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01-24-2012, 08:54 PM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by billylh Quote
My issue is that it doesnt seem very effective as taking hand shots(keeping it as steady as possible) will still produce a ghost. This is really noticeable for me when I tried taking pictures of some text on paper.
First thing is to check the EXIF to see if the SR had activated at the moment the shot was taken.

PhotoME - Exif, IPTC & ICC Metadata Editor

Get the beta version of PhotoME - the standard version has had no recent updates, and after installation do an update (Settings | Online Update) to get the latest Pentax Manufacturer notes (includes K-5), load a PEF file, and look for the SR stuff. (I'm at work so I can't tell you which field SR Activation is in.)

Links to K-7 SR performance analysis & comment by falconeye, a physicist:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/166587-shake-reduction-e...ml#post1724938

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/166587-shake-reduction-e...ml#post1728944

Dan


Last edited by dosdan; 01-25-2012 at 03:42 AM.
01-24-2012, 10:44 PM - 1 Like   #17
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Last month, I shot a lot of images on my K-5 at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. All aquarium shots were without flash and handheld, although I did have some soft and blurry pics, my keeper rate was higher than expected. If I exclude images that were unacceptable for other reasons, I probably only threw out 1 out of 8 or even 10 due to movement blur. Shutter speeds were generally below the 1/focal length rule by 1/2 to one full stop in most cases, sometimes more. Sure, these shots may not be as tack sharp as if the camera were on a tripod, but they are sharp enough.

I'd say the K-5 SR works well, within it's limits. 1-2 stops is perfectly reasonable, but any claim of more than that is pure marketing. By the way, I have a Canon G9 which has in-lens optical image stabilization, and the K-5 performs as well based on my experience.
01-25-2012, 01:58 AM   #18
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Regarding SR status in K-5 EXIF, in the PhotoMe search/filter box (Ctrl-F), enter sr

The field you want is SR Result,Tag-ID 005C, and the result you're looking for is stabilized, rather than not ready (yet) or not stablized (SR turned off)

Note that this field also appears in the the 3rd section of the Overview at the top, in the field called Image Stabilizer

In Pentax DCU 4, in the Browser section, Image Data tab, there is a field labelled Shake Reduction, which shows Enabled or Off. This only appears to indicate whether SR is turned on or off, as my not ready shot shows as Enabled. So best to stick to PhotoME.

Dan

Last edited by dosdan; 01-25-2012 at 03:59 AM.
01-25-2012, 03:40 AM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by hcc Quote
I would not comment on the shots without SR. But with SR, you need to wait for the SR confirmation (hexagon symbol in the view finder) before your shoot to get the full benefit of SR. Simply, focus, half-press the shutter button and wait (1-2 s typicaly) for the SR confirmation symbol to appear.

Hope that the info may help.
The hexagon symbol is the in focus indicator and is not related to SR at all.

01-25-2012, 03:49 AM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gimbal Quote
The hexagon symbol is the in focus indicator and is not related to SR at all.
Yes, but what one does see is the "shaking hand symbol" - and SR will become active, and the hand-symbol visible in the viewfinder, only with a short delay after half-pressing the shutter button.

The delay is quite short, but it is there.
01-25-2012, 04:32 AM   #21
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QuoteOriginally posted by billylh Quote
What are your thoughts/experience with SR and how effective it is on the K5?

My issue is that it doesnt seem very effective as taking hand shots(keeping it as steady as possible) will still produce a ghost. This is really noticeable for me when I tried taking pictures of some text on paper.

I have an Olympus E-420 with no iamge stabilization and it seems to be able to take much clearer and sharper pictures. I know this isnt supposed to be the case but it is.

I also suspect a back focusing issue but the above problem isnt a blur, its a second image offset.
I just took a quick check with my K-5 (only have had it for a week today):

Hand-held JPEG straigth out of the camera. No cropping and no post-processing. SR is indeed an efficient assistant; otherwise hand-held @1/30s and 120mm FL wouldn't work at all.
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01-25-2012, 04:52 AM   #22
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How much benefit you get from SR is pretty person-specific. It is pretty easy to tell if it helps you though. Just shoot a couple of shots hand held with a particular focal length and varying shutter speeds, some with SR on and some with it off. You can see then if it helps you and if so how much. A couple of stops is what I personally see.

The two things to remember -- you have to wait a little bit for SR to kick in (although holding your finger on the focus button activates it) and it only works for static subjects. If I take photos of my kids at 1/30 second, I am guaranteed to get a blurry mess despite the magic of SR.

A photo taken with SR on K7 (handheld of course) 1/5 second, 35mm



01-25-2012, 06:26 AM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by telly0050 Quote
i have same problem.
when i am using a 50mm focal length, i will always have to make sure my shutter speed is over 1/50 even with SR on...
with 1/30 it sometimes produce ok picture, with 1/20 i hardly get any keeper, and with 1/15 i never make it to work. (i did try to keep my hand as sturdy as i can)
am i doing something wrong or my camera has some problem?
Interesting. I have shaky hands. After reading your post I just made a few test shots at 50mm and shutter speed around 1/20, got sharp images. Then took one at 150mm with 1/15 and that also looks good.

