Shutter Speeds to Avoid Camera Shake (2019) - Lesson 4 of 10
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To review, a long shutter speed (aka long exposure) allows a lot of light to hit the camera sensor because of the length of time the shutter stays open. Also because the shutter is open longer, it allows the sensor to capture motion blur.
A fast (or short) shutter speed lets less light hit the image sensor, so it freezes motion.
Something you must be aware of is how shutter speed affects shooting handheld. Because everyone's hands shake a bit without us noticing it, this shaking motion can be picked up by your camera when your shutter speed is too slow.
This is called camera shake. It looks like your image is out of focus, but it’s actually because your camera picked up your hands shaking.
How slow is too slow to shoot handheld? As a rule, most people cannot hold the camera still for more than 1/60 of a second.
There is another factor that can introduce camera shake, and that’s the focal length of your lens. The longer a lens is, the heavier it gets - and the harder it is to keep still.
But here’s a rule to help prevent camera shake.
It’s called the one-over-focal-length or reciprocal rule.
This is a simple rule:
To safely shoot handheld, your shutter speed should not be slower than the focal length of your lens. So if you’re shooting with a 200mm lens, you shouldn’t shoot at speeds slower than 1/200. If you shoot with a 100mm lens, then you should shoot handheld at speeds of 1/100 and above. A 800mm lens? 1/800 should be your minimum speed to shoot handheld.
But remember when I said earlier that you shouldn’t shoot at shutter speeds lower than 1/60? That’s where the over-over rule breaks down. If you have a 50mm lens (or a lens with an even shorter focal length) your minimum handheld shutter speed should still be 1/60.
If your lens or camera has Image Stabilization (Nikon calls this Vibration Reduction) then you can get away with shooting handheld at speeds slightly slower than 1/60, maybe 1/40 or 1/20 at the most.
To wrap up this video here are a few suggested shutter speeds:
1/125 - Everyday photos/landscapes
1/250 - Children at play
1/1000 action sports
1/2000 bird photography
To receive a cheat sheet with more suggested shutter speeds, visit DavidMolnar.com/shutter-speed.
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