Photography Basics pt.3 Understanding shutter speed

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The Shutter

Last episode we looked at the aperture, now it's the turn of the shutter.

From our perspective today, we're going to look at two different types of shutter.  One is mechanical and the other is electronic.   

Older DSLR cameras will be mechanical, but the newer, mirrorless cameras (which have effectively taken over from DSLRs) tend to offer both mechanical and electronic options.

Understanding the pros and cons of both systems will help you make the right choice for the shot you're taking.  Certainly, electronic shutters have a lot to offer, but there are some drawbacks, some disadvantages.  However, as technology improves, so we can expect those disadvantages to eventually disappear.


Camera Shake

Controlling your shutter speed will help you avoid  'camera shake'. 

Many times over the years, students have complained to me that their photos are out of focus.  In reality, the focus is fine, but the images look blurred or soft because the shutter speed has been too slow.  There is a limit to how steady we can hold the cameras in our hands.  Once you go below a certain threshold, blurring will occur and that threshold varies from lens to lens, or rather, from focal length to focal length.

In simple terms, the longer your focal length, the faster your shutter needs to be  to avoid camera shake.  I refer to this speed as the MHHSS (minimum hand-held shutter speed).

Working out the MHHSS was very easy back in the days when we were all shooting with 35mm film cameras.  I was taught it by my school photography club at the tender age of 14, and the principle still holds today, over 50 years later. 

These days however, many of us shoot with cropped sensor cameras, which have a magnification effect on every lens we use, and so we have to take that into consideration.


Getting a Bit Technical

This episode of Tog-Talk does get a bit technical, and some listeners may have to take notes to help them get their heads around it.   

Some photography subjects were always going to be tougher to explain without visuals and if by the end of this podcast, you are still struggling a bit, you may want to consider signing up for one of our workshops (providing you live near our training centre in Hampshire in the UK).  I have provided a link to our Introduction to photography one-day workshop below.


Some links from the discussion:

• Crop Sensor Cameras.  

This ancient video I made back in 2016 should help explain what a cropped frame (or cropped sensor) camera is.  

Got a Photography Question?

If you have a burning question about (virtually) anything to do with photography, click on this link. You can record your question onto your device (phone, laptop, etc) and if picked, I will play it during the show. https://www.tog-talk.com/voicemail/

Looking for courses

Want to find out about my live, in-person workshops, check out the Hampshire School of Photography website:

https://www.hampshirephotoschool.com

Hampshire Photography Network

A free Facebook group for amateur photographers who want to connect, collaborate and grow together.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1222685165227144

Contact me

You can contact me by leaving a message via this link: https://www.tog-talk.com/contact/