Motion blur and slowest shutter
How many pixels the image smears at your speed and shutter, and the slowest shutter that keeps blur under a limit.
Planning and education aid. Not for primary navigation. Full disclaimer
Experimental: not yet fully verified. How results are checked
The image smears 0.365 pixels; keep the shutter at 1/730 s or faster.
- Slowest shutter
- Slowest shutter (fraction)
Provenance
- Computed by
- drone.photogrammetry.motion-blur 1.0.0, core 0.1.0
- Model
- Blur = groundspeed × exposure / GSD
- Accuracy
- Exact for straight, level flight; vibration adds blur
- Notes
- 1 shown with the answer
- Cites
- Wolf, P. R., Dewitt, B. A., and Wilkinson, B. E., McGraw-Hill, Elements of Photogrammetry with Applications in GIS
Something look off?
How we got thisFormula, worked example, sources, and proof
Model: Blur = groundspeed × exposure / GSD
Accuracy: Exact for straight, level flight; vibration adds blur
Worked example: 10 m/s at 1/1000 s with a 2.741 cm GSD. Source: add-drone-suite scenario: 0.365 px; 1/730 s for 0.5 px. It is golden test vector v001, and every build checks the tool still gives its answer within its tolerance.
You enter
- Exposure time
- 0.001 s
- Groundspeed
- 10 m/s
- GSD
- 2.741 cm
You get
- Motion blur
- 0.365
- Slowest shutter
- 0.00137 s
- Slowest shutter (fraction)
- 1/730 s
Review: Not yet independently reviewed by a Part 107 remote pilot.
Last verified: 2026-09-18, when a maintainer last confirmed this tool's sources at the issuer. See the sources ledger.
Status: version 1.0.0, core 0.1.0. See this tool in the verification report.
Checked against: 5 golden test vectors (download the test vectors, each with its source and tolerance). See how results are checked and every source.
Sources
- Elements of Photogrammetry with Applications in GIS, Wolf, P. R., Dewitt, B. A., and Wilkinson, B. E., McGraw-Hill, 4th edition. Chapter 6 (vertical photographs: scale and ground coverage). Read free.
Terms
- GSD: ground sampling distance
- The ground width one image pixel covers, such as 2 cm per pixel. A smaller GSD shows more detail. Source: Elements of Photogrammetry with Applications in GIS
Experimental means this tool has not yet met the stable bar: at least 20 golden vectors, differential tests, and an independent worked example.