Re the original question, oh for a FF Nex!

Bifurcator wrote:

BTW, I think the only difference between the OM1 and the OM2 viewfinders were that the OM1 used a pentamirror and he OM2 used a pentaprism. At least I don't remember there being a size (magnification) difference. <shrug>

mawz wrote:
They're both Pentaprism, with essentially similar specs. The OM-3/4 had a smaller finder (which was IMHO better than the OM-1/2 finders)


Thanks! I tried briefly to check B4 I said that but nothing came up. Maybe it's only the off the film metering them... Hmmm... I thought there was something that made the OM-2 brighter than the OM-1. Oh well.

Thank you everyone for the great advice in this thread. I really considered the A900 but finding out the IBIS only works with chipped lenses sealed the deal - got a 5D MKII inbound.

Tarocco wrote:
Thank you everyone for the great advice in this thread. I really considered the A900 but finding out the IBIS only works with chipped lenses sealed the deal - got a 5D MKII inbound.

Well, the IBIS does work on unchipped lenses. I hear it and see it working when I'm using the Samyang 85mm and 35mm.

spada wrote:
Tarocco wrote:
Thank you everyone for the great advice in this thread. I really considered the A900 but finding out the IBIS only works with chipped lenses sealed the deal - got a 5D MKII inbound.

Well, the IBIS does work on unchipped lenses. I hear it and see it working when I'm using the Samyang 85mm and 35mm.

that has not been my experience with other sony alpha cameras. are you shooting an a900 and have you compared a series of IBIS on shots to IBIS off shots in the same setting at appropriate shutter speeds? if it's working for you it means they've implemented it differently in different cameras without documenting it well.

that has not been my experience on a900, either. i had an unchipped 50mp for 3 months and there was an instant and huge difference once i chipped it up.

From what I understand, the A900 SSS defaults to being calibrated for a 50mm lens, if the lens isn't chipped.

Not even that. I had several lenses around 50mm that got suddenly better right after I chipped them, so if it works, it's not doing a good job. However, once chipped, it works really well..

Tarocco wrote:
Thank you everyone for the great advice in this thread. I really considered the A900 but finding out the IBIS only works with chipped lenses sealed the deal - got a 5D MKII inbound.

Good for you. Be sure to check out the EG-S if you intend to use fast lenses. And Magic Lantern is worth looking at too.

FWIW I wouldnt miss IBIS much on short focal lengths. For a 30mm lens it would mean that you could possibly handheld at 1/15 or sometimes say 1/5s. That could be neat if you are very much into still life but not much else, nothing can move in the scene. From around 85mm and up, it starts to become interesting and much more useful feature.

Not really… You can get very interesting effects with no tripod, for example. See this:

Sure, running water could be another example. A tripod could do it and make it better too, and why not use a ND filter if you like that type of shots and bring it to the next step. A different thing would be to use follow focus and get a car sharp and the rest blurred. Makes me wonder how the IBIS behaves there.. panning mode is one of the useful features of the big whites.

IBIS it is a good feature, but for wides it's more on the fringe. And my point was that IMHO it stand no chance outwaying the other feature differences. Just my cents.

Yes, it very true and I do that often. But there are contexts where bringing a tripod is not allowed or you're charged for it, or you can't fit it in (for example, in a trip to the other side of the world or after a bussiness meeting). Then it becomes really useful. IBIS in follow focus works well, since it's one of the axis that is more or less stable and the sensor compensates for the movements in that direction.

It's obvious it's one of the features that contributes to the decision of buying one camera or another and there are others that might weight a lot more for you, but, for me, it's worth it.

But then, whatever runs your mill, as they say!

wfrank wrote:
Sure, running water could be another example. A tripod could do it and make it better too, and why not use a ND filter if you like that type of shots and bring it to the next step. A different thing would be to use follow focus and get a car sharp and the rest blurred. Makes me wonder how the IBIS behaves there.. panning mode is one of the useful features of the big whites.

IBIS it is a good feature, but for wides it's more on the fringe. And my point was that IMHO it stand no chance outwaying the other feature differences. Just my cents.


dude, no offense, but i'm always super annoyed by people who have never used IBIS telling me that it's not useful. i personally thought it was the greatest thing about digital cameras after adjustable iso (way more useful than AF). i can tell you from experience that 1/5 s is plenty fast to shoot adults in most situations. if you only shoot kids and sports with wide angle lenses than IBIS is less useful. but if you use it to ever shoot static objects or people standing still/sitting it is awesome to be able to shoot 35mm and 1/5th of a second without having to check and see if you got motion blur. shooting in low light (which i understand you have a lot of these days ) i found i could drop iso 3 stops for the majority of my shooting. also, as you mention, you can purposely catch motion blur without a tripod, which is occasionally nice, but not something i found came up that often. my old oly had a setting using IBIS for panning, no idea about the sony, because it's not something i ever used.

yo bro, no effense here either but I've spent many years enjoying 3 or so step IS - in the lens - so I have plenty experience so go be super annoyed at someone else please. I know what it means and what it does.

xbarcelo wrote:
Not even that. I had several lenses around 50mm that got suddenly better right after I chipped them, so if it works, it's not doing a good job. However, once chipped, it works really well..

My understanding is that it works on unchipped lenses, but it works better with chipped lenses, because the Sony SSS also takes into account subject distance. The test for this would be comparing an unchipped lens with SSS turned on and then turned off.

wfrank wrote:
yo bro, no effense here either but I've spent many years enjoying 3 or so step IS - in the lens - so I have plenty experience so go be super annoyed at someone else please. I know what it means and what it does.


not with wide angle lenses, which is what you are talking about it not being useful for.

wfrank wrote:
yo bro, no effense here either but I've spent many years enjoying 3 or so step IS - in the lens - so I have plenty experience so go be super annoyed at someone else please. I know what it means and what it does.

Yeah, right... IBIS is a dealbreaker?!
I'm not super annoyed but a bit surprised. IBIS is OK with an 85mm lens? Let's see: You need to use a faster shutter speed for an 85mm lens than for, say a 24mm. Let's say stabilization will make it work at 1/40 and a 1/6 respectively. None of these shutter speeds allows you to freeze a moving world - so useless in both cases then, no?
I'm clearly missing something here but when looking at my tiny E-M5 images, including those taken with the Zuiko 12/2, I'm happy with the IBIS.

IBIS together with the EVF is what makes the A99 so attractive for me. I won't go back to any of the 5D cameras I have used. Well, we are all different.

sebboh wrote:
wfrank wrote:
yo bro, no effense here either but I've spent many years enjoying 3 or so step IS - in the lens - so I have plenty experience so go be super annoyed at someone else please. I know what it means and what it does.


not with wide angle lenses, which is what you are talking about it not being useful for.

Come on, your everyday 18-55 IS kit lens @ 18 would be considered very wide by most.

wfrank wrote:
sebboh wrote:
wfrank wrote:
yo bro, no effense here either but I've spent many years enjoying 3 or so step IS - in the lens - so I have plenty experience so go be super annoyed at someone else please. I know what it means and what it does.


not with wide angle lenses, which is what you are talking about it not being useful for.

Come on, your everyday 18-55 IS kit lens @ 18 would be considered very wide by most.

i wasn't aware you shot much (if at all) with that?

if you do, my apologies.

edit: i also have no idea if those are as well stabilized as canikon's better lenses with IS?

Jonas B wrote:
Yeah, right... IBIS is a dealbreaker?!


Please behave, I never said that. I said when comparing various features between the cameras I'd choose the Canon, and I dared to congrat TS for his choice and mentioning one of the really GOOD things about the Sony. People go crazy here.