How to reduce hand shaking problem when shooting without tripod?

5 years 2 months ago #626739 by Vicky12
85 years old male, using Sony a7II and old prime glasses, did some street shooting (with a 35mm f2.8 lens) and natural light portraits (with a 85mm f1.4 lens), and found that all images were blurry due to hand shaking.

Camera settings:
M-mode,  auto ISO. for street shooting with a 35mm f2.8 lens, shutter speed 1/500 ps.  and for natural light portraits with a 85mm f1.4, shutter speed 1/1000 ps,

Street shooting, f8 and hyper focus, I stood still when shooting.
Portraits, f2 and focusing with camera's focus aid and I leaned against wall.

99% of the images were blurry.

Please help if you know how to cope with this problem.

Thank you.
Vicky


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5 years 2 months ago #627256 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day Vicky

Firstly - welcome to the forum, and let's hope that we can help you

The shutter speeds you mention would appear to be fast enough to prevent pedestrian movement blur ...
Q- is it movement blur or out-of-focus blur? as the apertures you mention are all very small DoF apertures

Okay - =IF= it is camera shake blur, then the immediate answer is a Monopod with ball-&-socket head so that the camera can be aimed correctly even if the monopod is on a bit of a slope

Something like this as a starter ...
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1021276-R...ection_aluminum.html

Camera operation - I would be suggesting the 85mm as your main lens as it can easily 'grab' a portrait-style image, with the camera in Aperture mode, preset to F2,8, ISO-400, thus forcing the shutter speed high enough to minimise movement.  I would also have 'continuous Lo-speed' selected so that each photo shoot would give 6 to 10 images at maybe 3 or 4 frames per second. From this selection, you should get a better end result for a 'perfect' image

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

The following user(s) said Thank You: Vicky12
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5 years 2 months ago #627263 by John Landolfi
1. agree with Traveller about checking whether this might be a focus problem. Since you mention using old glass : I have an alpha 7IIs as well, and use Ais Nikkors and Schneider lenses which require manual focus, and have noticed I need extra care in checking focus, even using the good focusing aid. With such wide apertures, your focus may not be where you think, and the DoF is unforgiving.
2.The image stabilization on that body is very good, and I regularly shoot at 1/15-1/30 sec without visible shake. I would bet it is a focus issue. Trey a few shots at f/8, and compare to f2/8
3. I find that shortening up on the neck strap to hold the camera tight to my forehead is a good supplement to leaning against whatever is available.


Photo Comments
The following user(s) said Thank You: Vicky12
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5 years 2 months ago #627264 by Nikon Shooter
May I suggest you find some stability in anything around you?
A fence, wall, bench… anything that would anchor your camera
somehow.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
Photo Comments
The following user(s) said Thank You: Vicky12
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5 years 2 months ago #627874 by Vicky12
Thank you! I do use a mono-pod but it does not help much due to the fact that I can not stand still. Normally, I carry a very firm tripod together with my shooting gears hiking in the mountains. Usually, I shoot with camera on tripod. Or I can sit down or lean against a rock or even put my camera on a rock when I shoot in the mountains. But I can not shoot in this manner when I shoot in the city, street photography. Maybe, I have to give up street shooting and snap portrait shooting.
Thank you.


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5 years 2 months ago #627876 by Vicky12
Thank you. I am 100% positive it is not a focus problem. I tested to prove that it is not a out of focus problem. Shooting animals in a zoo just as shoot in a street, 80% of the photos were blurred if the camera was hand held. But 80% of the photos were sharp if the camera was mounted on a tripod. I have to either give up snap shooting or use lenses with stabilizing ability.
Thank you.


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5 years 2 months ago #627877 by Vicky12
Thank you. Yes, I do that if possible. Usually it is not so convenient when shoot in the streets.
Appreciate your help.


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5 years 2 months ago #627909 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day mate

Your Sony is claimed to have considerable in-built "camera shake resistance" when using Sony "E" system lenses. I am wondering 2 things ...
a) your reference to 'old prime glass' .... is this "E" mount lenses?, and
b) have you tried a shutter-speed test to see what shutter speeds will work okay with your recalcitrant body? :)

It may be possible to preset a suitable fast-shutter speed using "S" shutter mode and leave the camera to do the rest

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

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