What is the best choice of shutter speed for Portraits with a Pentax K-7?

[Photo Marksman]

I use a Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f/1.4 oh and no tripod.

Any advice? I shoot everything at 1/30 but I got told that this was wrong. What exactly is wrong?

 

[Trever1t]

go to your nearest library/bookstore and find a good book on basic photography. Understanding Aperture, speed and ISO is fundamental.

 

[Photo Marksman]

go to your nearest library/bookstore and find a good book on basic photography. Understanding Aperture, speed and ISO is fundamental.

I understand it but if I go faster than 1/30 my shots are underexposed. 1/30 works fine for me, why am I told I am doing it wrong?

 

[Trever1t]

apparently you DO NOT understand the "exposure triangle" do a search on that term, report back with what you've learned.

 

[Photo Marksman]

apparently you DO NOT understand the "exposure triangle" do a search on that term, report back with what you've learned.

With the K-7 it gets noisy beyond ISO 400 so I never go beyond that and well, under aperture 4 I don't get the sharpness that I want. Me is sad puppy.

 

[Trever1t]

ahhhh...ok, ok. You're kind of stuck then to find more light.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I still say troll.

 

[Trever1t]

you may be right....

 

[Dominantly]

For any good portrait, you'll need at least 1/2000 and a monopod.

How about a strobe, and 2 times your focal length

 

[reznap]

Am I doing it right?

 

[Photo Marksman]

ahhhh...ok, ok. You're kind of stuck then to find more light.

We don't get much sun over here.

 

[Trever1t]

it's soblik exacting his revenge....

 

[Photo Marksman]

I still say troll.

Leave me alone dammit, what did I ever do to you?

 

[Juice]

If you're going to attempt ghost writing, at least do it correctly. :mrgreen:

 

[o hey tyler]

Read the ****ing manual, or RTFM for short.

I don't know if Dominantly was trolling or what, but you don't NEED that high of a shutter speed for a portrait, and you also don't NEED a monopod (although I'm not saying it would hurt).

The reason that you were told that shooting on 1/30s was incorrect is because your focal length is 58mm. The rule of thumb is that your shutter speed needs to be AT LEAST 1/focal length. So that means if 1/58s was an exposure stop, you would need to maintain a shutter speed faster than that. Meaning 1/80s should be your MINIMUM shutter speed (figuring in crop factor as well) when using that lens without a tripod or some form of extra stabilization.

That lens should be sharp enough from f/2.2 - f/3.2, giving you more leeway with your shutter speed, because your lens is letting more light in than at f/4.

If you still don't understand what I just covered in this post, read the ****ing manual again.

Good luck.