"Standard" shutter speed?

[thebeardedgroundsman]

We know that there is a "standard" focal length for lenses (50mm on Full Frame) which is supposed to give an image closest to the human eye.

But I am wondering if there is such a thing as a "standard" shutter speed. When you take shots of moving subjects a fast shutter speed freezes the movement and a slow shutter speed blurs the movement.

Sometimes images freeze the movement too much to look normal eg: you don't want helicopter rotor blades "frozen" because it looks like the aircraft will fall out of the sky.

Other times you don't want movement to be too blurred eg: we have all seen pictures of water falls where the water looks more like cotton wool than water.

So, is there a shutter speed that replicates what the human eye sees naturally?

[Pieter]

I'd say about 1/50 to 1/100 sec:

When I still had a CRT monitor running at 50 or 60 Hz, I found it incredibly annoying to look at. 80 Hz was fine, didn't really notice the difference with 100 Hz or faster.

Possibly related: in movies, the '180° shutter' rule is often applied to get the most natural looking footage. With a frame rate of 25-50 / sec this results in a shutter speed of 1/50 to 1/100 sec. Often people complain 50 fps footage (1/100 sec shutter) already looks unnatural (though that might also be because they're just used to 25 fps film).

Edited February 25, 2023 by Pieter

[thebeardedgroundsman]

Thanks Pieter - I was guessing about the same.

I wonder if anyone else has a view?

 

[FunWithCameras]

Bear in mind that our eyes are kind-of video devices, more than they are still cameras, so considering the 180 degree shutter angle makes sense.

But I must say that I prefer the sharpness of higher shutter speeds on many photographs. Even when photographing people I prefer a sharper image - people move involuntarily, and a shutter as slow as 1/50 would capture a lot of people mid-blink.

[XKAES]

When in doubt just use auto-bracketing -- with the shutter speed.