Crisper pictures...without a flash...with zoom? Help a noob!

[coreduo]

Does it matter if you place it on auto knob even though the lens have not auto-manual? If it matters then it might be a factor. (Coming from a noob)

 

[Dao]

Olympus builds IS into the body.

I believe the particular model E-420 do not have IS. And with the 2x crop factor, the camera may need shoot at 1/300 for the 150mm focal length.

 

[mom2eight]

I have so many photos like this of my kids concerts. School light is terrible. Its very difficult to get anything with the terrible lighting.

 

[SushiWarrior]

You need to bump up that ISO to 1600 to get usable pictures I would say. If THAT'S a pic with 1/3 shutter speed... you must have IS, that's very clean for such a slow exposure. You should try to get the speed up to 1/100 or 1/200 because even if you can hold the camera still the subject (your son) will probably move and be blurry anyways.

 

[Village Idiot]

That is camera shake blur and here is why...
Focal Length 150.0 mm
Exposure Time 0.3
F Number 5.6

Your shutter speed was 1/3 of a second. That is way, way too slow.
The rule of thumb is that you want 1/focal length, so what you needed was at least 1/150.

Since you lens aperture was already at it's max, F5.6...you would have had to turn the ISO up to 12,800 to get a fast enough shutter speed. I'm pretty sure your camera doesn't go that high, and it if did, the images would be so noisy, they'd be unusable.

So really, there wasn't much you could do. Well, you could have use a tripod or monopod, which could have eliminated the camera shake, but at that slow of a shutter speed, the slight movements of the subjects would have caused them to be blurry anyway.

One option would be to get a lens with a wider max aperture. But even a lens with a max aperture of F2.8, wouldn't get you all the way to the shutter speed you need for shooting at 150mm. But if you did have a lens with an aperture of F2.8, and also turned the ISO up to 1600...then you might be able to pull it off...but you would really be pushing the limits of your camera.

The real problem, is that there just wasn't enough light. All this would be more simple if there was just more light. That's why flash is so handy....but when flash isn't allowed, there isn't much more you can do.

*edit*
I didn't realize that your camera might have built in stabilization. That will help you out on the camera shake blur....so maybe you could get away with slower shutter speeds....but it only helps, it doesn't fix it entirely. And 1/3 is still too slow. Also, stabilization does nothing to freeze the movement of the subjects.

Olympus uses the 4/3 sensor. FOV = 300mm in that photo, so /150 might even be cutting it even with the IS.

I think claims are for 2 stops?

 

[Village Idiot]

Olympus builds IS into the body.

I believe the particular model E-420 do not have IS. And with the 2x crop factor, the camera may need shoot at 1/300 for the 150mm focal length.

Mmmmmm. I thought all their bodies had it. The Oly fanatic was lying to me.

 

[gsgary]

As above way too slow, shooting at 150mm and 2x crop( equivalent of 300mm) and with your maximum aperture even if you up the ISO you don't have much chance of getting a sharp image without a F2.8 lens
Don't use shutter priority use Aperture priority with your widest aperture and you will always get your fastest shutter speed and get a correct exposure

 

[chapmaa]

Thanks everyone...you've no idea how much clearer this is becoming (clearer than my pictures obviously). I did read some 'DSLR for Dummies' type books but it doesn't fit together until you try, fail and then get some great advice.

robertwsimpson - I'll pare down the EXIF data next time

 

[robertwsimpson]

As above way too slow, shooting at 150mm and 2x crop( equivalent of 300mm) and with your maximum aperture even if you up the ISO you don't have much chance of getting a sharp image without a F2.8 lens
Don't use shutter priority use Aperture priority with your widest aperture and you will always get your fastest shutter speed and get a correct exposure

why wouldnt you use shutter priority if all you care about is how fast the shutter speed is? it's going to crank the aperture to achieve it anyway. and the ISO... makes sense to me.

 

[robertwsimpson]

Thanks everyone...you've no idea how much clearer this is becoming (clearer than my pictures obviously). I did read some 'DSLR for Dummies' type books but it doesn't fit together until you try, fail and then get some great advice.

robertwsimpson - I'll pare down the EXIF data next time

I always say, "Learn by doing!"

 

[robertwsimpson]

by the way, focal length is useful in some instances too, like this one! The rest is inconsequential.

 

[Big Mike]

why wouldnt you use shutter priority if all you care about is how fast the shutter speed is? it's going to crank the aperture to achieve it anyway. and the ISO... makes sense to me.

Many cameras won't adjust the ISO, so if you use shutter priority mode, the aperture value will just blink when it's maxed out...then the camera will either not shoot or will just underexpose the images.

 

[gsgary]

As above way too slow, shooting at 150mm and 2x crop( equivalent of 300mm) and with your maximum aperture even if you up the ISO you don't have much chance of getting a sharp image without a F2.8 lens
Don't use shutter priority use Aperture priority with your widest aperture and you will always get your fastest shutter speed and get a correct exposure

why wouldnt you use shutter priority if all you care about is how fast the shutter speed is? it's going to crank the aperture to achieve it anyway. and the ISO... makes sense to me.

If he sets it to 1/300 he will never get a correct exposure he won't realise that the aperture setting is flashing and it probably won't fire because it is so under exposed, shutter priority is for shooting motion and controlling movement

 

[robertwsimpson]

oh, my camera has an autoISO function... I guess I would just use that... I'm not that familiar with the "priority" modes though. Good to know.

 

[gsgary]

oh, my camera has an autoISO function... I guess I would just use that... I'm not that familiar with the "priority" modes though. Good to know.

Aperture priority for ball and field shorts, Shutter priority for motorsport and panning, if your not comfortable with manual