One of my resolutions for 2025 is (was?) learning how to hold my camera steady. I realized that this is one of the things that pro photographers invest in learning, but as an amateur I had never realized how much of it can be learned by practice.
It is simple: take a mid-tele lens indoors (outdoors has too much light for typical apertures), turn off all stabilization so as not to confuse measurement, shoot something with a sharp transition in the center, zoom in, evaluate. Go from 1/60s to 1/30s, then to 1/15s, then to 1/8s, and keep on peeping pixels. I imagine I still have a lot of room for improvement, but now I can hold 1/15s about 80% of the time, especially if I tuck my elbows and exhale before pressing the shutter.
So here is the idea: my camera has all the sensors needed to teach me this skill real time. It has at least 3 sensors for 5-way IBIS, and could have a mode which just provides an averaged readout for movement using these sensors, either when I press the shutter or continuously. All IBIS cameras could do this with a firmware upgrade, the computation does not take anything extra (less then actual correction, as that is not required, just a readout).
If you are a camera manufacturer reading this, you can use this golden opportunity for releasing the first camera (AFAIK) that supports this.
I am not sure that the camera software could actually read out the signals of the gyro sensors. The correction has to be done extremely fast, and I would assume that the signals are directly transferred to the coils and magnet system to move the sensor bypassing the ācomputerā of the camera.
Also ā¦ there is a few simple positions to learn for holding your camera steady. e.g. stand 45 degree angle and have your elbow rest on the side of your body. or try other points to anchor your arm against to hold steady.
I have the same problem. Iām sure I once knew how to hold a camera properly, back in the days of film and no stabilisation. But somehow I forgot. And Iām really bad at it now. I shake/rotate the camera slightly almost every time I push the shutter button. IBIS saves me: I almost never find camera-motion blur in my pics!
But I know I should re-learn how to do it properly.
The viewfinder level, at least on my camera, is not sensitive/accurate enough.
I have shaky hands (spine cord damage) so my favorite gear is the Panasonic DC-G9 (IBIS) + the 12-35 Vario lens (Power OIS), of course set to Dual IS. Awesome.
My iBIS camera can show me tilt/roll and pitch. My old DSLR can show me tilt/roll. Then, holding steady is one thing, and holding horizontal is another.
One of the most common contributors I see to increased camera shake is holding the camera at arms length and using the back screen for viewing. Simply using the viewfinder instead of depending on the backscreen is a good work practice, but I do appreciate that sometimes the rear screen especially if it tilts offers flexibility that canāt be achieved with the viewfinder.
Another tip from me would be for the photographer to brace themselves against a solid object like a wall during slow exposures. Also hold you breath and squeeze the shutter slowly.
I find that I get a little more sharpness by setting a 2 second delay on my shutter. Yep, even when handheld. When the shutter fires, you are no longer in the act of pressing the shutter button.
There are definitely better and worse ways of holding a camera. The craziest I have seen was probably a woman that was pinching the left side (top and bottom) of a DSLR with her left hand, while zooming with her right hand
I would say that the most important aspect is how you use your left hand. Anything other than supporting the lens and/or body from underneath will introduce additional instability. If youāre used to grabbing the lens from the side/above, it might feel strange at first, but I guarantee that itās worth it.
Highly scientific (ahem) testing:
More good advice:
For portrait/vertical orientation specifically, this has some great insights - especially if youāre a woman (Iām not, so I never considered that boobs could get in the way):
I do that. My most-used lens is 135/1.8: it is heavy enough that I must support it from below. It is still not enough to prevent the twisting motion of the shutter-button push.
Iām realising that I am simply holding the right-hand grip too loosely. I have to grip that grip a bit more. and think about how the rest of my hand and fingers are opposing the shutter finger.
Thank you for the recommended videos which I will see later. I seem to remember, but not well enough to find, a camera-holding video based on techniques for holding, ahem, things more lethal than cameras.
At shutter speeds of around 1/250, and with the wonders of IBIS, my results are fine. But Iām being sloppy and want to improve.
And yes, for the rare portrait-orientation shots I take, I do hold the camera wrong, like the thumbnail for your third video.
Yes, if youāve ever had proper rifle training, pretty much everything you learned about grip, trigger finger, breathing and positions can be applied to using a camera.
After watching that video, I did some testing and as long as you have your left hand underneath (and not on the side as she has), both ways work about equally well, in terms of stability. The first of the two might even be slightly more stable.
I remember learning to shoot the Lee Enfield Mk. IV(?) rifle as an Army Cadet in the '50s. Breath in, then stop. Arms pressed into the sides and slowing increasing trigger pressure so that discharge comes as a surprise. All sounds a bit familiar, IIRC.
Thanks for the interesting replies about proper camera grips etc. Just to clarify: all of those still require looking at your shots. Using the information directly from the sensors would just make it easier to learn all the techniques you mentioned, as it would give real-time feedback.
A DIY alternative may be mounting a laser pointer on the camera (eg the hotshoe), standing in front of a wall and trying to hold the dot steady.
I guess there is some overlap in the required skillsets, but I would assume that a shooter would be interested in not moving the rifle in the instant of pulling the trigger, while a photographer is more interested in holding the camera steady for a significant fraction of a second.
