Originally Posted by shutterpuppy 
Really enjoying these fireworks pics. I was just wondering if anyone has tried to shoot them "hand held" using a 50mm f 1.4 lens and a higher ISO and then crop?
I've done handheld fireworks shots before, although not with that lens. If I were using that lens, cropping would be the last thing on my mind, though, as it would be too long already if you're anywhere near the fireworks. I suppose if you're standing a mile away you might need to crop.
Anyhow, you don't get the trails you get with long exposures, but they can still look nice. I've tried handholding long exposures, figuring if I'm gong for moption blur, camera shake wouldn't hurt. I was wrong :-). Motion blur looks cool, camera shake looks like camera shake.
Anyhow, here's a sample with the M28/2.8 at 1/20" to avoid camera shake. This one could maybe have benefited from cropping, but I didn't because I thought the surroundings were part of the story. But 50mm would actually have been too long.
K200D, M28/2.8, f/2.8, 1/20", ISO 800