VR) you would through to the recycle bin.

Overall I am very impressed with the VR II on the Nikon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens.

DigitalPhotographyWriter.com.