Handholding Mamiya 7II at 1/60 of a second.

[tara_ratliff]

What is the safest you can handhold with the Mamiya 7 II? I generally always use a tripod, but this past

weekend I started photographing 5 children with the 4x5 and 20 minutes later decided to whip out the

Mamiya 7 II when they began crying and getting cold. It was pretty chaotic and they were all ready to quit

so I didn't even bother to use a tripod. I had it at 60 of a second, but not even sure how steady I was. I

am worried they will all have camera shake. I have no idea why I didn't switch it to 1/125.

[lwg]

I have taken tack sharp shots at 1/15th on the Mamiya 7. I have also taken blurry pics at 1/125th. If I am not tired I can routinely get good results down to 1/30th. That's all with a 65mm lens. The 150mm lens is a different animal.

 

I imagine you could easily have some sharp shots if the kids held still and you weren't using the 150mm lens.

[Scott Ridgeway www.Scott]

I only use the 65mm lens. I try not to shoot below 1/30th. If I'm braced against something solid, I'll try 1/15th.

[david_henderson]

My experience is similar to those above, but much is going to depend on the use you make of the photographs. If you're making large prints I'd want to try to keep the speed up as much as possible, and use a tripod whenever I could. Small prints and viewing on screen are obviously less critical applications. At 1/60 second with kids I'd be more worried about subject movement than whether I could hold the camera pretty steady.

[eric_brody]

Maybe when the kids were crying and getting cold, it was time to quit rather than pull out another camera and turn them off from being photographed for the foreseeable future.

 

Eric

[victor_moss]

'What is the safest you can handhold with the Mamiya 7 II?'

 

 

Everything else remaining the same, a stop and a half more than your minimum for an SLR.

[john_stockdale2]

I've used 1/15 (with Mamiya 6 and 50mm lens) and got a very good print of 12"x12", but I was lucky. The thought of photographing 5 children with 4"x5" doesn't thrill me, I have to say.

 

You have a good chance of 1/60 with 80mm lens being good, but it depends on the print size at the end of the day.

[mark liddell]

I've used 1/30 with the 80mm in a pinch and been ok. Photographing kids, I'd be more worried about subject movement than camera shake!

[mag_miksch]

IMO the Mamiya 7 has no camera shake, its a RF.^^

[ben_collier]

You could just process your film and see. Or, you could actually test to determine what your personal handholding shutter speed threshold is, for future reference.

 

Just a thought.

[david_schwartz6]

Photographing children can be very exhausting -- I spent two hours doing a fashion photo shoot with two one year olds, and I aged three weeks in the process. You need something flexible, easy, and unintrusive -- IMHO, 35 mm probably more appropriate than MF, but if you are using a Mamiya7ii, you'll find that it feels so much like a 35mm that there is little difference. I would think the bigger problem with using a Mamiya 7ii handheld would be the rangfinder focusing -- I find it's always slower than split screen TTL. I guess my final thought is that the right shutter speed depends in large part on the type of shooting you are doing, and the effect you want to get. Sometimes, having slightly blurry photos of kids knocking around can be quite dynamic, and adds to the overall energy of the shots. Sometimes, you want to freeze them absolutely still -- for example, in more formal settings. My own experience is that at 1/60, I am lucky to hold the camera still enough to approximate a tripod about 30% of the time, and as one of your respondents said above, it varies highly with the amount of time for the shoot -- the more tired you get, the more difficult. Good luck!

[ronnie_pettit2]

<p>i say try it lower. i sometimes handhold at 1/4 and even 1/8th. i have to go to my inner sniper rifle mode but i can get more than acceptable results. my point is find your personal limit so you will know what you can or cannot get away with. those extra 2 or 3 stops mean the difference between getting the shot or not at all. on the other hand if a tripod is available i'm going to use it.</p>