A strobe question: What do I do to improve this shot?

John Sheehy wrote:
Paul Furman wrote in news:692rk.4732$zv7.3709
@flpi143.ffdc.sbc.com:

Zoom as wide as possible and set the shutter speed as slow as you can
hand hold without shake: about 1/focal length so for 35mm zoom, 1/35
second works for average people. Faster shutter after coffee! Wider
views gather more light and force you to come closer.

The needed shutter speed is proportional to the magnification; not the
focal length. The 1/fl rule is popular because it works at (near)
infinity. Getting closer with a wider angle does not reduce the need for
shutter speed.

Hmm, yeah, I guess so. Focusing closer actually changes the focal length
as I understand (perhaps mistaken). An extension tube for macros makes
it darker, that's for sure.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

John Sheehy wrote:
Paul Furman wrote in news:692rk.4732$zv7.3709
@flpi143.ffdc.sbc.com:

Zoom as wide as possible and set the shutter speed as slow as you can
hand hold without shake: about 1/focal length so for 35mm zoom, 1/35
second works for average people. Faster shutter after coffee! Wider
views gather more light and force you to come closer.

The needed shutter speed is proportional to the magnification; not the
focal length. The 1/fl rule is popular because it works at (near)
infinity.

The rule was devised in the old days of 35mm film cameras and I
suspect was formulated in the context of the typical enlargements of
the time, which were rarely larger than A4. Strictly speaking to
update it to modern digital camera usage it should first be multiplied
by the sensor crop factor, and then multiplied if necessary by the
larger effective size of final image.

--
Chris Malcolm DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]