[Transcend]

Okay thanks, my plan will be to turn it off when they are moving and on when they are. As far as shutter speeds, I leave it in auto so it' sup to the camera. I think I may have asports setting they may speed it up.

You can also try setting the camera to TV mode, and chosing an appropriate shutter speed (300/350 is probably sufficient for a kid playing soccer). The camera will do the math and set aperture. Make sure you have a high enough ISO set to be able to be above your minimum aperture (2.8 on the s2 I think?) at your chosen shutter speed.

Or just chose sports mode.

It does pay to figure out some of the basic controls (aperture, shutter speed, ISO). You will find your camera becomes a lot more versatile.

 

[LordOpie]

I can tell you that IS will do nothing to help it, anyways.

Will it hurt the photo?

All I want to know is... for general purpose use, would y'all rather have IS on all the time or off all the time?

Y'all know I can figure this stuff out, I'm a graphic designer and computer geek of sorts. I just don't want to bother changing modes or anything while I'm on vacation, hanging with the family, etc.

Which is one reason I'm going ultra-compact. Simplicity that maximizes quality

 

[Transcend]

As a general rule, I turn it off.

What will YOU be using the camera for, mostly. This is what matters the most.

 

[binary visions]

Will it hurt the photo?

You either aren't reading closely or aren't comprehending. It's not as easy as "Will it hurt the photo?"

The easy answer is no, from a technical perspective the shutter release overrides the VR (i.e. it doesn't wait for anything) and the VR doesn't affect the aperture or shutter speed. So, regardless of what the VR is doing, the exposure of the photograph won't be affected.

As has been said, though, the framing of the photo if you're shooting something that moves. Whip the camera in one direction, VR tries to compensate, you click the shutter - that shutter is going to release even if the movement is still being compensated for and the frame isn't quite in the right spot.

Y'all know I can figure this stuff out, I'm a graphic designer and computer geek of sorts. I just don't want to bother changing modes or anything while I'm on vacation, hanging with the family, etc.

So... Why are you asking if you can figure it out? You've been given the information as to what VR will affect. It will primarily affect the framing, and typically only for circumstances where you are rapidly recomposing your picture.

Frankly, I'd rather just turn it on when I need it. It's not like you need to do complex calculations or anything. When you're shooting in a dark place, hit the button that turns on IS. If I absolutely couldn't do that, I'd probably leave it on all the time.

 

[LordOpie]

You either aren't reading closely or aren't comprehending. It's not as easy as "Will it hurt the photo?"

The easy answer is no, from a technical perspective the shutter release overrides the VR (i.e. it doesn't wait for anything) and the VR doesn't affect the aperture or shutter speed. So, regardless of what the VR is doing, the exposure of the photograph won't be affected.

As has been said, though, the framing of the photo if you're shooting something that moves. Whip the camera in one direction, VR tries to compensate, you click the shutter - that shutter is going to release even if the movement is still being compensated for and the frame isn't quite in the right spot.


So... Why are you asking if you can figure it out? You've been given the information as to what VR will affect. It will primarily affect the framing, and typically only for circumstances where you are rapidly recomposing your picture.

Frankly, I'd rather just turn it on when I need it. It's not like you need to do complex calculations or anything. When you're shooting in a dark place, hit the button that turns on IS. If I absolutely couldn't do that, I'd probably leave it on all the time.

So you're saying IS is a good thing to have on permanently?

Sounds good.

 

[binary visions]

So you're saying IS is a good thing to have on permanently?

Sounds good.

Sure.

Except when it's not.

 

[Kornphlake]

People have taken millions of pictures for a long time without IS and it hasn't been a problem. If it is that much of a concern just get a camera without IS or keep it turned off all the time.

As much as camera manufacturers want the average consumer to believe there is not much more to photography with a modern camera than pushing the button there really is a lot more to photography than just pushing the button. Until you understand lighting to a very basic level your photos will never really pop no matter what camera you have or what features you turn on or off.

 

[LordOpie]

Until you understand lighting to a very basic level your photos will never really pop no matter what camera you have or what features you turn on or off.

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you on that

Take old technology and new, give them to the same ignorant person and you will get far superior photos from the new stuff.

I'm a graphic designer, but I also do a lot of pre-press work and the quality over the years supplied from clients -- who wouldn't know their ass from an aperature -- has significantly improved. These are people who do marketing projects (eg. brochures) in Microsoft Word.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

my sister has a pretty cool nice little camara.
a panasonic lumix ls2, with optical IS.
its under $200 and takes amazing low light pictures for the price.

i took this picture of the sea (obviously the sea at night is as dark as it gets) a few weeks ago, thru the window of a restaurant at about 7:30pm... it was DARK. no tripod btw.

it was this dark actually.

 

[Kornphlake]

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you on that

Take old technology and new, give them to the same ignorant person and you will get far superior photos from the new stuff.

I'm a graphic designer, but I also do a lot of pre-press work and the quality over the years supplied from clients -- who wouldn't know their ass from an aperature -- has significantly improved. These are people who do marketing projects (eg. brochures) in Microsoft Word.

You are right, a camera with autofocus and advanced metering will be more likely to get a picture of a barge on a river that looks like a barge on a river than an instamatic with a fixed shutter speed and aperture, but it won't make the sun move lower on the horizon, it won't illuminate shadows with a remote flash, it won't screw on a graduated neutral density filter to suppress a distracting highlight. Until digital technology can put a lot more horsepower into image processing on the camera there will always be lighting challenges that will only be resolved by human intelligence either by correcting the lighting through intelligent use of equipement or environment before taking the picture.

The added features on modern point and shoot do make a lucky shot look good because at least the exposure will be in the ball park, focus will be good and for the most part image quality will be acceptable. I would still consider most of the good shots taken with a point and shoot by the casual user pure luck. I had an Olympus Stylus Epic 35mm camera that had great metering capabilities, great optics and decent autofocus (as long as you knew how to use it) and I got good pictures from it, but I spent a lot more time trying to think like the camera was going to think as far as exposure and trying to compensate for it by turning on the flash manually, turning off the flash manually, setting the exposure and focus by pressing the shutter button half way and then panning the camera, etc. It took some intelligence to get really good photos, but you're right to a point, quick and dirty snapshots were a lot better from that camera than from a cheap 110mm instamatic that has a fixxed aperture and shutter speed.

 

[InsideMan]

Just grabbed this hot little number, very happy with it.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/wbrINTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DSCT100&CP=sony_3_19_07_explore_electronics_DSCT100_silver