Focus or camera shake?

[OptiKen]

How do you tell the difference on a print or negative between pictures that suffer from mild camera shake or one with off focus?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Out of focus can be regional in the photograph while camera shake will be universal, covering the whole frame.

 

[REAndy]

of course depending on the length of the exposure, I can usually tell if the lack of sharpness is "one directional". I've got bad eyes, hard for me to focus, my picts when out of focus, details are "evenly fuzzy". My wife doesn't have the steadiest hands any more, but she's got excellent eyesight and when she has a photo that lacks sharpness, objects have a "trail"

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Yes, a trail or a kind of double image or directional blur all indicate camera movement. Out-of-focus points are spread circles. I guess some circular kind of camera movement could approximate out-of-focus, but usually it doesn't. A good 10x loupe should tell the tale.

Best,

Doremus

 

[ic-racer]

Similar to differentiation between an over developed and over exposed negative. It can be hard to tell even for those with experience. Out of focus images might have something in focus that is not the main subject matter, but if the focal point was beyond infinity, and there are no sharp edges in the subject, it may be impossible to know.

 

[REAndy]

Out of focus images might have something in focus that is not the main subject matter,

Good Point!

 

[DonJ]

How do you tell the difference on a print or negative between pictures that suffer from mild camera shake or one with off focus?

Unfortunately for some of us, it's sometimes both.

 

[benjiboy]

That's a very difficult one, sometimes you just don't know.

 

[trendland]

How do you tell the difference on a print or negative between pictures that suffer from mild camera shake or one with off focus?

To avoid it - there is an all time "joke" between coleagues :

You should get the following book : " Never out of focus "!

With colegues who had bad luck a couple of times there is indeed a

devastating increase : You should get the book : " Never out of focus Vol. 1 - 3" !


with regards

PS : If you are not earning money with you are absolutely alowed to be imperfect from sharpness
PPS : Some specialist get immense money with "shaking camera" :

 

[ic-racer]

A B&W negative can appear blurry for a number of reasons. Loss of contrast, camera movement, severe over-exposure, incorrect focal plane, diffraction, chromatic aberration. These can all be present. Distinguishing the cause is a continuous challenge for small film format users. If it were easy, everyone could be a film photographer.

 

[John Koehrer]

Check for slight vertical blur over a sharp edge. Window frame flag pole, roof line etc either top or side often camera
shake looks like a blur following a cartoon of a fast vehicle.

 

[Arklatexian]

How do you tell the difference on a print or negative between pictures that suffer from mild camera shake or one with off focus?

If I shot it on a tripod, it is out of focus. If I hand-held it, it is camera shake. With me, it is as simple as that.......Regards!

 

[RalphLambrecht]

How do you tell the difference on a print or negative between pictures that suffer from mild camera shake or one with off focus?

as already said by some above in different words, 'out of focus' shows good focus in the picture before or beyond the subject. camera shake is more universal across the entire frame without sharp detail anywhere.