SELECTING A SHUTTER SPEED


The selection of a shutter speed is very important in photography.  Too slow a shutter speed can result in a blurred picture.  While this might be the goal of the photographer, even if it is, the speed must be selected carefully to achieve the desired effect.  On the other hand, many photographer routinely select the fastest shutter speed possible -- to eliminate blur -- not realizing that the picture might suffer in other ways as a result.  For example, a fast shutter speed means a wider aperture which means shallow depth-of-field and more lens aberrations.

So it's important to select your shutter speed carefully.  Think about how the shutter speed will stop the motion of the subject and how the shutter speed will determine the other camera settings.  But also remember that the shutter speed is especially important with submini cameras.  There is a rule-of-thumb in photography that the minimum shutter speed should be the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens.  For example, with a 50mm lens, your shutter speed should be 1/50 of a second or faster.  While this is a good starting point, it has its limitations.  For example, it also depends on how fast the subject is moving.  If the subject is a race car, 1/50 will not be fast enough.  Also, it depends on if you are using a tripod.  With a firm support, much longer speeds are useable.  It also depends on how much the image will be magnified during the printing process.  The more the image is enlarged the more blur will be apparent.  And with submini negatives and slides the images are magnified much more than normal.  The smaller your negatives, the faster your shutter speed needs to be to eliminate blur from camera motion -- unless you are using a tripod.  

Let's take an example.  Let's say you have rock steady hands and can take good pictures with a 35mm camera at 1/30 of a second with a normal lens.  Let's say the pictures are clear at 5x7, but the 8x10's start to show the blur.  With a tiny 10x14 submini negative, you better use 1/125 of a second if you hope to make enlargements of the same size.  Your other alternative would be to use 1/30 with your submini, but you'll only be able to enlarge them to 3x5 inch prints before the blur becomes obvious.  


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