132 Better Available Light Digital Photography
The Forney Museum of Transpor-
tation in Denver has a large col-
lection of antique cars, trains,
horse-drawn carriages but it’s
dark. Be sure to bring an image
stabilized lens or in this case a
Pentax K10D with Anti Shake
built into the body and don’t be
afraid to boost your ISO. Expo-
sure on this classic car was one
second at f/11 and ISO 400.
©2007 Joe Farace
Does it matter?
Since there isn’t enough movement for the sensors to activate,
most image stabilization technology won’t work when the
camera and lens are tripod mounted. Canon’s IS and Nikon’s VR
lenses perform fi ne when they’re attached to monopods because
you can simply turn image stabilization off but some Canon
lenses feature a setting especially for monopod applications.Image stabilization almost always eliminates the need to use a
tripod and provides greater mobility for your photography but a
photograph is either sharp or it’s not. Image stabilization, vibra-
tion or shake reduction or whatever you want to call it that’s
built into the lens or the camera body will help you get sharper
photographs but it’s up to you to do the real work by staying
aware that you’re working under marginal lighting conditions.
Afi cionados and brand-loving Kool-Aid drinkers from both in-
body versus in-lens camps will tell you that there’s lots of dif-
ferences between the two kinds of systems and how one is better
than the other. Some partisans say the effectiveness of in-body
stabilization diminishes as the focal length of the lens increases
and that may in fact be theoretically true. But out here in the real
world where I make photographs, the differences you’ll see on
your image fi les is negligible. In fact, I’d like to make a predic-
tion: In-body image stabilization will also become a de facto
standard on future digital SLRs.What about depth of fi eld?
Shallow depth of fi eld really helps isolate a portion of the pho-
tograph. The combination of blurred surroundings and a tack-
sharp focal point immediately draws the viewer’s eye inward.