Usually my low light shots with shutter speed in the range of 1/20 - 1/60 (FL can be anything from 16 to 50mm, though for low light I mostly use Sigma 30mm unless I have to use different FL) are good, I mean there's no noticeable shake blur. So I'm inclined to think that SR works, at least for me. I know that without SR the majority of those shots would go to /dev/null

Maybe you just need to learn a better technic? Did you try with another K-5 to rule out either camera or user error?

Of course many times the photo has blur due to camera movement, but in most cases it turns out I moved my full body just a few mm during exposure (I still have a bad habit of a tiny forward movement while pressing shutter release button).

Maybe you just need to learn a better technic? Did/can you try another K-5 to rule out either camera or user error?

Last edited by simico; 01-25-2012 at 06:29 AM. Reason: added last questions
01-25-2012, 08:23 AM   #24
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i just did some test shots using a spring water bottle.
and i came up with a "unconfirmed" conclusion of "re-composting technique effects SR quality".

I am using 18-55 kit.

with SR off & 50mm focal, 1/30 will start produce blurry shots.
with SR on, 1/30 will produce good picture, 1/15 will produce good picture with sturdy hands.
however, when i re-composite the shot (i use center focus mainly and let's say i focus on the bottom of the bottle, and after focus confirmed i move it to the center and take the shot), i have a much higher chance of getting shaky images.
but after i re-composite the shot, and give it 1-2 second delay before press down the shutter, it seems to give much better SR chance.
that may explain why i always get shaky images, because that "re-composite" movement will give me the blurriness.

can anyone else do a test and confirm this?
01-25-2012, 09:12 AM   #25
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No need to do more tests, that is how it works. You can't move the camera right before shooting and expect SR to work.
01-25-2012, 05:39 PM   #26
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QuoteOriginally posted by dosdan Quote
Regarding SR status in K-5 EXIF, in the PhotoMe search/filter box (Ctrl-F), enter sr

The field you want is SR Result,Tag-ID 005C, and the result you're looking for is stabilized, rather than not ready (yet) or not stablized (SR turned off)

Note that this field also appears in the the 3rd section of the Overview at the top, in the field called Image Stabilizer

In Pentax DCU 4, in the Browser section, Image Data tab, there is a field labelled Shake Reduction, which shows Enabled or Off. This only appears to indicate whether SR is turned on or off, as my not ready shot shows as Enabled. So best to stick to PhotoME.

Dan
Thanx for this info, but going threw my pictures i believe [not stabilized] means SR wasnt ready..
01-25-2012, 06:25 PM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by dane.dawg;1793925but going threw my pictures i believe [not stabilized:
means SR wasnt ready..
I've investigated further. I took a number of shots:

1 with SR turned off:
not stabilized

The rest with SR turned on. I was twirling back & forth on a swivelling desk chair so SR was having difficulty working:
stabilized
not ready
not ready
stabilized, not ready
(don't know what this means - partial SR?)

Reasoning that I was getting shooting hesitations because the AF was trying to operate, and these hesitations may be allowing SR to active, I then switched to a MF lens. All with SR turned on and moving fast:
not stabilized
not stabilized
not stabilized
not stabilized
not stabilized
not stabilized
not stabilized
not stabilized


Finally, a still MF shot so SR could activate:
stabilized

and with SR turned off:
not stabilized


BTW, you can quickly compare images in a directory with PhotoME, by using the R.Arrow-key to load the next one. (This won't work if you have filtering in use.)

There is another field in the EXIF, Shake Reduction (Setup). This appears to indicate SR switched on/off. So with Shake Reduction (Setup): on, SR Result can indicate:

not stabilized

not ready
stabilized, not ready
stabilized

This looks like a sequence of SR activation, with stabilized being the real deal.

Dan.

Last edited by dosdan; 01-25-2012 at 06:31 PM.
01-25-2012, 08:29 PM   #28
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Thanks for all the tips.
BTW, my lens is the DA* 16-50mm.

I just got back so I'll check out the PhotoME and see what I can find out from the EXIF data.
07-21-2012, 02:09 PM   #29
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Shake reduction/image stabilization on Pentax K-5 is awesome. This photo was taken at night, no flash, handheld, at 1/4 of a second (.25) Not 1/40 but 1/4 and you can see every hair. Also it was smart enough to stabilize the subject not the background.
07-21-2012, 02:37 PM   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by Buceemie Quote
Also it was smart enough to stabilize the subject not the background.
While I applaud your enthusiasm, this part is not true. There is no 'smart' involved. The shake reduction reduces movement of the camera/lens but it does nothing for movement of the subject which is what happened here. The girl held still while the cars and the people in the background were all moving, so she is blur free and the background is not. Which actually works quite well in this case leaving the subject relatively sharp and the background blurred. Nice job!
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