July 7, 2007
Shaky Hands?
It is not uncommon to shake our hands when we press the camera shutter. After all, we are not tripods or robots that can be hundred percent still especially when we are handling a camera. When you are doing a normal aim and shoot with autofocus, it is usually not a problem where light sources are sufficient. However, when you are trying to take a picture with low light intensity without a flash, it could cause some problems. Given this fact, we should not be discouraged to take night or indoor pictures when light sources are limited. Below are some pointers you can take note when dealing with shaky hands.
Firstly, you can switch to a wider lens aperture. This will allow more lights to come into the camera. Secondly, try to use a faster film or a higher ISO setting to reach faster shutter speeds. Thirdly, mount your camera onto a tripod. This obviously will eliminate camera shake. If you forget to bring along your tripod, look out for flat surfaces such as table tops, chairs or even dustbin top etc.. Place your camera on them. Fourthly, allow as much light as possible into the camera. If you take indoor pictures, turn on the room lights or open the curtains to have more natural lights. Finally, if you can afford, get an image-stabilizing lens which can reduce the effect of camera shake.
As technology progresses, cameras are built with internal devices to compensate the hand shake effects. Currently, there are two types of image stabilization lens. There are, lens or sensor-based stabilization.
For lens-based stabilization, it makes use of sensors, motors and groups of lens. When you press the shutter, the sensors in the lens will detect your hand movement. The movement will be converted into signals and drive the tiny motors to move the group lens to compensate any out of focus. These lenses tend to be a bit pricey. It is also a bit heavier due to the motors and they use more battery power.
For sensor-based stabilization, the motion sensors are put right in the camera body. The digital imager will moved itself to counteract any hand shake. The advantage is that, it is lighter in weight, less bulky and has lower power consumption.
Digital photography continues to become more and more popular for a variety of reasons. Among the many advantages of digital photography are the ability to see your photos quickly on your LCD screen and then on your computer, the ability to choose which photos to print without having to print or develop all of them, and the ability to easily make improvements with photo editing software. Here are some digital photography basics.
Make no mistake, digital photography is here, it’s big, and it’s the way things will be from now on. People use digital photography in their work every day:- police officers, real estate agents, insurance agents, fire fighters, scientists and doctors, just to name a few.