Couple questions about taking photos with my new Canon

Cop J · Dec 24, 2009

Just picked up a Canon XS and a 50mm 1.8 lens from amazon. I know some of you helped me with my D60 questions, but I actually sold that camera when I bought it. If I go Nikon, I don't want the "baby" Nikons since the non-S lenses won't focus.

Ok so I have been messing around with my XS for the last couple days and I have come across some problems. With my 50mm 1.8, most pictures I want to take are going to be around that low aperture. To achieve this, I go into Av mode and select 1.8. The problem is, the camera sets the shutter speed and ISO, but sometimes the shutter is WAY TO SLOW. Is there any way to make the speed a minimum of 1/60? I don't plan on using a tripod for all my pictures since I want to take family snapshots around the holidays. Sometimes I am taking a picture of something and the camera adjusts the shutter to 1/5 or something slow like that.

I know it is adjusting to a low light situation, but if the camera is at 1.8, I figure that would allow enough light in for the shutter to be a little faster. What I have been doing to compensate for this is shooting in Tv mode and setting my shutter myself and letting the camera do the aperture itself. This hasn't been much of a problem because the camera usually sets the aperture to 1.8 even though I'm in Tv, but I am just wondering if there is a fix for what I am looking for.

Martin_Garcia · Dec 24, 2009

Maybe you can go to Manual an increase the ISO more of what the Tv or aperture mode is setting.

iolair · Dec 24, 2009

I shoot a lot with the 50mm 1.8 on Canon... if you're shooting indoors with the available light, you won't get 1/60 at ISO 100 - unless your subject is right in front of a window. Pump up the ISO to 800 and you should get it though. It's easy to override ISO on my 20D, I'd be surprised if it's complicated on the XS.

Ron Evers · Dec 24, 2009

If in Av mode @ f1.8 your shutter speed is lower than you want then up the ISO until it is. You may end up with a grainy pic.

bahandi · Dec 25, 2009

ISO. As mentioned, min. 400-800

Cop J · Dec 25, 2009

I am also having a problem with blurry pictures. Seems like a lot of my pics are coming out blurry with this lens. What the problem is, when I take a picture of my baby sister, she moves to fast and the camera can't focus on her face so sometimes it focuses on her hand or something. Since the aperture is so large (F/1.8) everything in the pic will be blurred while her hand is clear. Any way to fix this? I was thinking to take off autofocus and manually put the focus point in the middle at all times.

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas!

bahandi · Dec 25, 2009

In my very limited experience, if you absolutely must shoot wide open, learn the focus points of your camera and use the appropriate points when framing your subject. If you can help it, shoot with a smaller aperture.

All I do are indoor shots, I'm finding both points I mentioned take a lot of practice..

FrankLamont · Dec 25, 2009

A lot of people, when the first use the 50mm f/1.8 - or any fast (ie, large aperture) lens - they have problems with blurriness.

It's not; it's out of focus. Slow shutter speeds aside - which you can counteract by using Manual, or going to TV (they'll automatically use large apertures for the most part in dark conditions) or even Program - the aperture is large, it's a standard telephoto on your APS-C 1.6x FOVCF body, which compresses the fore and background slightly, bringing the DOF to a steeper drop off in focus. The DOF is very thin (depth of field, ie the part that is in focus) with large apertures, so the slightest movement may cause the object it's focused on to be moved slightly out of the focus area, and with such a thin DOF, it will appear unfocused (not blurry; blurriness is shake).

CoRNDoG R6 · Dec 25, 2009

From what ive read in the manual, it seems that when your in AV mode, the shutter speed is set according to what you select for your apeture. In this mode, the shutter speed cannot be adjusted. Try using the TV mode, this setting will let you adjust the speed, but the draw back again is that the apeture is set up according to what you selected as your shutter speed.

If you really want control of both, do what Martin mentioned, set the camera to manual.