Photography For Dummies : 1 Over Focal Lenght Rule

My 70-200 lens that arrive recently doesn't gave me problem except good picture with good creamy bokeh.But this might be because my hand postition and the way I hold the camera have improve significantly over the past few year but I know that if I gave the same exact lens to someone new that dont know how to hold the camera,all the pic will just end up with camera shake unless you are a human tripod – in which case I will be totally jealous – there is still one universal rule that will help you get sharp images, regardless of what lens you choose. It’s called the “one over focal length” rule.

Don’t shoot any slower than the focal length of your lens for sharp images.

If you have a 50mm focal length, this means try to shoot faster than 1/50 second.

If you have a 200mm focal length, you’ll want to shoot faster than 1/200th second.

Keep in mind, this rule can be broken artistically at your choosing, and applies to hand-held images. You may find that you are steadier than the rule the rest of us have to abide by. Or if you’re like me, you may find that bending this rule results in soft focus.

My experimentation has shown me I can’t hand-hold much slower than 1/30 second. Even with my 50mm. Even at a focal length of 24mm. I am not steady enough to pull off those shots without a tripod.

What does this mean? Generically speaking, it means the longer the lens, the faster you have to shoot it to get tack sharp images.

Try it. Get your longest focal length lens, and see how slowly you can shoot and still nail focus. Come back and let me know how your experiment went!