hand-holding telephoto lenses

Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 61

I know that the following depends on shutter speed, but in general, with IS how long of a lens can you hand-hold and still get good shots?

brian

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:13 pm

You've kind of answered your own question. The rule of thumb is the shutter speed should correspond to the focal length of the lens you are using. If you have a 200mm lens you should keep the shutter speed to 1/200 or faster.

IS (VR for Nikon) will give you a good 2-3 and sometimes 4 stops in ideal conditions. So taking the above 200mm lens you theoretically could go down to 1/50 or even 1/25. Personnally I probably wouldn't push it any farther than 3 stops, especially if it is a really important shot.

The focal lenth of the lens shouldn't matter as long as you can hold it relativly steady and only you can determine how much weight you can support.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:14 pm

Wanted to delete a double post but don't see that option. So.......

Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 61

yeah, sorry about the double post, there were some issues when trying to make the post, i clicked "submit" and it brought me to a blank page...long story short, I couldn't see my post that I made.