Originally posted by trevorgrout I am shooting pictures with my DA 55-300 and I am noticing that there is blur at shutter speeds in the 1/30s and even 1/50s. This is with IS enabled.
If I read other posts correctly, to get clear pictures you need to increase the shutter speed if the focal length increases.
So my question is, what should I set my shutter speeds (no action shots) to if I have my focal length at say 55mm, 100mm, 200mm, or 300mm? How much of a difference will image stabilization make if enabled?
a lot depends upon 3 things,
- technique, good technique can help reduce blurr substantially even without Image stabilization
- enlargement of the image. The old rule of thumb was 1/focal length to get an acceptably sharp image on an 8 x 10 print. WIth the crop factor for an ASP-C sensor, this drops down to about a 4 x 6 print, or conversly to print at 8 x 10 inch it needs to be 1 /( focal length x 1.5) the 1.5 is the crop factor. Unfortunately today we all tend to pixel peep and look at our shots at extreme magnifications and demand perfection when sitting 8-12 inches away from an image that might scale up to something in the 40 x 60 inch or more range. I am just as guilty aws the rest in this respect. as I sit here in front of my 22 inch wide screen 1920 x 1050 pixel monitor.
- whether the subject is stationary or moving. Image stabilization eliminates camera shake, but moving subjects will still be blurred due to their motion.
Quote: If I have action shots (ie kids running) I will have to set my shutter speed much faster, what are reasonable shutter speeds for this sort of thing if I am at 300mm?
I hope I have the concept down, if you could help with the particulars I would appreciate it.
if kids are running you need to consider 2 things, first a shutter peed in the 1/300 up to 1/500 range may be necessary, and second, you should turn shake reduction OFF. SR is meant for stationary subjects, it does not know how to interpret correctly camera motion to track moving objects.
Quote: I am sure there is some sort of mathematical formula...perhaps if you shared it that would be great also!
Hope this helps