Fast shutter speed - a replacement for using VR or tripod?

Question

Using nikon d40 focused at 200mm, does it mean without using VR or tripod I can compensate for bluriness if set at 1/200 or faster? The idea is I want to avoid buying VR/IS or using tripod but still get sharpest picture.

Sorry for the confusion, I'm talking about camera shake.

Generally, I will shot nature subject, mostly landscapes that I want to capture as close as possible. Tripod will spoil my mobility, especially in inconvenient places (like tip of the mountain). VR is good but I don't want to rely on it, it limits my budget. I want to explore the full power of the cam, lens, & the techniques involved to achieve desired results. Of course tripod has its purpose, also the convenience offered by VR. I'm just a budding photographer, I want to try all possibilities. I'm learning as fast as I can.

DougF - very informative, I have to try it.

Dr.Sam - when I have the opportunity to be born again, I wanna be just like you!

Others - thanks for all those nice inputs, really appreciate it!

Answer 1

You're onto something here. My old rule was to set the shutter speed to the inverse of the focal length or faster. A 200 mm lens should be shot at 1/200 or faster according to this rule. The younger you are, the easier it will be to do this.

Hold your arms tight against your side and not waving in space. The only time not to do this (for stable images) is if you have the opportunity to lean on something like a table, wall or car (etc) to gain some stability.

Certainly photographers use long lenses for about a hundred years without the aid of image stabilization. You can do it, too, as long as you stick to the rules. Or break them if you find that you can get away with it.

If you have Photoshop Elements 5.0 or other programs, you will find an image sharpening tool that is very specific for motion blur. It works surprisingly well. If you don't have it, $99 is cheaper than the cheapest VR lens.

Having said all that, I doubt I will buy a long lens that is NOT VR in the future. It's an awesome feature. I'm older than you are, though. :-)

Answer 2

The 1/focal length rule is an average value derived from experience. Some photographers can even shoot longer longer times without tripod others can't.
The idea behind it is the following: If the camera moves a certain way in a certain time the front end of the lens will move more the longer the lens is (imagine the lens as a lever). Shooting faster times will reduce the time the film or sensor is exposed to light and so the blur visible is reduced.
There will be situations when you need to shoot longer times so a triod or a monopod is something you want to have especially with longer lenses.
And as someone else said it before - those long lenses get heavy.

Answer 3

It really depends on a number of things, the most important of which is the focal length of the lens, and how steady your hands are. The inverse focal length rule says that with a 50mm lens, you need to use a shutter speed faster than 1/60 of a second. On a good day, with care, I can get about eight out of ten shots sharp with a 50mm lens handholding at 1/60. If I've had too much coffee, it's more like half. With care on a good day, I can generally get two or three out of ten sharp as low as 1/30. I can almost always get good results at 1/125. All of this assumes that you're practicing proper camera holding technique. Your right hand should be curled around the right hand side of the camera, with your index finger on the shutter release and your thumb on the back panel(ideally hooked behind the film advance lever if your camera has one). Your left hand should be cradling the bottom of the lens and the bottom of the camera. Your elbows should be tucked in close to your sides. For best results, you should release the shutter while exhaling. Of course, leaning against something sturdy goes a long way also. On the other hand, if you're holding the camera with one or two hands at arm's length, you're likely to end up with a blurry mess even at 1/125. This is a mistake that all too many digicam users make, who then complain about how they can never get a sharp image.

Answer 4

There are three basic sources of image 'blur' - subject movement during the exposure period, camera movement and the optical construction of the lens (depth of field).

Reducing blur comes down to addressing these three causes. Higher shutter speeds can address two of these causes, vibration reduction or image stabilisation can only address the problem of camera movement.

Subject speed - a subject moving at 100kph covers about 28mm every 1/1000th of a second, or nearly a foot in 1/100th of a second. Depending upon its distance away, this will be detectable, and result in blur. Higher shutter speeds reduce this blur, but this is achieved by increasing the aperture, and reducing the depth of field. There is then less leeway for focus errors - if the subject is not precisely focussed, narrower depth of field may result in some blur.

The longer the focal length of the lens, the greater its magnification. This not only magnifies the image itself, but the effect of the small movements in our own bodies as we take a photograph. Clearly this can be eliminated by a good tripod, and reduced by good technique. But it can also be compensated for by using higher shutter speeds, reducing the time our own motion affects the image. A 200mm focal length lens on a D40 is equivalent to about 350mm for film, and offers about 7x magnification for digital cf about 4x for film, so the general guidance would be too shoot at 1/350s or higher. VR/IS also addresses this, allowing the use of lower shutter speeds and smaller apertures to give greater depth of field before camera movement affects the image.

Current lens design has generally halved the weight of equivalent lens over the past 20 years or so, and newer lens are less tiresome to hold and use steadily. But avoiding a tripod has its limits, particularly if you are using consumer level lenses with relatively smaller maximum apertures. These may not allow the higher shutter speeds you would otherwise need in poorer lighting conditions.

Answer 5

This question has already been answered, but I would like to add that you can't focus to 200 mm, that doesn't make sense. But yes, the reciprocal rule really works. I would recommend using at least a stop higher like 1/250 sec.

Answer 6

No. Speed can't replace a tripod.