ISO is the unit used to measure and adjust the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. With film, the ISO setting (or film ‘speed’) is part of the film’s physical and chemical properties and can’t be changed. With digital cameras it’s possible to ‘turn up the volume’ on the sensor to make it more sensitivity to […]
Camera shake
This is image blur caused by camera movement during the exposure. The longer the exposure (the slower the shutter speed), the more time there is for camera movement to take place. Any movement is also exaggerated with longer focal length lenses (telephotos). There is a simple way to estimate the risk of camera shake – take the effective focal length of the lens and divide it into 1 to get the minimum ‘safe’ shutter speed. So with a 30mm lens, the minimum safe shutter speed would be 1/30sec. However, today’s image stabilisation systems reduce shake and make slower shutter speeds possible.
Camera shake and how to avoid it
Camera shake is blur caused by camera movement during the exposure. It happens with indoor shots or outdoor shots in poor lighting or at night, when the low light levels mean the camera uses a longer exposure and hence a slower shutter speed. The slower the shutter speed, the more likely it is the camera […]
Image stabilization and how it works
An image stabilizer is used to get sharp photos at slow shutter speeds which would normally be spoiled by camera shake. The minimum ‘safe’ shutter speed depends on the conditions and the lens you’re using, but an image stabilizer can let you use shutter speeds up to five stops slower – or more. Image stabilizers […]