Free tool

Handheld shutter speed calculator

Blur from camera shake is a shutter speed problem before it is a technique problem. This works out the slowest speed you can reasonably hand-hold from three things: your focal length, your sensor size, and how much stabilization your camera has.

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Where these numbers come from

The baseline: the reciprocal rule: A long-standing rule of thumb says your shutter speed should be at least one over the focal length — 1/50 second for a 50mm lens. It has to be the 35mm-equivalent focal length, because a crop sensor magnifies camera shake along with everything else. A 25mm lens on Micro Four Thirds shakes like a 50mm, not like a 25mm.
The cautious figure: one stop faster: The reciprocal rule comes from film, and modern high-resolution sensors resolve small movements that film and early digital bodies simply hid. Doubling the speed is the common allowance for that. If you pixel-peep, or your hands are not steady, start here rather than at the baseline.
The stabilized figure: stops are doublings: A stop is a doubling. A camera rated at 5 stops of stabilization is claiming you can use an exposure 2⁵ — that is 32 times — longer than the baseline. The arithmetic is not in dispute. Whether you get the full rating is another matter entirely, which is the next section.

Read the stabilized number carefully

It is the manufacturer's laboratory claim, carried through the arithmetic. Put a 25mm lens on an OM-5 and this calculator will tell you 2 seconds, because 7.5 stops applied to 1/50 second really does come out at 2 seconds. Almost nobody hand-holds 2 seconds.

CIPA ratings are measured on a shake table under controlled conditions, with a lens the manufacturer chooses. Real results are usually worse, and they are worse for you specifically if your hands are less steady than the test rig. Treat the baseline and the stabilized figure as the two ends of a range, and expect to land nearer the baseline than the label suggests.

Stabilization also only corrects camera movement. It does nothing for a moving subject. A walking grandchild at 1/8 second is a blurred grandchild no matter how many stops the body is rated at.

If unsteadiness is new, worsening, or affecting everyday tasks, that is worth raising with a qualified clinician rather than solving with equipment.

Using it in practice

The practical method is to start at the cautious figure, take a few frames, and check one at full magnification on the back of the camera. If they are sharp, try a slower speed and check again. Keep going until they stop being sharp, then go back one step. That number — your number, on your camera, with your hands — is worth more than any calculator.

What this tool is for is giving you a sensible place to start, and showing you how much the three variables actually move it.

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Technique for holding a camera steady · Compare cameras by stabilization · Beginner photography resources