Beginner Hand held shutter speed

sparker

sparker

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Good afternoon forum, what would be the accepted, lowest shutter speed for hand held photography?

Thank you.
 
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Younger, I was dead steady at 1/8 to 1/15 s.
Now, I am steady at 1/30 s most of the time.
 
sparker said:
Good afternoon forum, what would be the accepted, lowest shutter speed for hand held photography?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
There’s a ‘rule of thumb’ that it’s 1/focal length (35mm equiv) however it depend on both the subject and the skills of the photographer.

I have pretty good technique, and I’d stick around the rule above, bearing in mind that my subjects (people) will show movement at around 1/60.
 
Depends on lots of things. In the old days of 35mm film, and my early digital DSLR days, I used to use the old 1/fl length rule, i.e. 100mm focal length lens would require at least 1/100th second. Then I got older and probably shakier, plus I upgraded to a 24MP crop sensor, capable of detecting smaller movements, and I found I needed to double that for good sharp results, i.e. 1.200th sec for 100mm focal length. Then I started getting clever about keeping very steady, such as by leaning against walls or trees, and discovered that with great care I could sometimes manage to get a handheld really sharp shot with 100mm focal length at 1/3rd of a second -- that required firing the shutter in between my heartbeats.
 
I thought I had a steady hand and an alright technique, but I struggle to go below 1/80 at 50mm on a crop sensor, with IS on i can go a bit lower. I also find if I do a 2 burst shot the second image will be sharper.
 
You'd be far better off considering the shutter speed required for your own subject and taking it from there. Whilst the 1/fl is a reasonable guide, everyone's capacity to take slow shutter speed shots is different.
 
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Size and weight of the camera make a big difference. I can hand-hold at a slower speed with my Zeiss Ikon Contaflex than I can with my ZI Contina, both with the same focal length lens.
 
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I tend to stick to the 1/focal_length rule or thereabouts. But as I put more years on the clock I'm getting shakier so might have to adjust for that.

Howard
 
Really depends on the focal length and what you're shooting.


For example:
1) 35mm shooting a landscape you'd probably get away with 1/30 second
2) 35mm shooting a running person 1/30second would be too slow (as the subject is running fairly fast). You'd need about 1/500 for this scenario (obviously the speed of the runner would vary the shutter speed as what you'd need)
 
The 1/focal length rule is pretty standard and works, but you need to up the shutter speed if your subject is moving or if perhaps it's windy or cold and can't hold it so steady.

Also worth noting that if you have lenses with Image Stabilisation/Vibration Reduction, this can take a moment to settle, so it's worth holding the shutter button down for a second to activate the IS/VR before taking your shot.
If you want to test this, just take a long lens with IS/VR, put the camera on a tripod, hold the shutter button (or back focus button if you're that way inclined) and watch the image move slightly in the viewfinder/screen then settle in position. This is the IS/VR system kicking in a settling down.
This will also affect those of you who say you take a burst and the second is always sharper; if your lens has IS/VR, the system will have settled by the second shot.

But the main reason the second shot will be sharper than the first is that the first shot is affected by the movement of your finger pressing the shutter down, but the second shot isn't; the finger and camera have stopped moving.
ChrisJ_SLH said:
In find that I can get good results at lower speed if I take a 2 or 3 shot burst. The latter shots being better. Not entirely sure why though.
Click to expand...
See above ^
 
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