More than 7 stops too slow, hand held and still sharp.

[arith]

Just messing around trying a few things out with my camera, such as interval timer without the interval, not much use I know, then I got around to how long an exposure I could take hand held.

This is all because I've got appointments in Birmingham and London, and the weather is getting better.

2 seconds, 50mm seated but without support for my arms.

What is the longest exposure anybody has done without support?

[MiniChris]

When I was much younger doing concert photography, I could do that...now, not a chance in hades. I am lucky to handhold at 1/50 and get a steady shot, but then I am older and have type 2 diabetes....and, Steve, you have a perfectly good tripod sitting right there...I don't understand....

[ABPhoto]

I cant get a decent shot on slower than 1/125 !!!! And my horizons are rarely straight !!! My tripod and spirit level are my best friends ! (Thats not counting my husband and my vacuum cleaner ! (And no they are not the same thing !!))

[arith]

Cheers Chris and Amanda; I'm just getting ready for taking the camera out and was trying autofocus, since it doesn't seem to work that well at 50mm, but it did work here although I found the light a bit low.

That's what got me started. It was a lucky shot though since 1.6 seconds was the longest I could manage before although I found I could do 1/5 all day long.

[mythlady]

Well, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one. I can maybe get a good shot once in a while at 1/60, but my hands are just too shaky any more.

[jiro]

2 seconds at handheld... that is phenomenal, Steve. Your breathing technique must be great. I can only go as low as 1/4 second handheld and I time my shutter release at the peak of the inhale state.

[dogald]

I find I can take "reasonable shots at 1 and 2 seconds...but not consistently!
Here are two , 1 second and 2 seconds. (Perhaps the empty wine glass helped)

1 second by dogald, on Flickr


2 seconds by dogald, on Flickr

[tbob]

For the majority of the stuff I do I use a wide angle zoom 16-35, a telephoto zoom 75-300 or macro lenses (105 or 200) so I rarely if ever trust myself at less than 1/60 sec. Even then I usually curse myself, luckily I am usually alone when taking and processing images! Once in blue moon I can handhold to 1/15 but only with the 105 macro or the wide zoom.

Two seconds is phenomenal, I bow to you as a god

My tripod is my friend

[arith]

Two seconds is phenomenal, I bow to you as a god

No, don't do that; I was a bit surprised myself, but I have been thinking and practising, since everything goes black I count the time out in my head in thousands, 1000, 2000,... ect, but first breath out, hold the button in the whole duration ect ect.

Is it useful; sure is if you want to take an HDR with only a monopod.

The lens gives 4 stops but HDR will normally take about a second, and you can't even use the stabiliser in that case.

Cheers Jiro 1/4 sec is quite good, and thankyou Elise, I did this just after getting up, and I find it is not good to try hard in this sort of thing, just plan to breath out, push the button and hold it in.

I mean be determined and not think while you are doing it; well it sounds silly but it works for me.

[arith]

Cheers Douglas, that is a better one; from above and therefore from a standing position