Checking out VR

I belong to the old school - tug your tummy, practice good handling and shot. I probably have 85% success rate with 1/15s, and 50% at 1/8s. So I never did give VR much or a thought even though I had 2 VR lenses in my bag (AFS 105mm f/2.8G VR and AFS DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR). In fact I tended to bring along my AFS DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G for the slightly faster maximum aperture at 70mm, or put the AFS DX 35mm f/1.8G or AFS 50mm f/1.4G in the bag whenever I envisaged low light photography.

Well, today I had a chance to pick up an AFS DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR for slightly better than spare change. Why not? Even though I already have the older AFS DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G – the D50 kit lens that I bought second hand for $150.

AFS DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR.

So I did a short series of test as I picked up the lens, and while waiting for wify to pick up marketing stuff.

Here goes.

Available light, Nikon D60, ISO400, handheld, aperture priority or shutter priority as indicated.

First of window test, cropped, VR on and off as per indicated, Aperture Priority.

Some gain in sharpness even at 1/15 is visible, ditto 1/8.

Well, 1/4 is probably not usable even with VR on, while at 1/2 the effects of VR is evident, though not usable.

Street Test

All with VR on.

1/15s Sharp.

1/10s. Acceptably sharp.

1/6s some hint of sharpness but look at the words on the MRT poster... no good.

1/4s no good.

1/8s ... sharp

1/4s acceptably sharp.

1/2s ... what was I thinking, miracle lens?

Conclusions

Looks like the VR is extending my handheld sharpness to 1/8s, below which the percentage of acceptable sharpness drops quickly.

This lens is giving me 1 stop VR only, since I can confidently hand-hold 1/15s.

Good enough? Well, depends on the purpose.

(a) Give D60 to my daughter for her projects etc - VR will help.

(b) For my personal use, VR is of not much advantage, just 1 stop.

I will still bring my f/1.4, f/1.8 and f/2.8 lenses whenever I envisage low light shooting.