What's the slowest shutter speed I can use without a tripod with a 28-80mm lens?

Answer 1

most of the responses above are the rule for 35 mm film cameras. if you are shooting digital then the effective camera motion is multiplied by the effective magnification factor. thus 80 mm digital is the same as 150 mm for 35 mm film, which cannot be reliably hand held at 15th second.

if hand held shots are important to you, then there is NO substitute for practice. find a comfortable shooting position. shooting at 1/15 is a skill that can be learned, but double or triple shoot as it is always iffy. remember at this speed, motion of the subject can also cause blur.

a tripod is not always needed, use walls, posts, pillows, tables and other found items to stabilize your position. with a prop you can go below 1/15 but then you will need a cable release.

Answer 2

That depends on whether you've had some caffeine or not. Just try it and see. Take a deep breath and s-q-u-e-e-z-e the shutter release. If it's insanely important to hold the camrea steady and you don't have a tripod or other bracing device, use the self-timer, even though you will be hand-holding the camera. It helps. Take a deep breath when there are about 2 seconds to go before your exposure and hold it.

I like the rule stated above by Schwatrzadler, as this is what I first learned as a guideline, but I found (when I was younger anyway) that I could beat this by at least a couple of stops. This means 80 mm could be hand-held down to 1/15th without too much trouble.

I'll tell you one thing... When I think I've got a fairly sharp picture, all I have to do is view it full-sized on the computer and I embarrass myself most of the time.

Answer 3

A guide line in photography is the shutter speed closest to the focal length. So set at 28 mm 1/30, set at 80 mm 1/60. But to be sure use one shutter speed above it.

And if every shot taken without a tripod would be a "snapshot" than many famous photos and almost every news photo ever made would be. Including many, many world famous award winning photos and many, many Magnum photos. Like the work of Henri Cartier Bresson, William Klein, Martin Parr and Robert Capa, to name just a few "snapshot" photographers.

Answer 4

It depends on how fast your lens is, in other words, what your maximum aperture. Typically, the longer the focal length being used the greater the chance of blurred images due to camera shake. Depending on where you are shooting, with a wide aperture at your lenses longest focal length, in this case 80mm, any slower than 1/75 and you may have difficulty. With a steady hand you can shoot as low as 1/10, but it helps if you can stabilize the shot by kneeling and using your knee to steady your shot, or lean against a stationary object. Also, if you use a higher ISO, you can compensate for camera shake. Indoors, with a wide aperture and an ISO of 1600 you can shoot at 1/10 and still get a good image, but again if your lens is faster than f/3.5 this will be easier. Outdoors you can get away with a higher ISO, but anything over 800 and you'll have a lot of grain, but if you shoot in B&W grain looks good. You'll have to provide a bit more info on what you are trying to shoot for me to advise any more specifically.

Answer 5

Run your own tests. It will depend on your steadiness (you are the tripod), and your acceptability of the result. You may find that 1/60 is the bottom end.

Answer 6

You can probably use 1/60th of a second, but I use a tripod on that. YOu can use 1/125th with no problem. I use the general rule that any picture that is taken without a tripod is a snapshot, not a quality photograph.