OIS vs IBIS - battery life

[connloyalist]

If this has been discussed before, please direct me to the appropriate thread.

Today I received my Panasonic 100-300 4.0-5.6 "Power-OIS" for use with my E-M1 Mk II. Far and away most of my lenses are vintage manual focus only, so forgive my lack of experience with AF lenses.

Since this is a Panasonic lens it has OIS. I have read discussions about the effectiveness OIS vs IBIS, most of which seem to boil down to it being about the same except perhaps when you get into the longer focal lengths where OIS might be a bit better.

But that is not what my question is here today. What I would like to know is: does it make a difference in battery life which one I use? My impression is that OIS is "always on" which is nice for framing your picture but perhaps somewhat expensive in terms of battery life? My IBIS only activates when I half-press the shutter. In which case using IBIS might be a better choice if battery life is a concern?

Regards, C.

 

[WaltP]

Ditto, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[jbruce]

If this has been discussed before, please direct me to the appropriate thread.

Today I received my Panasonic 100-300 4.0-5.6 "Power-OIS" for use with my E-M1 Mk II. Far and away most of my lenses are vintage manual focus only, so forgive my lack of experience with AF lenses.

Since this is a Panasonic lens it has OIS. I have read discussions about the effectiveness OIS vs IBIS, most of which seem to boil down to it being about the same except perhaps when you get into the longer focal lengths where OIS might be a bit better.

But that is not what my question is here today. What I would like to know is: does it make a difference in battery life which one I use? My impression is that OIS is "always on" which is nice for framing your picture but perhaps somewhat expensive in terms of battery life? My IBIS only activates when I half-press the shutter. In which case using IBIS might be a better choice if battery life is a concern?

Regards, C.

When I use my Oly M1-2 and Pany 100-400 lens in the OIS "on" mode the AF only works when I half press the shutter button. Or with the lens AF off, the IBIS works with a half press of the shutter button. Apparently no power goes to the lens until shutter is activated. This is essentially the same as with the O 100-400. John

 

[connloyalist]

When I use my Oly M1-2 and Pany 100-400 lens in the OIS "on" mode the AF only works when I half press the shutter button. Or with the lens AF off, the IBIS works with a half press of the shutter button. Apparently no power goes to the lens until shutter is activated. This is essentially the same as with the O 100-400. John

Just to clarify, I am not talking about AF but only about the image stabilization. When I turn off OIS and turn on IBIS and zoom into 300mm, without touching the shutter button I can see the picture moving around a bit because IBIS has not activated (shutter button not half-pressed). When I turn OIS on and turn off IBIS and repeat the same scene the picture is more stable.

This tells me that OIS is active even when I am not pressing the shutter button. And when OIS is doing its thing then power must be going to the lens?

Regards, C.

 

[archaeopteryx]

This tells me that OIS is active even when I am not pressing the shutter button.

In Panasonic firmware there's options for always on OIS, OIS on half press, and OIS only during exposure. Olympus might have something similar buried in their menus.

FWIW, I have the 100-300 II and use it with always on OIS and a non-IBIS Panasonic body. Battery life in that configuration hasn't been an issue so I've never felt a need to change the OIS setting.

 

[connloyalist]

In Panasonic firmware there's options for always on OIS, OIS on half press, and OIS only during exposure. Olympus might have something similar buried in their menus.

FWIW, I have the 100-300 II and use it with always on OIS and a non-IBIS Panasonic body. Battery life in that configuration hasn't been an issue so I've never felt a need to change the OIS setting.

In my Olympus body there is a setting for "Lens I.S. Priority" on/off (I assume this is to de-conflict OIS/IBIS), but I haven't (yet) found a setting for when OIS activates. As far as I can tell it is always on.

Regards, C.

 

[Michael Meissner]

In my Olympus body there is a setting for "Lens I.S. Priority" on/off (I assume this is to de-conflict OIS/IBIS), but I haven't (yet) found a setting for when OIS activates. As far as I can tell it is always on.

Regards, C.

Generally Olympus has the ability to select this.

For example, in the E-m1 mark II on page 114, there is the Menu -> Cogs -> C2 (release/image stabilizer) settings, page 114 (E-m5 mark III on page 164, E-m1 mark III on page 186):

• Image stabilizer -- turn stabilizer on/off for stills;
• Image stablization -- for high speed fps shooting set whether shooting speed gets priority over stabilization or not;
• Half way Rls with IS -- set whether a 1/2 press of the shutter activates the stabilization
• Lens I.S. priority -- give priority to lens stabilization instead of sensor shift stabilization (*)

* Note, Lens I.S. priority has a note that the option has no effect on lenses that are equiped with an image stabilization switch.

