IS On DSLR Lenses Versus Point-And-Shoots

[CameraLens]

How come the IS on P&S cameras seems to make no difference at slow shutter speeds but it makes a world of difference on DSLR lenses?

[DigitalSpecialist]

Look at price range for P&S vs Dslr with IS lens!

[Jon]

Partly because typically P&S cameras are held out at arms' length so you can see the LCD, so your camera's subject to more vibration to begin with. Try using the viewfinder instead of the LCD and see if there's still a difference. When your camera's braced with your arms close to your chest and the back against your face, it's in a much more stable configuration than when you're holding it out on bent or straight arms.

[CameraLens]

It seems like they don't even tell you how many stops the image stabilizer (IS) is on point-and-shoot (P&S) cameras.

[Jon]

Because that'd be meaningless to the typical P&Ser, who doesn't have a clue (or care) what shutter speed they're using.

[CameraLens]

It's a funny thing that when I bought the A710 IS I knew almost nothing about cameras (but not that I'm any expert now) and didn't really look for any certain features.

But if I were to ever get another compact camera right now, I now know I would want it to have a viewfinder, f/2.8 and ~6mm at the short end, full manual mode including metering and white balance, histograms, uses AA batteries, a tripod mount, and a good macro mode, but not that that would narrow down my choices or anything. :rolleyes:

It's just dumb luck that the A710 IS happens to have all of those things, because back when I bought it I didn't even know what any that stuff was!

[Lotto]

Hehe, when I was looking for compact cam upgrade for my wife last week, first thing I look for was M mode and manual flash. Even though knowing that she would never use those feature, but I can't stand the tiny on board flash.

We got the A590IS, surprisingly that cam can handle 1/8 shutter speed hand held pretty well.

[Sleepyd]

Most of the Canon P&S cameras have 3-stop image stabilization as standard (apart from A470 which doesn't have IS)

The G10 / SX1 / SX10 / IXUS 980 IS have 4 stop image stabilization.