Minimum Shutter Speed

Richard M. Jones

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I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
 
I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be
when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand
shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
The rule of thumb is that one should not handhold at slower shutterspeeds than 1/focal length. So if the focal length is 125mm (35mm), then the shutterspeed should be set to 1/125sec or faster. A conversion for Coolpix focal lengths would need to be done, perhaps in a table as you suggested.

The problem with this is that the ability to handhold a shot varies widely from individual to individual. Another problem with using a rule of thumb is that what if you had an accident and lost your thumbs?
--
FJBrad
 
I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be
when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand
shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
The rule of thumb is that one should not handhold at slower
shutterspeeds than 1/focal length. So if the focal length is 125mm
(35mm), then the shutterspeed should be set to 1/125sec or faster.
A conversion for Coolpix focal lengths would need to be done,
perhaps in a table as you suggested.
The problem with this is that the ability to handhold a shot varies
widely from individual to individual. Another problem with using a
rule of thumb is that what if you had an accident and lost your
thumbs?
--
FJBrad
Using Nikon camera with BSS function will let you use much slower shutter speed. I made excelent pictures hand held with exposure time of 0.5 second using this function.
Yossi
 
Hello Richard,

My experience is that 1/30s with a TC-E2/TCON-14b combo
works fine if you are careful. The swivel helps a lot. A sample
with that combo on a 990 in ambient light:

http://www.kidwriter.com/jgimages/k_recital1.jpg

[I post with some trepidation as one forum member has already
explained to me that the shot is unacceptable. Oh well, I like
it.]

My rule-of-thumb is to experiment as much as possible
and see what I can get away with. Throw away the failures
since they didn't cost you anything anyway.

Hope that helps,

Jim
I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be
when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand
shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
 
My experience is that 1/30s with a TC-E2/TCON-14b combo
works fine if you are careful. The swivel helps a lot. A sample
with that combo on a 990 in ambient light:

http://www.kidwriter.com/jgimages/k_recital1.jpg

[I post with some trepidation as one forum member has already
explained to me that the shot is unacceptable. Oh well, I like
it.]

My rule-of-thumb is to experiment as much as possible
and see what I can get away with. Throw away the failures
since they didn't cost you anything anyway.

Hope that helps,

Jim
I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be
when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand
shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
Very nice shot, Jim
--
FJBrad
 
Thanks, Jim. I don't know why that picture would be considered unacceptable. It's a nice shot!
My experience is that 1/30s with a TC-E2/TCON-14b combo
works fine if you are careful. The swivel helps a lot. A sample
with that combo on a 990 in ambient light:

http://www.kidwriter.com/jgimages/k_recital1.jpg

[I post with some trepidation as one forum member has already
explained to me that the shot is unacceptable. Oh well, I like
it.]

My rule-of-thumb is to experiment as much as possible
and see what I can get away with. Throw away the failures
since they didn't cost you anything anyway.

Hope that helps,

Jim
I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be
when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand
shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
 
1/focal length. Got it. Lucky for me I still have both thumbs so this should work out for me.
I'm curious what people think the minimum shutter speed should be
when taking hand held telephoto shots to mostly eliminate hand
shake. Maybe a little chart based on different focal lengths?
The rule of thumb is that one should not handhold at slower
shutterspeeds than 1/focal length. So if the focal length is 125mm
(35mm), then the shutterspeed should be set to 1/125sec or faster.
A conversion for Coolpix focal lengths would need to be done,
perhaps in a table as you suggested.
The problem with this is that the ability to handhold a shot varies
widely from individual to individual. Another problem with using a
rule of thumb is that what if you had an accident and lost your
thumbs?
--
FJBrad
 

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