One way of deciding the slowest shutter speed that can be safely hand-held for each lens is to consider the reciprocal of the lens' focal length. That is, a 50mm lens can be safely hand-held at 1/50 sec. On the other hand, a wide-angle 28mm lens might be okay at 1/30 sec; although that's probably the slowest possibility, even for something like a super wide-angle 20mm lens. At the other end, a 300mm telephoto lens shouldn't be hand-held at shutter speeds much slower than 1/300 sec. to avoid blurring while a 135mm or 200mm lens should be fine at speeds of 1/160 or 1/200 sec. It sounds confusing at first, but once you get used to thinking this way, it won't be much problem anymore. Most EOS users are familiar with the half-stop or 1/3-stop shutter speeds increments described here but non-Canon EOS users may find such shutter speeds numerical as described very weird due to the other brands having the shutter speeds set in 1-stop increments. It must be pointed out that some of the fundamentals of shutter speeds as described above may be somewhat outdated especially for EOS camera owners who are familiar with Canon's very own anti-camera shake technology in the form of EF lenses with built-in Image Stabilizer (IS) feature that are now available from four EF lenses: EF 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 28-135mm f/4.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM and the latest EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. The advantage of using any of these Image Stabilizer Canon EF lenses is that you can shoot hand-held pictures using shutter speeds that are slower than the lens focal length. For example, instead of shooting at 1/60 sec. with the EF 300mm f/4L IS USM mounted on a tripod, the lens' built-in IS system enables the user to shoot using the same 1/60 sec. shutter speed hand-held and still get sharp pictures. Although Canon does not recommend to use this 300mm lens and shoot at shutter speeds slower than 1/60 sec. for hand-held photography, I have personally shot such pictures, hand-held, at shutter speeds of 1/30 or 1/15 sec with the Image Stabilization mode ON and still gets sharp pictures which are otherwise impossible had the lens being incapable of such feature. Back to using shutter speeds, I must say that some photo enthusiasts do get carried away when it comes to using shutter speeds to "freeze" a subject or allowed a feeling of motion to be part of the picture. It is quite common to read about using the "panning" technique using slower shutter speeds like 1/30 or less whenever it comes to shooting fast moving subjects like bike racing or marathon runners to show motion in the pictures. Not necessary. My own experiences in shooting the FIM World Motorcycle Championship requires the use of a 1/500 sec. shutter speed in order to capture the bike/rider combo in sharp focus while still retaining the effects of panning in the picture. It can be argued that such techniques will also freeze the spinning wheels of the bikes in their track, diverting any feelings of speed/motion from the pictures. << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . 11 . 12 .