[kenyee]

I always leave SR on except for the tripod when the 3sec delay w/ MLU automatically disables it.

It's a main reason I've stayed w/ Pentax for so long...

[L33tGreg]

Turn off SR for panning too!

[lister6520]

Two often mentioned things which I disagree with:
1. Switch off SR when using tripod
2. Switch off SR when panning

Neither of these is entirely correct.

Mounting the camera does not on its own require turning off SR. The SR will still reduce small vibrations that are present even with some of the better tripods, especially when using very long lenses in windy condition. When you do need to turn off SR is when shooting very long exposure, which is often but by no means always the case when using a tripod.

Rate gyros of the type used in cameras always have a certain amount of constant rate 'drift', which means that the camera will always falsely sense a small (even if minute) amount of movement and try to compensate for that imaginary movement by shifting the sensor accordingly. The thing is that this drift is usually so small that for exposures up to a second or two the amount of drift is very small. So unless you have an extremely rigid tripod or using a very long exposure time you will usually get a better picture with SR switched on rather than off.

Regarding the panning, I have found the SR to work very well even when panning. The SR system seems to be tuned to eliminate vibrations rather than constant movement, so as long as you are panning a a steady rate the SR will adapt to that. I have managed to take some good photos of airplanes in low light which would not have been possible without SR. That said, it is not easy and needs some practice. First of all you need to start panning at least a couple of seconds before shooting and then you need to keep the panning motion as steady as possible as abrupt changes in the motion will throw the SR off balance. That two second or so anticipation will of course exclude certain types of photos being shot with SR, but for other cases when you do have the time it can certainly be put to very good use, such as in my case with airplanes, or indeed any subject that is at a considerable distance.

This photo is with 250mm focal length and 1/50 shutter speed, that is 7 times slower than the 1.5 x focal length rule. I know it is not entirely shake free but I am not a steady hand at all and I don't think I could have got anything near that without the SR activated. I started following the plane when it was still quite far away and kept following it steadily and fired several shots while continuing the pan. Nearly all of them came out almost shake free.

You can actually see in the viewfinder whether the SR is managing to follow your pan while practising. Just look at the SR 'hand' symbol as you move. It will be steady on when the SR has attained and maintains a lock and will turn of or flicker when it is struggling. By observing it you can perfect your panning technique by aiming to keep the hand symbol steadily on. You will see that as you first move to start the pan the symbol will go off or flicker but as you settle into a steady motion it will light up and stay lit as long as you keep the motion constant and steady enough. Once you get the hang of it it can become very useful.

[scratchpaddy]

So unless you have an extremely rigid tripod or using a very long exposure time you will usually get a better picture with SR switched on rather than off.

I won't dispute your panning claim (awesome pic, btw), since I haven't really tested it, but have you actually tested long exposures on a tripod with SR on? I have, and 2-second exposure pictures randomly turn out blurry even when the tripod is on concrete and no one is even close to the camera. That was with a 14mm lens, so it was definitely caused by sensor movement. I have never had this problem with SR disabled.

[lister6520]

I won't dispute your panning claim (awesome pic, btw), since I haven't really tested it, but have you actually tested long exposures on a tripod with SR on? I have, and 2-second exposure pictures randomly turn out blurry even when the tripod is on concrete and no one is even close to the camera. That was with a 14mm lens, so it was definitely caused by sensor movement. I have never had this problem with SR disabled.

With the K-r the slowest I have tried was a quarter second and they were OK. With the K-30 one second is about the slowest it will go without causing any visible blur. Sometimes with up to 4 seconds it will be also ok but not always. Any longer than that and it is always blurry.

For exposures between about one quarter and two seconds I usually try both with SR off and ON and choose the best - it is a matter of choosing what is worst, the sensor drift or the real shake. The longer the lens the more likely the SR will help as the real vibration that needs to be compensated will get larger compared to the sensor drift. For more than two seconds I always switch it off and for shorter than a quarter I always switch it on unless of course I am using the 2 second delay in which case it is not possible to turn it on at all, regardless of shutter speed.

What I also seemed to notice is that the drift is much worse when the camera has just been turned on and seems to get better the longer the camera is active - maybe it self calibrates or does something of the sort (or maybe I am just imagining it).

[kh1234567890]

My question is that is there any down side to using SR? More so because it is an optional feature to switched on manually. In other words is there any harm to keep this feature permanently switched on?

When using SR with VF view the main thing to watch out for is to allow enough time for the SR to lock in. The sensor centering gets turned on when you half press the shutter, then it takes about a second for the SR to lock in (just under 0.6s on my K-7, looking at the EXIF data). Can be a pain when 'shooting from the hip' on the street because you have to remember to give it this time before firing the shutter.

[stevebrot]

On the k-01, SR is active in live view time unless it is set off to save power (Custom>3>Shake Reduction Options >Mode1)

I wondered about that (having never seen a K-01 in person). The OP has a K20D, which is very similar to my K10D.


Steve

[John Poirier]

i have a k20D and had never used the Shake Reduction (SR) feature. However, on a recent photo outing I had to shoot hand held in very low light and did not want to bump up the ISO beyond 1600. Just for the heck of it I switthed on the SR feature and the results were amazing. The photos were sharp inspite of being shot at low shutter speeds. SR must have made the difference.

My question is that is there any down side to using SR? More so because it is an optional feature to switched on manually. In other words is there any harm to keep this feature permanently switched on?

mj

I haven't found a downside to SR. One interesting discovery is that shake reduction and a monopod are a nice combination. Not quite as stable as a tripod, but very useful when weight is an issue.

[Jean Poitiers]

I leave the SR on all the time ... except for use on a tripod. Same protocol that is employed in the posts previous to this one. I have never noticed any batery issues by using the SR. If fact after I had the K-5 on the tripod, I forgot to re-engage the SR for a while ... no noticeable battery savings as a result of the SR being off ... J

[wll]

Well, just about like every one else on this thread, I keep SR on all the time except when using a tripod.

wll