Shakie newbie

sullfam1

New member
Hello there!!

When I was younger I always took pictures. I started with my dad's old Argus he bought in Korea in about 1952. It was great and I still have it. I then purchased a Minolta and then a Nikon D50, which is what I have now.

Well, I am trying to get back into taking pictures, but have a problem. My ahnds shake a little and my pictures are coming blurry sometimes. I know I can use a tri-pod, but I really do not want to carry around a tri-pod. I was thinking about a mono-pod, but not sure if that will stop the shaking and I never used one.

Looking for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Marty
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

What lenses do you have? You want to make sure your shutter speed is at least 1-1/2 times the focal length (on a DX camera like the D50). For example, with a 50mm lens, minimum shutter speed should be 1/75 second. You might also consider a VR lens which will work on your D50.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Hello there!!

When I was younger I always took pictures. I started with my dad's old Argus he bought in Korea in about 1952. It was great and I still have it. I then purchased a Minolta and then a Nikon D50, which is what I have now.

Well, I am trying to get back into taking pictures, but have a problem. My ahnds shake a little and my pictures are coming blurry sometimes. I know I can use a tri-pod, but I really do not want to carry around a tri-pod. I was thinking about a mono-pod, but not sure if that will stop the shaking and I never used one.

Looking for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Marty

Hi and welcome. I had surgery for tennis elbow and have trouble holding heavy gear steady. VR definitely helps a lot. On some lenses, there are 2 different VR settings...usually normal and active. Most people use normal which is what is intended. Active is for people who are moving (such as on a boat). What I found that works well is to set my VR for active. When doing a side-by-side comparison for my particular arm issues, photos taken with active VR are sharper than normal VR. However, for the majority of people, normal is best.

You'd have to play around and see what works for you. Use a faster than usual shutter speed. That will help eliminate motion blur.
 
Welcome to the forum. The best advice I can give you is the same as Bikerbrent gave you. Even on my full frame camera I use a faster shutter speed. I am shooting a full frame D750 and I generally shoot at twice the focal length. Which is twice the recommended amount. say a 50mm lens I will shoot at 1/100 sec. I have arthritis and the heavy gear gets to me pretty fast some days. You might try shooting in Shutter priority with a high enough ISO to cover it and see if this takes care of your problem
 

nickt

Senior Member
There is a shutter speed out there for you that will eliminate blur. Find it and use it. You might want to shoot in shutter priority Like Don said. I would go with auto iso too. Pick a shutter speed that is safe for you and the camera will do the rest.
 

nickt

Senior Member
Hi and welcome. I had surgery for tennis elbow and have trouble holding heavy gear steady. VR definitely helps a lot. On some lenses, there are 2 different VR settings...usually normal and active. Most people use normal which is what is intended. Active is for people who are moving (such as on a boat). What I found that works well is to set my VR for active. When doing a side-by-side comparison for my particular arm issues, photos taken with active VR are sharper than normal VR. However, for the majority of people, normal is best.

You'd have to play around and see what works for you. Use a faster than usual shutter speed. That will help eliminate motion blur.
Awhile back, I tweaked my Sigma 150-600 for the most aggressive focus and OS settings and I got a better keeper rate. I usually shoot 600mm at 1/1250, but I am finding I can often drop to 1/800 now. I'm still testing on the focus setting, but for sure I like the active OS.
 

Danno

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum. I have the shakes too. Sometimes more than others. The shutter speed helps but not always. I also use a monopod sometimes. The monopod helps me quite a bit.

Another trick I have found is turning sideways to the shot and kind of resting my left hand and camera corner on my left shoder as I take the shot... this also requires using my left eye on the viewfinder. I know it sounds strange but it really helps. It took me a little time to get comfortable with this position, but once I got comfortable with it I found it my favorite position to shoot.
 
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