Last Updated on 09/07/2015 by Chris Gampat
There is a great way to get more stable images without worrying about image stabilization from your lens or camera: it’s called the reciprocal rule of shutter speeds. SLR Lounge recently published a video all about it, which is after the jump.
The reciprocal rule of shutter speeds states that:
- In order to achieve a stable image that is devoid of camera shake, you must shoot at a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the minimum of the field of view.
- What does that mean? If you’re using a 100mm lens on a full frame 35mm sensor/film body, then you need to shoot at at least 1/100th to produce an image that contains no camera shake when shooting handheld.
- If you’re shooting with a 100mm lens on an APS-C sensor that has a 1.5x crop factor, then you need to shoot at 1/150th at a minimum. Here, the crop factor is taking into consideration.
- If you’re shooting with a 100mm lens on an APS-C sensor that has a 1.6x crop factor, then you need to shoot at 1/160th at a minimum. Here the crop factor is also taken into consideration.
- Micro Four Thirds shooters need to shoot with a 100mm lens at a minimum of 1/200th because of the crop factor.
The SLR Lounge video below visually demonstrates this idea.