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Does a zoom lense always need tripod ?

Started Dec 24, 2015 | Questions thread
RedFox88 Forum Pro • Posts: 30,738
Re: Does a zoom lense always need tripod ?

Stu Brennan wrote:

IIRC there was an old rule of thumb from back in the 35mm film days. The shutter speed should be, according to the rule, faster than "1 over the focal length". If you are at 500mm, for instance, the shutter should be at 1/500 or faster. If you can't manage that, then you need a support or a tripod. I assume that today's image stabilization would allow you to cheat that a little, but probably not much

Stu

No.  With aps-c you need to multiple the focal length by 1.6 to get the effective focal length. And the OP's lens has IS which provides about 2.5 stops of stabilization. So a 250 mm is 400 and with 2.5 stops brings it down to about 80 so 1/80 shutter speed minimum needed for normal hand held use.

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