There have been posts suggesting that using the lenses with Olympus OIS (i.e. the 12-100mm f/4, 300mm f/4, etc.) on an Olympus pro body that supports combined sensor shift + lens stabilization, that people need to change batteries more frequently. I imagine something similar might happen on Panasonic bodies with dual IS and Panasonic lenses that are supported.

But typically, the display (either rear LCD or EVF) tends to use the most power.

 

[jbruce]

When I use my Oly M1-2 and Pany 100-400 lens in the OIS "on" mode the AF only works when I half press the shutter button. Or with the lens AF off, the IBIS works with a half press of the shutter button. Apparently no power goes to the lens until shutter is activated. This is essentially the same as with the O 100-400. John

My bad. I'll restate for clarity; yes, when the viewfinder is lighted up, I can hear the AF motor running in any lens I tried; the noise ends when the sensor shuts off. That being said, looking through the viewfinder reveals that the IBIS functions only with a half-shutter press and only for some short preset time unless some further action is initiated. I can tell that because my heartbeat movement is damped after the half press, but only for a short time, a few seconds. The AF noise in the lens continues until the screen goes black several seconds after IBIS shuts down. John

 

[retiredfromlife]

On longer focal lengths lens stabilisation seems more effective than body stabilisation.

If your lens has an OIS switch, turning this on enables the lens OIS and dissables the body IBIS.
This is how it works with Panasonic lenses on Olympus bodies, i guess it is the same foe Oly lenses on Panasonic bodies. But not much discussion re Oly lenses on Panasonic lenses as not many Oly lenses have OIS

One thing i have noticed is that dual IS on Panasonic is much more battery efficient than on Oly.
My EM1.3 and 12-100 f4, have very poor battery life compared to my G85 and 14-140

 

[jbruce]

On longer focal lengths lens stabilisation seems more effective than body stabilisation.

If your lens has an OIS switch, turning this on enables the lens OIS and dissables the body IBIS.
This is how it works with Panasonic lenses on Olympus bodies, i guess it is the same foe Oly lenses on Panasonic bodies. But not much discussion re Oly lenses on Panasonic lenses as not many Oly lenses have OIS

One thing i have noticed is that dual IS on Panasonic is much more battery efficient than on Oly.
My EM1.3 and 12-100 f4, have very poor battery life compared to my G85 and 14-140

Curious, how is the battery life affected if the lens IS is turned off? And is it that necessary to use dual IS for most shots? The answers seems just too obvious, but am I missing something when folks using O12-100 have been repeatedly complaining about battery life?

 

[retiredfromlife]

Curious, how is the battery life affected if the lens IS is turned off? And is it that necessary to use dual IS for most shots? The answers seems just too obvious, but am I missing something when folks using O12-100 have been repeatedly complaining about battery life?

I have never turned the dual IS off on my EM1.3 so dont know. I just put up with poor battery life because the dual IS is so good

 

[PakkyT]

Curious, how is the battery life affected if the lens IS is turned off? And is it that necessary to use dual IS for most shots? The answers seems just too obvious, but am I missing something when folks using O12-100 have been repeatedly complaining about battery life?

For the 12-100 PRO mounted on an Olympus camera (that supports dual IS) it is all or nothing for IS. You can not turn off just the lens IS or just the Body IS and then use only the other. ON = dual IS and OFF = no IS.

 

[John King]

Curious, how is the battery life affected if the lens IS is turned off? And is it that necessary to use dual IS for most shots? The answers seems just too obvious, but am I missing something when folks using O12-100 have been repeatedly complaining about battery life?

My main camera is my E-M1 MkII + 12-100. IS is always on.

I have no complaints about battery life ...

 

[ac12]

Curious, how is the battery life affected if the lens IS is turned off? And is it that necessary to use dual IS for most shots? The answers seems just too obvious, but am I missing something when folks using O12-100 have been repeatedly complaining about battery life?

OK, I am probably one of the harder users. When I shoot sports, the power is ON almost constant.
My EM1-mk1 with the P-Lumix 12-60 gives me about a 4 hour continuous run time, IBIS only.
My EM1-mk1 with the 12-100, gives me about 2-3/4 hour continuous run time, Sync-IS.
My EM1-mk2 with the 12-100, gives about 3-1/2 hours continuous run time, Sync-IS.

Is the extra power draw from the Sync-IS, or is it the AF motor, or both? I don't know.

The 12-100 really wants the EM1-mk2/3 or the EM1X, for the larger capacity battery.
The way I shoot, I would not use it on the EM5 or EM1-mk1, because of the smaller capacity battery.

I have not done a controlled run time comparison with the 12-40/2.8, 40-150/2.8, 40-150-R, 75-300.