Recently I have heard some photographers suggest that IBIS-equipped cameras have made tripods obsolete. IBIS is a fine thing, but that overstates the case.
“Photographer Patricia Mitchell” — Photographer Patricia Mitchell at work in early morning autumn light in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
Contemporary cameras incorporate remarkable advances in camera and lens image stabilization. Some newer cameras with IBIS (In-camera Image stabilization) claim to extend the useful range of shutter speeds for handheld photography by as much as seven stops.
IBIS can be very useful for photographers who shoot handheld. I do urban night street photography using a handheld, IBIS-equipped camera that supports high ISOs — and I can capture subjects that would have been just about impossible to photograph a few decades ago.
“Morning Shadows and Symmetry” — The line between morning light and shadow descends a talus slope toward a lake, revealing mirror image symmetries.
Getting out of your tent before dawn isn’t easy when it is cold and dark outside and you have to leave a warm sleeping bag. But if you don’t rise early you miss some of the most sublime moments of the day in the high country. And, I promise, once you are up and about you’ll be glad that you made the effort.
On this morning it was almost too dark to photograph when I unzipped the tent, and for the first half hour or longer I photographed in the soft blue hour light. Eventually the first direct sunlight touched peaks high above me and gradually worked its way down the steep slopes toward “my” lake. (At about the time I made this photograph, my non-photographer backcountry partners were starting to awaken in their tents on the peninsula at the right.)
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“Dawn, Pond and Mountains” — Sunrise light strikes Sierra Crest peaks and is reflected in the surface of a subalpine pond.
I recently spent a few days backpacking with long-time friends and few new friends. We headed into the mountains just east of Yosemite and the Sierra crest, spending days in a high place — we were just above 10,000′ the entire time. We camped near this pond, so I was up before dawn to be here for the sunrise show as the first light appeared on the high peaks to our east.
Traveling in the backcountry with non-photographers is always a different experience. During the past few decades I have mostly backpacked by myself or else gone out with other photographers. We photographers have our odd rituals: up in the darkness, breakfast at mid-morning, dinner before the good evening light, then out to photograph and not back until dark. Sometimes I wonder if the others think I’m some kind of ghost.
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Earlier today I was asked a question about cameras for landscape photography, and since I think the answer may be of interest to others, too, I am sharing the reply here. “Pat” asks:
I have been reading a number of your posts and have to say that I appreciate your balanced pperspective on camera selection….something that is missing in much of these discussions.
I am a landscape photographer that purchased a Sony A7RIIII to complement my A6000. However I have recently become infatuated with the Fuji XT-3. While many Fuji users seem to be more street or travel photographers, I focus mainly on landscape.
I would appreciate your thoughts on the “better” system for landscapes.
This is a pretty common question — whether to hold out for a camera with larger sensor and higher megapixel (MP} resolution or to go with a smaller and lighter APS-C format camera with lower sensor resolution.
“Alpine Lake, Morning” — A solitary sunrise angler stands on shoreline rocks at an alpine Sierra Nevada lake reflecting a nearby peak. (Photographed with a Fujifilm XPro2 and the Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 lens.)
You might think the answer is obvious — a system with a larger sensor and high megapixel resolution is capable of producing images with more detail. However, there are some considerations that turn this into a somewhat subjective question with more than one “correct” answer.
The classic understanding holds that, for example, a 50MP full frame sensor can resolve more detail than, say, a 24MP APS-C sensor. In fact, this is true. If you work with care, using a tripod and a remote release and paying careful attention to things like accurate focus, aperture selection, and camera stability, you can produce a larger print from the higher MP full frame image. So the larger, higher MP system can help if you are likely to produce very large prints .
One of my camera systems uses a 24MP Fujifilm APS-C sensor. I’m absolutely confident that I can produce excellent 20″ x 30″ prints from images shot on this system. But my other system uses a Canon 51MP sensor, and it can go even larger, reliably producing 30″ x 45″ and larger print sizes.
Update (1/15/2023): During the past month I acquired a Fujifilm X-T5, a new 40MP APS-C camera. While my main use for the camera is not landscape, I have now made some landscape photographs with it, and I feel like I have a sense of whether the high resolution sensor is useful in this smaller format. In short, it is. Test images that I have made show lenses I regularly use with the camera are “sharp” enough to produce details that benefit from the higher sensor resolution. If you have an older 24MP or 26MP sensor, should you go out and upgrade? Not necessarily. This is not a “night and day” difference, but one you might notice if you make large prints and look closely. But if you are at the point of getting a new APS-C camera and you wonder if 40MP even makes sense in this format… it does.
So, how large will you print? If your realistic answer is, “probably no larger than 16″ x 24″, you can get excellent results from the APS-C camera as long as you use good technique. In all honesty, you could hang 16″ x 24″ prints from the 24MP APS-C system and from the 51MP full frame system side by side… and no one would notice a difference. The odds are that virtually no one would notice at 20″ x 30”. A very experienced photographer carefully comparing side-by-side prints might see a subtle difference.
If you find that APS-C is good enough — and for many photographers is is more than good enough — this smaller format has some other advantages. The cameras tend to be smaller and lighter. The lenses are also smaller and lighter, partly because a given focal length doesn’t have to cover as large of an image circle. In addition, you get the same angle-of-view coverage from a shorter lens. For example, a 50mm focal length on my Fujifilm APS-C system gives me the same angle of view as a 75mm focal length on full frame. And last but quite possibly not least, APS-C sensor systems tend to cost less than full frame equivalents.
So, yes, bigger sensors and higher MP count can be “better…” but perhaps in ways that you’ll never see. So if you won’t print so large (or perhaps you never print at all) and you value a smaller and lighter system and perhaps saving some money… you could be extremely happy with a good APS-C system, as long as you can find all of the lenses you’ll need for it.
NOTES: This article was slightly updated in June of 2021 and again in early 2023.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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