At what shutter speed will unsteadiness of hand start to affect my photos?

Question

I'm looking into taking up optical photography again (primarily monochrome). After playing around with my camera again for a bit, I'm pretty certain I've got it all figured out except for this one thing.

Assuming I am taking all of my photos by hand and not using a tripod, at what shutter speed will the natural unsteadiness of the hands become apparent? I seem to recall it being around the 1/30 range. I also understand that different people have different steadiness of hand, but just a general figure will do.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I can get a clear sharp shot with the shutter speed at 1/8 of a second, so long as nothing is moving in the photo, but my hands are quite steady and other people think 1/30 is as slow as they can get it hand held.

Answer 2

Rule of thumb: for a 35mm camera, the slowest shutter speed that can be used with the camera hand-held without risk of movement is the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens in mm. That is: 28mm: 1/30th sec, 50mm: 1/60th, 135: 1/125th or 1/250th for safety, etc. This is a rule of thumb only and can vary with the individual user's state of mind, degree of tiredness, intensity of hangover etc.  

Answer 3

Most people cannot handhold at less than 1/60 of a second. That is why the shutter speed on P&S cameras are set at 1/60.  Though that can be improved with practice.  

Answer 4

1/30 sec is a reasonable starting point. I have gone down as slow as 1/4 in exceptionally bad light and got away with it but I wouldn't expect to do so on a regular basis, especially after a heavy night!

Answer 5

Yes, David's right.  It is approximately 1/focal length.  

It gets a little more complicated with cropped sensors, in that you should also take that into account.  a 50mm lens would normally be 1/50 a second by the rule of thumb, but with a cropped sensor (like most popular Canons and Nikons have) you need to multiply that by the crop factor.  In a digital rebel, it would be 1/(50 X 1.6) = 1/80.

Seems weird, but do some searches on it - it is correct.

Answer 6

David nailed it.

Answer 7

This will certainly differ from person to person so you need to do some tests to see what your capabilities are. You can then practice and certainly improve your abilities. I often may shoot down around 1/4 sec or maybe a bit slower being well aware that it's a chance I am taking but you may surprise yourself. When I first started photo school the instructor actually had us do shoot offs, turning it into a contest. It was fun and it also improved the ability of those whom needed it. In these digital days there is now another factor to add knowing that a good number of lenses have servo capability which adds nearly a full stop for me most of the time.

Hope this helps.

Chris