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250 The “Recording” (Camera icon) Menu Settings

shakiness. For example, if you’re shooting with a 100mm telephoto lens,
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your shutter speed should be 1/100 of a second or faster to ensure a sharp
image. (If there’s not enough light for that, you should use a tripod to
ensure sharpness.) On the other hand, if you’re shooting with a 28mm wide
angle lens, you can get sharp-looking handheld shots if your shutter speed
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is 1/28 of a second or faster.
With the SteadyShot feature engaged, it gives you the ability to shoot
handheld at shutter speeds up to 3 stops slower (Sony’s marketing material
says up to 4 stops) than with the established rule of thumb. In the example
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above, where you could only shoot at 1/100 of a second or faster, with
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SteadyShot you can safely shoot at 1/15 of a second or faster. When the
available light is low, this can increase your chances of getting a sharp shot
in such borderline situations, like the real-world example in Figure 5-86.

TIP: The owner’s manual says that SteadyShot should be turned off when the
camera is mounted on a tripod. This is because control systems are inherently
imperfect, and if there is no movement to counteract, then the actuators will
likely react to some phantom noise coming from the pitch and yaw sensors,
and otherwise move the sensor at times when it shouldn’t. This rule only
applies to rock-solid, really good tripods, though. If you happen to own a
cheapie tripod and use it with the center column all the way up and it’s a
windy day, your image might just benefit a little by having it on. To be safe,
try it both ways.

Contents of this book Copyright © 2014 Gary L. Friedman. All rights reserved.