Joel Wilcox wrote:
>Hi Ulf,
>I'm kind of envious and astonished that you can handhold these bazookas,
>since I usually reach for the tripod just before the 200 comes out of the
>bag. Care to share any tips? What's the barrier, metaphorically or
>literally, and how did you break it? Plus, what's the entire combination
>of values? How slow can you go on shutter speeds, etc.?
Just let me say that I'm NOT any phantom on this, but, with practice anyone
should be able to get good, sharp images with let's say a Sigma 400/5.6 at
1/250 sec randomly. This lens is light and well balanced with an OM and fits
nicely in your lefthand palm. The 300/4.5+1.4x I havent tried much, being
even slower than the Sigma. The Tamron 400/4 I haven't used handheld -yet.
Note that I'm saying randomly. Not every frame, maybe just 1 in 2-4 will be
sharp enough.
There are situations that require handheld photography, the arctic tern on
the Oly Gallery being one. Shutterspeed here was 1/500 sec and the slide is
as sharp as can be, but in all honesty I also must mention that there were
two other frames fuzzy and unusuable. With a tripod I wouldn't get any shot
at all. Sometimes you just have to make those decisions.
I personally have never been succesfull with anything slower than 1/250 at
400mm, and I have never even attempted to handhold at greater focal lenghts
than this. But I know others have, a bird photographer friend of mine
frequently uses 560mm at f/5.0 with extremely good results.
Some photographers claim to be able to use a monopod with these focal
lengths at speeds of 1/30 sec, this I have never been successful at, I
haven't even been close.
The bottom-line: Use a tripod whenever you can. Not using one may work, but
is pretty much the exception to the rule. Then again, a photographer who
never breaks any rules will never learn anything new.
Cheers
Ulf Westerberg
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