TOO SLOW SHUTTER SPEED

merv

merv

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Mervyn
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Was shooting at a wedding on Saturday just guests walking past the camera into the church about 20 feet away. Can't believe how many of them are slightly blurred. The camera was stationary and I was not panning. The shutter speed was often 1/40 to 1/60 second and this is obviously not enough to freeze action. What shutter speed should I am for where people are walking past me, not towards me or away from. Was using a 16-85 zoom at about 70mm:bang::bonk:
 
You sure it was motion blur and not a little camera shake? Were you using a tripod?

At a guess (I don't shoot people) I would think that you'd need at least 1/125 for a walking person?
 
You'd need to be rock steady to take handheld pics at 1/40-60 and not get some blurring, especially of a moving object....
 
Maybe you can look at the shots to see the magnitude of the blurr but think about it this way;

Strolling at 3mph is the equivalent of 17.6"/sec or 0.29" in 1/60th or 0.44" in 1/40th. That's the blurr you can expect before your shakey hands add their bit into the frame.

Bob
 
There is a calculation you can make. It's somethign along the lines of

1. How long does it take in seconds for the subject to enter and exit the frame?
2. ??????
3. Profit!!

Actually I can't remeber what step 2 is, perhaps some more experienced people could let us know. Although when you get experienced you really don't need that maths anymore - your just 'know'.
 
Canon Bob said:
Maybe you can look at the shots to see the magnitude of the blurr but think about it this way;

Strolling at 3mph is the equivalent of 17.6"/sec or 0.29" in 1/60th or 0.44" in 1/40th. That's the blurr you can expect before your shakey hands add their bit into the frame.

Bob
Click to expand...

Or to put it another way, can you clearly see the amount of blur in the movement of arms and legs etc? If so, if you halve your shutter speed, to say 1/125sec, the amount of blurring will be halved, and so on
 
Just to eliminate lens shake merv there is an old adage from the deep dark days of film that went along the lines of. Your minimum shutter speed should not drop below the reciprocal of the focal length.

In other word if you were shooting at 70mm, just to eliminate any shake from you, your shutter speed should be 1/70 sec.

I find that I can safely shoot down to about 1/30 hand held but with a static object. ANYTHING moving will require a lot faster and as pointed out, it depends how fast they are moving. I'd suggest recreating that shot with a willing volunteer, keep the distance and speed the same and try it till you get the shot. Then you will know where that cut off is and how to apply it in the future.
 
AliB said:
Just to eliminate lens shake merv there is an old adage from the deep dark days of film that went along the lines of. Your minimum shutter speed should not drop below the reciprocal of the focal length.

In other word if you were shooting at 70mm, just to eliminate any shake from you, your shutter speed should be 1/70 sec.
I find that I can safely shoot down to about 1/30 hand held but with a static object. ANYTHING moving will require a lot faster and as pointed out, it depends how fast they are moving. I'd suggest recreating that shot with a willing volunteer, keep the distance and speed the same and try it till you get the shot. Then you will know where that cut off is and how to apply it in the future.
Click to expand...

Well almost Ali B. It should actually be no lower than 70mm multiplied by the crop factor of the camera your using.;) Even then depending on how well you can hold a camera still, there's a possibility of camera shake. As you pointed out though, some people claim to be able to hold a camera still at much lower speeds and I wouldn't refute that, but I know as sure as hell I can't (old and shaky you see :'()
 
Thanks for the addition Gofer. I shoot on full frame cameras so I kind of ignore the bits that don't apply to me. (I only have so much storage capacity and forget important things :))

I've tested myself with a 70-200mm f2.8 and I CAN just about manage down to 1/30 which I agree is pretty ludicrous. I need to know where the limits of both my kit and myself are though so I know when I need to take corrective action such as upping the ISO. I try not to drop below 1/60 sec if I can help it and that's usually braced against a wall or something solid.
 
Gofer said:
Well almost Ali B. It should actually be no lower than 70mm multiplied by the crop factor of the camera your using.;) Even then depending on how well you can hold a camera still, there's a possibility of camera shake. As you pointed out though, some people claim to be able to hold a camera still at much lower speeds and I wouldn't refute that, but I know as sure as hell I can't (old and shaky you see :'()
Click to expand...

Good ammendment Gofer. Some people think that because it's focal length related, and focal length does not change on crop cameras, then the formula does not change.

And yes, it's a very rough guide. I certainly can't hold a camera quite as steady as I could, and it also varies a great deal on how I'm standing/leaning/crouching/bending/out of breath/hot and bothered :lol: I like IS!

Sorry to repeat what you've said, but worth emphasising!
 
Thanks guys for all the comments. The nikon lens I was using has vibration reduction. I realise this only reduces hand shake and in no ways reduces blur due to a moving subject. Will just have to get used to accepting nothing under say 1/125 sec.
In the name of god, how am I goint to cope with things like motor bikes, birds, galloping :bang::bonk:horses and planes flying past me if I cant cope with slow moving humans!!!!! Any good sites for advice on these other activities - shutter speed, aperture etc. Some of these fantastic plane pics I see - what shutter speed do they require and if light is not brilliant how do you get the speed up. I have a new nikon 70-200 f2.8 and am dying to use it on fast moving subjects. Any suggestions what I should start on?
 
you can check the exif info on a lot of shots if they have it still embedded. This will contain info about the shot and specifically the shutter speed. In Opera I just right click an image and choose properties. Your browser may have something similar.
 
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