I am happy to shoot @ 1/15th with a 35 Schneider on my Alpa @ F8- 16.
With any MFD kit and a normal or 110 lens - I cant shoot hand held at shutter speed below 1/125th with ANY chance of sharp focus where I want it.
You guys are exteremely gifted if you can.:thumbup:
I think half the battle is being cognizant of situations where lower shutter speeds than you'd like are occurring and taking that into account as you squeeze the trigger. And it does take practice and awareness. There was a time when I could not capture images at slower shutter speeds hand-held and wondered how people did it. But I'm in those situations a lot, and the more I find myself there, the better I get.
I haven't had any real issues shooting normal lenses at 1/60th and if pushed at 1/30th and getting sharp results. Perhaps not razor sharp, but sharp enough. Critical sharpness is overrated in some cases, and if the subject matter is truly worthy and you're on all cylinders everywhere in terms of producing a compelling image, that won't be the first thing you'll notice.
I've recently spent some time pooling together images for a website. Most of them are shot within the last few years, but some are from quite a ways back when I shot film. Over the course of all the images, sharpness varies, but as these are all my favorite shots, it is never the real story, the image itself is. Of course, grand size enlargements will be more revealing in terms of lack of sharpness.
Medium Format has always been bigger, heavier, slower than 35mm. Slowly, slowly (too slow for many) the systems have been moving towards more DSLR-type functionality. It does take extra effort to get sharp results with slower exposures (and to be sure, sometimes it's just not practical), but the effort is often rewarded.
All that said, I know very, very few photographers - commercial pros, hobbyists, fine art shooters, etc - who only shoot with one format. Even in my spare time (the little I have) I shoot with Canon 5D in some situations, Phase One P45+/Phase One camera in others. And I'm on the lookout for an advanced compact.
Unfortunately, getting all the shots we want, how we want, them means carrying different tools for most of us, depending on the situation.
Steve Hendrix
Phase One