EOS 300D Slow Shutter

[viper_larry]

Hi All,

I've had my EOS 300D a couple of months now and very pleased with it. A guy at work bought one last week and found that the shutter speed always defauts to slow - around 1/60 generally on the auto setting. Of course, I know you can change this in the other modes, but it does seem a tad slow? Tried it myself in the back garden, and on full wide angle, still dropped to 1/60 or below in fading light conditions.

Is it a feature of the camera or lens to be slow? I don't really have a problem with it, but you do have to be steady with the camera.

Any comments?

[ricardo g]

I would have thought that it would drop to that kind of shutter speed in dim light conditions. What is it like in the bright sunshine?

Dont have one so cant answer your question, sorry!

[david010167]

1/60 does not sound that bad in fading light at night. I would also throw in a couple of other factors.

What ISO setting is it on, if it is set to 100 it will drop to a speed of 1/60 quite rapidly in low light,you may want to try 400 or 800 ISO setting.

Likewise the max apperture of the lens you are using will make a difference.

I do not have a 300D but quite a few poeple round here do and it is a very good camera. I have a 10D which I understand is basicaly the same camera as the 300D, so I would expect to see similar results to yours on mine. However I rarely use the fully auto mode on my camera as I like to be able to pick the settings for the conditions and what I am shooting, in my case I think I would have set my ISO higher in low light and used the apperture priority mode to control the ammount of light Vs depth of field I need.

I hope some of this waffle helps.

David

[viper_larry]

Thanks for the replies (been away a few days). Actually, it was 7pm when I took the test shots so was still full daylight, just cloudy - even I was surprised the shutter was that slow. But, as you say, the Auto setting selects 100 ISO so this could be the reason. I'll play about on the program setting and see if I can improve this...

[ehasler]

Whether a shutter speed is OK or too slow depends on the focal length of the lens you are using. The rule of thumb is that for sharp handheld photos you need a shutter speed number higher than the lens size, for example if you're using a 50mm lens, you should have a minimum shutter speed of 1/60s, and a 200mm lens would need a shutter speed of 1/250s.

Depending on the mode, your camera may just be picking the slowest shutter speed it can get away with with the lens you've got fitted. Your manual should state how the camera sets the speed and aperture settings for each mode.

[viper_larry]

ehasler said:

Whether a shutter speed is OK or too slow depends on the focal length of the lens you are using. The rule of thumb is that for sharp handheld photos you need a shutter speed number higher than the lens size, for example if you're using a 50mm lens, you should have a minimum shutter speed of 1/60s, and a 200mm lens would need a shutter speed of 1/250s. Depending on the mode, your camera may just be picking the slowest shutter speed it can get away with with the lens you've got fitted. Your manual should state how the camera sets the speed and aperture settings for each mode.

Does this apply to the EOS 300D which has a 1.6x increase in focal length?

[ehasler]

I think you need to take the crop factor into account, so you use the lens length x 1.6. e.g., a 300mm lens equates to 480mm on a 35mm camera, so you'd need a shutter speed of 1/500s to prevent camera shake.

[simpo two]

ehasler said:

I think you need to take the crop factor into account, so you use the lens length x 1.6. e.g., a 300mm lens equates to 480mm on a 35mm camera, so you'd need a shutter speed of 1/500s to prevent camera shake.

I would agree with that. It's the magnification that causes the wobble. Depends how you hold the camera, brace yourself etc of course.