The best settings for shaky hands?

Hi,

I've got rather shaky hands, which is somewhat annoying in that it can mean blurry images more often than not.

I use as fast a shutter speed as possible and have the image stablisation turned on, but do you have any other advice short of carrying a tripod around with me?

A monopod.

It depends on your shooting style and subject ... if you're doing slower considered sort of things, and you've got the time, then why not carry a tripod? It usually results in better images for all of us if its that kind of shot.

Focal length and ISO play a part as well of course - what camera are you using? You may be able to set a far higher ISO than you actually are - that will bump up your speeds. Try Tav mode (if you have it) - make sure you're setting a 50% more than the numerical equivilent of the focal length (eg 100 mm use 150th/sec), choose you're aperture, then let the camera give you the ISO.

Or you could shoot wider and crop in on the computer.

This might be useful, very cheap too! link

I'll perhaps try a monopod which I see are now available with little feet on the bottom for added stability.

I try to keep my elbows close into my body and all that but it seems to make little difference and I'm slightly skeptical of that string method for that reason.

A simple bean bag is a fantastic accessory and often even better than a tripod. There's often a tree or wall or something to rest the camera on.

Don't spend to much time with your finger on the shutter button before taking the picture. When I do the shaking starts....!!

1] Spread your legs a bit

2] Grasp your right upper arm with your left hand almost like you're folding your arms * you're left arm is over hte top of your right lower arm ) and ...

3] lift upper left arm a bit and rest the camera on your left upper arm close to your shoulder ( you'll be standing almost side on to the target )

4] Lower head down a bit to look through the viewfinder.


I came up with this as a modification to a method posted in a thread here some weeks ago. It's actually very stable indeed and works just as well when you're sitting down

Says the man with Leslie Phillips as his avatar.

Well hello!!

You mean thats not actually him?

ding dong

Less Caffeine?

Take a look here>link

Might be something in it that you can adopt?

Assuming you are using an SLR, your left hand should be underneath the lens, not holding the camera body. Your left hand should be taking most of the weight of the camera.

And don't hold your breath. Breath out gently as you press the shutter.

Remember you can take a few shots at a time - memory is free. Then you can remove the shots you don't need later.