Handheld Shooting - Think Again


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Yipee

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Came across this article which I would like to share.

"Because blur due to lens movement is inevitable at any shutter speed slower than 1/1000 sec., and because it promotes greater care in composition. Handholding is strictly for dead photographers: A human pulse beat will cause 200 microns (about 0.008 inch) displacement for 1/10th second. Assuming a shutter speed of 1/250th sec., this movement alone will cause a 22% loss of resolution with a system that is otherwise capable of reproducing 100 lines-per-mm (lpm). And at a shutter speed of 1/125th sec., this performance would degrade to only 53 lpm—a 47% waste of what you purchased. (Refer John B. Williams: Image Clarity, page 191)"

Agreed? Comments are welcome.:)
 

It probably matters if you're going to spend your life shooting LPMM charts. As for me, I'm going to make some pictures.
 

It's not like it's anything that's not been known for 50+ years.

Simple fact is that a shot made from a tripod is always sharper. However in the real world and using good camera handling techniques it's not of importance unless your planning to make very large enlargements.
 

Here we go again. How sharp is sharp enough? How fast is fast enough for AF? How many megapixels are enough?

Truth is, the vast majority of the photographic population don't need to eek that extra 2% or whatever sharpness gain there is from being worried about things like this. Like they won't miss a 2% gain in AF speed. Or a 3mp boost to 6mp.

I have shots hand held that have been blown up to 20"x30", that are perfectly sharp enough. I'm not pretending to be a superman who can hold the camera super steady, quite the reverse. What I'm saying is, I can get results at that size that I'm happy with handholding (I said can, by no means do I mean always), so you should be able to do so too. And unless you enlarge bigger than 20"x30" frequently, that should be good enough for you too.

Now if you've never even done anything bigger than 8"x12" (or even worse, 4R), then you shouldn't be having this hangup.
 

Hi everybody,
Thanks for feedbacks. I truly agreed with what have been mentioned in the feedbacks. I have enlarged some of my favourite shots (of me wifey) up to 20" x 30" with a 105 mm. I am satisfied with the result and so is me wifey.

It is just that I am amazed there are people out there who bother to work out the minute movement caused by heartbeats, wind direction, wind speed, etc. ..... before they start shooting. Rminds me of a sniper aiming for a target at 1000 m away, where every single factor counts for a "one-shot, one-kill" scenario.

"As for me, I'm going to make some pictures" I second that, Sriram.
 

Originally posted by Yipee
It is just that I am amazed there are people out there who bother to work out the minute movement caused by heartbeats, wind direction, wind speed, etc. ..... before they start shooting. Rminds me of a sniper aiming for a target at 1000 m away, where every single factor counts for a "one-shot, one-kill" scenario.
You mean these are the same people who are shooting handheld?? :eek:
 

Originally posted by Yipee
It is just that I am amazed there are people out there who bother to work out the minute movement caused by heartbeats, wind direction, wind speed, etc. ..... before they start shooting. Rminds me of a sniper aiming for a target at 1000 m away, where every single factor counts for a "one-shot, one-kill" scenario.

Yep there's plenty of anal retentive types in photography who have so little shooting to do other than come up with guff like you're mentioning.

Now if only I can figure out how to transport this new no flex, no vibration non QR 35,000 kg 25 molar reinforced "Wankfoto" concrete camera support from location to location I'll be able to take the sharpest ever pic with my consumer grade 20mm lens .... ;p :devil:
 

Originally posted by Ian


Yep there's plenty of anal retentive types in photography who have so little shooting to do other than come up with guff like you're mentioning.

Now if only I can figure out how to transport this new no flex, no vibration non QR 35,000 kg 25 molar reinforced "Wankfoto" concrete camera support from location to location I'll be able to take the sharpest ever pic with my consumer grade 20mm lens .... ;p :devil:

That's a good one. :bsmilie: :bsmilie:
 

Originally posted by Ian

Now if only I can figure out how to transport this new no flex, no vibration non QR 35,000 kg 25 molar reinforced "Wankfoto" concrete camera support from location to location I'll be able to take the sharpest ever pic with my consumer grade 20mm lens ....

Ah, but 20mm lenses are pretty good, generally. You must be talking about that new Phenix 20-400/5.6-12.5 ultra zoom.
 

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