Sports Shots

Hyper · 4 Feb 2006 at 20:07

Hello All
Went out and bought a cheap £150 the other week, It is a Pentax Optio 60.
The only problem is that it doesnt have a sports mode for action shots.
This is a problem as i am into the hobby of Radio Controlled Cars which move fast and any shot i take of them is blurred.
Obviously the camera has all the settings of ISO Sensitivity and some other settings that are currently at F4.8 and the shutter speed.
Can anyone give me a idea of what these settings do and how i can ensure good pictures by changing the settings as at the moment i dont know which setting does what.
All i want is a quick shot so there is no motion blur but these cars do around 40mph so please bare this in mind.

Thanks, Sam

DizMatt · 4 Feb 2006 at 20:30

highest ISO possible
widest (lower F number) aperture
fastest shutter speed that combination will afford you
good lighting, even better
indoor lighting? you're stuffed....

the higher the ISO though, the more grainy the shot will be so noise ninja or neatimage are your friends for that if you're desperate for shutter speed

KIMMETT · 4 Feb 2006 at 21:35

If you can't get a really high shutter speed, to freeze the action, then try panning, that is move the camera in the same direction as the car, a technique commonly used in motorsport photography. This way, the car will be sharp, and the background should have some nice motion blur. If you do this well, it should look better than a sharp photo with no movement.

Hope that helps

Kimmett

Hyper · 4 Feb 2006 at 22:05

It seems when i lower the shutter time and lower the apurture, everything either goes really dark or really bright.

SDK^ · 4 Feb 2006 at 23:32

hyper7racer said:
It seems when i lower the shutter time and lower the aperture, everything either goes really dark or really bright.

Some basic info.

You need to find the right balance of all these 3 elements to achieve a sharp, properly exposed photo.

Aperture
F2.8 - More light through to the sensor, less depth of field (area in focus)
F8 - Less light through to the sensor, more depth of field (area in focus)

Shutter Speed - The distance to your subject has a dependency on the shutter speed you need to freeze moving objects.
1/60 - Will allow more light through to the sensor but chance of blur when handholding. If you're not panning then it's too slow for moving objects.
1/200 - Less light through to the sensor, lower chance of blur but still not fast enough to freeze moving objects.
1/400 - Very little light to the sensor, high chance of freezing moving objects.

ISO
ISO100 – Allows less light through to the sensor so use in bright conditions. This low setting will also show the least noise in your photo.
ISO400 – Allows more light through to the sensor so use it when you need to use a faster shutter speed. The downside is your photo will show more noise.

40mph isn't that fast - I've photographed Superbikes travelling at 100mph+ at a distance of about 20metres - I used a shutter speed of 1/250 and the shot was very sharp (when panning)

Hyper · 5 Feb 2006 at 01:18

SDK^ said:
Some basic info.

You need to find the right balance of all these 3 elements to achieve a sharp, properly exposed photo.

Aperture
F2.8 - More light through to the sensor, less depth of field (area in focus)
F8 - Less light through to the sensor, more depth of field (area in focus)

Shutter Speed - The distance to your subject has a dependency on the shutter speed you need to freeze moving objects.
1/60 - Will allow more light through to the sensor but chance of blur when handholding. If you're not panning then it's too slow for moving objects.
1/200 - Less light through to the sensor, lower chance of blur but still not fast enough to freeze moving objects.
1/400 - Very little light to the sensor, high chance of freezing moving objects.

ISO
ISO100 – Allows less light through to the sensor so use in bright conditions. This low setting will also show the least noise in your photo.
ISO400 – Allows more light through to the sensor so use it when you need to use a faster shutter speed. The downside is your photo will show more noise.

40mph isn't that fast - I've photographed Superbikes travelling at 100mph+ at a distance of about 20metres - I used a shutter speed of 1/250 and the shot was very sharp (when panning)

Thanks a lot mate.
The highest setting for ISO is 200.
Might print that off and take it with me

Sam