Motion freeze shutter calculator
The shutter speed that freezes a sprinting player, a struck ball or a passing cyclist, from subject speed, direction, distance and focal length.
All tools- Shutter speed needed
- 1/5,787 sOr faster
- Image speed on the sensor
- 69.4 mm/s11,574 pixels per second
- Blur allowed on the sensor
- 12 µm
| Shutter | Blur (px) | × CoC | Within tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/250 s | 46.3 | 9.63 | No |
| 1/500 s | 23.1 | 4.82 | No |
| 1/1,000 s | 11.6 | 2.41 | No |
| 1/2,000 s | 5.8 | 1.2 | No |
| 1/4,000 s | 2.9 | 0.6 | No |
| 1/8,000 s | 1.4 | 0.3 | Yes |
Blur here is how far the image moves while the shutter is open. Panning, a moving camera or a fast limb will change the result.
How it works
The method behind the numbers.
Motion blur is how far the subject's image slides across the sensor while the shutter is open. The image moves at the subject's speed scaled by the magnification, which is the focal length over the distance. Decide how much smear you will accept and the shutter time follows.
image speed = v × f ÷ d × sin θ
shutter = allowed blur ÷ image speedv is the subject speed, f the focal length, d the distance and θ the angle between the subject's path and your line of sight. It uses the thin-lens approximation for a subject far beyond the focal length, and the allowed blur is measured on the sensor: a number of pixels, or a fraction of the circle of confusion (diagonal ÷ 1500).
- The speed examples are round figures to start from, not measurements. Enter your own.
- A subject coming straight at the lens barely moves sideways, so it needs a much slower shutter. It still changes size and focus, which this does not model.
- The figures assume a still camera. Panning with the subject lowers the image speed a great deal, which is why a panned shot can hold at slower speeds.
- Fast limbs and swung bats or clubs move faster than the body. Use their speed, not the subject's average.