Is 1/160 too slow?

[Bsmooth]

I always loved shooting in Manual on my old film cameras,but not having too much luck so far with my 20D.I walk quite a bit with my wife and 2 year old daughter and last night I was taking a few shots of them.I was shooting with the kit 18-55 at around 1/160 shutter spped which I thought would be fast enough,but yet quite a few shots came out blurry.I keep remembering that rule about same shutter speed as focal length,so 1/160 should be fast enough shouldn't it?

[Pekka]

The speed "rule" 1/focal is about overcoming blur caused by hand shake. Also, the rule is for small prints only. If you print larger, you'll need more shutter speed.

Then there is the matter of subject movement. That is totally separate issue, and it is related to subject distance. You may need 1/1000 to stop movement (e.g. jumping) from 2 meters, but only 1/100 from 10 meters.

[Andy_T]

I'd say that 1/160 on a 90 mm (effective focal length) lens should be sufficient for stationary subjects and 'normal' hands.

However, there are a lot of other ways to get blurry pictures, especially focus and aperture should be considered.

Best regards,
Andy

[2goldens]

You would think that 1/160 would work. Well if that didn't work then bump it up. One good thing about digital is you can start over again. It is nice to be able to look at your pictures and see what you did or didn't do. For me it is what I didn't do.

Just have fun.

Anthony :)

[Jon]

What mode were you shooting in? Did you have CF-16 (Safety Shift) set to 1? Can you post some examples? As Andy said, there can be other causes for blurry pictures. OTOH, 2-year olds can move quite fast at times . . .

[Bsmooth]

I was shooting in manual .As far as Focus mode I was in 1 shot which is where I always have it set.As far as CF-16,I'm not sure what I have it set to.Have to check.It may just be the 18-55 lens ,but I'm getting quite a few out of focus images.Sometime I do wonder what the camera is focusing on,while I'm focusing on something else!

[glangston]

You might try the Auto Focus on just the center point. That's worked better for me.

Pg. 67 and 68 in the manual.

[mbze430]

I was just on a whale watching trip on Thursday. Using Velvia 50, using a 300mm+ lens. So using the rule I knew that I need at least 1/300 to stop from handshake. but now you have to account for boat movement and the actual whale action. So I applied another 1 stop, making 1/600 being the MINIMUM. Having ISO 50 film didn't help either. Because from the metering, just a stand still is 1/320 wide open. So I decided to push the film to 160 ISO (1.7 stop) Now I am at over 1/640 with some room to stop down. Everything is great, except no whales, but plenty of dolphine and fins.... :(

I think next time I'll just go to Sea World and take pix of the jumping dolphines.....:mad: