Some Advice please

jchiver

jchiver

jchiver

Associate
Joined
5 Jan 2004
Posts
528
Location
Swindon, Wiltshire
Hi Everyone,

I am after some advice. I have decided this is the year that I will try and understand my camera better and spend some time learning how to use it properly. I bought the camera with a few lenses a few years ago and its pretty much just sat in the cupboard.

I got it out today and took it to the park to take some pictures of my daughters playing just to get a feel for it again but the pictures all seem to be soft and are poorly focused. Now this might be just me the Muppet taking the pictures but they are all like it and was after some advice and maybe a way of testing the focus to see if there is an issues.

Below are some of the picture I took today so you can see what I mean. They were all taking with my 400d using a EFS 17-85 IS USM with a Hoya Pro1 UV filter @ ISO 100.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

img2341j.jpg

Shot at 2012-01-08
and
img2325j.jpg

Shot at 2012-01-08
 
Was it a dull day?

I ask this because I think the focussing is probably OK (parts of the apparatus look fairly crisp), but looking at the EXIF data it seems your shutter speed was 1/25, which when photographing fast-moving children is sometimes not fast enough!

That lens seems to have a largest aperture of f/4 but you were using it at the longer end meaning you probably couldn't have opened it any wider than the f/5.6 the photos were taken at.

It's worth trying to get the shutter speed up to 1/60 or maybe higher if they're likely to dash about - and there are several ways you can do this:
1) move closer so that you don't have to zoom in, allowing you to use the f/4 setting on your lens
2) increase the ISO setting to 200 or a bit higher (you shouldn't get much noise before ISO400)
3) take photos on brighter days!
4) fork out for a lens which is faster (will allow apertures larger than f/4 - note that f-numbers decrease as the aperture itself increases)
 
Lens looks fine but both shots were at 1/25th of a second which for moving kids and handholding is far too slow. You'd need to up the shutter speed then offset it by either dropping the aperature or increasing ISO, probably easier to do the iso due to the lens.

Edit - beaten
 
the main problem is that you are shooting at iso 100 simple basic way of looking at it for most photos is the darker the area is the higher the iso needs to be the brighter the lower the iso needs to be
 
Thanks for the feedback.

Yes it was dull and overcast but I thought it was light enough. (less learned) I will up the ISO next time. I do have the choice of a two other lenses but I took the 17-85 as it offered more range.

I have a Canon 70-200mm 4L USM and Canon 50mm EF F1.8 so I think the best bet next time would be to take the 50mm but it does limit me somewhat if I cant move closer.

What would you recommend for a good out and about lens?
 
It seems the general consensus here was the low ISO. Now I know I will increase it to 200 or 400 next time.

Would you say as a rule of thumb that between October to April is ISO 200+???

What shutter speed should I be aiming for if I am hand holding the camera? and taking pictures of moving objects?

Thanks for your help
 
Usual rule of thumb to avoid all handholding shake is focal length * 1.6 = minimum shutter speed (for a canon 400d), it would usually be 1/125 as the exif data said you shot at 76mm but as your lens has IS you can usually get away with a few stops lower. 1/125 would also freeze the movement of the child better too, the higer you can get away with the more still the shot will appear. Best way of learning is to play with it :)
 
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