Fuji 50-230 II O.I.S. or not?

[AndyH44]

Just received my brand new 50-230 and I'm questioning whether or not OIS is even working. I have the menu set to #2 Shooting Only, but the image in the EVF is always wiggling when shooting off hand. With my Olympus bodies the image always near freezes with half push on shutter button.
The images I'm getting at 230 / f8 / 1/250 are a bit blurry off hand, but are very clear when using a more solid rest.
Any other test I can make to verify OIS is working properly?

 

[KillRamsey]

I don't have mine on me to check my settings, but it should be pretty solid looking handheld, even all the way out at 230. When you start to pan quickly, you should see a slight lag as it corrects for your initial tiny bit of movement.

 

[AndyH44]

To put it another way, I see no difference between just looking through the EVF at 230 or when holding the shutter button half way down. Same 'wigglyness'.

 

[KillRamsey]

Ah. Whatever my settings are (man is that not helpful, sorry), I see it stabilized all the time, half press or no.

 

[tonyturley]

On the X-T1 I have the IS set to "Continuous". Don't know if that makes a difference, but my view - both on the LCD and in the EVF - is rock steady, even at 230mm.

 

[AndyH44]

Just updated the lens firmware to 1.10 and now I get OIS when set to Continuous, but still not in Shooting. Bad lens??? Body??? F#(king Fuji!

 

[AndyH44]

Just checked OIS on my 16-50 and it acts the same. Maybe that's how it's supposed to work????

 

[AndyH44]

Well, as I read on another forum, OIS in Mode 2 isn't noticeable before the shutter releases. Tried a few shots being very careful about my steadiness and the images were OK. Still much easier to set OIS to Mode 1 for me, but I'm wondering how much more power that will use.

 

[AndyH44]

Ah. Whatever my settings are (man is that not helpful, sorry), I see it stabilized all the time, half press or no.

That means yours is set on Continuous. My X-T10 works the same.

 

[AndyH44]

Quick pic of our cat...

50-230 II; 217mm; SS 1/250; F8; ISO 1600 Velvia SOOC

 

[KillRamsey]

Nothing blurry in that shot...

 

[AndyH44]

Yeah....it was only about 6 feet away.
50 yard shot. Not too bad, but my Olympus nails it easily.

230mm; SS 1/170; F8; ISO200

 

[KillRamsey]

Again, looks like it's working well.

 

[AndyH44]

Much better luck when set to Continuous. Getting better with it. Cropped image...

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[KillRamsey]

Good to hear. I think I maybe played around with other OIS settings for that lens for a hot second, and quickly settled on this. I've had no re4ason to revisit that decision since...

 

[tonyturley]

My X-T20 arrived today. I promptly mounted the 50-230 and took a few images of our cat at close to MFD. I set the aspect ratio at 1:1, ISO at 3200, Av at f5.5, FL 95mm. Here she is hand held at 1/9s.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[AndyH44]

Nice shot!
I have no problem getting sharp pics at lesser FLs at close range. It's the distant 200mm+ ones that are difficult for me. Here's my 1st attempt at a BIF (cropped) ..... lot's of them around here!

 

[Andy Garcia]

I have the 18-130mm I get sharp photos at all focal lengths now. Took me a while to get used to the lens. First shots were terrible. Very happy now. Hoping to pick up a used 50-230 some time for the longer reach.

With my vintage Konica lenses 200mm and 135mm I crank up the ISO and aim for at least 3 x focal length on the 200 (hand held) and 2 x on the 135. Works OK get some cracking shots on both. My old Nikon 75-300mm zoom is a bit of a handful and requires a fair amount of luck hand held.

I think it'll all come together for you folks with a bit of time and experimentation. Good luck.