RULE OF THUMB HANDHELD SHUTTER SPEED?

As a rule of thumb, what is the lowest shutter speed one can use without image stabilization? Some people have better abilities than others so I would expect the speed to vary. That said, I am looking for what an advanced amateur should be using.

Thank you,

zucchini

How long is your lens? I usually observe the 1/focal length rule.

For 35mm cameras the rule of thumb was always 1/focal length for shutter speed, as Elizabeth says.

For crop cameras, like most of our DSLRs, it's 1/(fl * crop factor).

That is, if you're using a 200mm lens, 1/320 is the minimum.

BTW, it takes a while to learn how to take a shake-free picture at this figure...

-js

I have not heard of that rule. It sounds very easy to follow!

My lenses are listed below in my signature.

Thank you,

zucchini

The old rule of thumb has always been 1/focal length. With the advent of digital, and cropped bodies, it now seems to be 1/focal length x crop factor. So, for example, at 300mm the old rule would be 1/300 sec. With your XTi, the crop factor gives you the field of view of a 480mm lens, so 1/480 sec. These are rough guidelines only. The longer the lens, the more I'd err on the side of speed.

crn3371 wrote in post #4076285
These are rough guidelines only. The longer the lens, the more I'd err on the side of speed.

Yeah. I can usually get away with even slower shutter speeds wth wide-angle focal lengths.

If you practice you can usually manage a bit slower than 1/length, at least in my experience. I can usually manage 1/125- 1/160th or so with a 70-200, I think most probably could with some work.

I won't use lower than 1000/sec with my 300mm Nikkor...

number six wrote in post #4076271
For 35mm cameras the rule of thumb was always 1/focal length for shutter speed, as Elizabeth says.

For crop cameras, like most of our DSLRs, it's 1/(fl * crop factor).

That is, if you're using a 200mm lens, 1/320 is the minimum.

BTW, it takes a while to learn how to take a shake-free picture at this figure...

-js

And that is the BARE MINIMUM. You really should plan on 2-3X faster to gain good sharpness.

J.

I can hand hold 300mm at f5.6 taking a shot of a slow moving car with IS at 1/60th at ISO100.

NSWESP wrote in post #4079810
I can hand hold 300mm at f5.6 taking a shot of a slow moving car with IS at 1/60th at ISO100.

zucchini wrote in post #4076240
As a rule of thumb, what is the lowest shutter speed one can use without image stabilization?

Reading is good.

I saw that, I was simply stating what IS can acheive.

Good thread I did not realise that you had to multiply by the 1.6 cropfactor
I have found though that a speed of 160/ 200 will consistently give sharp shots with a 105 macro. In good conditions holding the camera steady and using burst I can get good shots at 60.
Pete
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Without IS I'd say 1/160th at 400mm.

With IS on I'm getting keepers with 1/30th also, but ratio is rather low of course. Maybe 5 out of 30.

I don't understand why you would need to increase the shutter speed for a crop camera. The physical focal length of the lens is the same if you use a full frame or a smaller sensor. The difference is that the sensor is smaller and thus only capturing a smaller portion of the same area that a full frame would.

It doesn't change the physics of motion/focal length at play, so the camera/lens motion would be the same on a full frame and a cropped camera. So the same 1//focal length should apply. The actual physical focal length hasn't changed at all between FF and crop.

Am I missing something?