How do I take sharper photos?

[aztechnology]

AFAIK the handheld rule is not to drop below 1/focal length. If you're shooting at 50mm then you really dont want to go for a shutter speed longer than 1/50th. If you're shooting at 300mm you dont want to go longer than 1/300th. And so on.

This is the traditional rule of thumb, if you are using an APS-C sized sensor (1.6 crop), you need to remember that this needs to be factored in too. so that 50mm on the lens is about 1/80s shutter speed (50x1.6)


Back to the origanl question. You need to make sure that you have a shutter speed that is holdable, and that you have the desired elements inside the DoF and that in the final image you are using at least a bit of unsharp mask. everything then should be ok.

 

[robmiller]

This is the traditional rule of thumb, if you are using an APS-C sized sensor (1.6 crop), you need to remember that this needs to be factored in too. so that 50mm on the lens is about 1/80s shutter speed (50x1.6)

No it's not, it's still 1/focal length. You're just cropping, it's not like you have extra reach which translates to greater shake.

Regardless of the crop factor of your sensor or if you're using full frame or if you're using film, the rule remains 1/focal length.