The general rule is that
you should probably NOT try to hand-hold your camera at slow shutter speeds because the natural movement of your hands will
cause your images to blur.
BUT WHAT IS A SLOW SHUTTER SPEED?
This depends on how long your lens
is, because a telephoto lens will magnify any movement. The guidance for
using 35 mm film cameras is that the lowest shutter speed should be roughly the reciprocal of the focal
length of the lens you are using.
For example: SLOWEST HAND HOLD
SPEED = 1 / FOCAL LENGTH
It follows from this that if you are
using a 60 mm lens, then the slowest shutter speed at which you should try hand-holding your camera is roughly 1/60th
second, and if you need to use a speed of 1/30th or /15th second, then you should be using a tripod.
WHAT
ABOUT DIGITAL CAMERAS?
In most digital cameras the sensor
is smaller than a frame of 35 mm film. This leads to a crop factor of approximately 1.5*, which in turn affects the slowest
shutter speed at which you should be hand-holding your camera. For digital cameras
with smaller than full frame sensors the equation above becomes:
SLOWEST DIGITAL HAND
HOLD SPEED = 1 / (FOCAL LENGTH x 1.5) seconds
It follows from this that if
you are using a 60 mm lens on a digital camera, then the slowest shutter speed at which you should try hand-holding your camera
is roughly 1/90th second. If you are using a speed of 1/60th
on this occasion, then you should be probably be using a tripod.
* The precise factor varies from camera to
camera, but a good working figure for most digital cameras is 1.5
WHAT
ABOUT ZOOM LENSES?
With a zoom lens the focal length
with vary, and therefore the speed at which you can hand-hold will vary.
On a film camera using a 50–200
mm zoom lens, then the slowest shutter speed for hand-holding will vary from roughly 1/60th second to 1/250th
second. (Note that most cameras don’t have shutter speeds of exactly 1/50th and 1/200th
second, which are the speeds suggested by the equation).
WHAT
ABOUT IMAGE STABILISATION?
Image stabilisation lenses (also sometimes
known as Optical Stabilisation or Vibration Reduction lenses) allow you to hand-hold at much lower shutter speeds. The following
table gives some rough guidance.
GUIDANCE FOR HAND-HOLDING YOUR CAMERA
