Faster Shutter Speeds

[jefflesh]

I was at my son's baseball game yesterday and I was trying to get some action shots of him. I thought I was doing a decent job until I got home and noticed that they were blurry. I feel that this is because my shutter speed was set at 1/60, ISO was at 100 and I think my aperture was in the 6.0 range. I am using a Canon 30D with the 28-135 f/ 3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. When I try to increase my shutter speed the aperture number in my view finder goes to 3.5 and blinks, meaning that the shutter speed it so fast for the aperture setting. Is there something I can do to the ISO setting to help? or do I need to save my pennies for a new lens with a bigger aperture?

Thanks all for your time.

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

[Digital Matt]

Increase your ISO. Shooting sports often requires ISOs of 400 or 800, or even 1600 to freeze action.

 

[jefflesh]

Matt,

Thanks for your quick reply. If I increase my ISO settings that high will I get a lot of noise in my photos?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

[Big Mike]

The 30D is one of the best cameras, in terms of low noise levels. You should be able to get good photos at ISO 400 or 800. There will be some noise, but noise is better than blur.

In the future, it might be wise to shoot at your maximum aperture, in Av mode. That will ensure that the camera sets the fastest shutter speed for the light you have. Increase the ISO as required to get faster speeds.

A faster (larger aperture) lens would certainly help.

 

[jefflesh]

Mike,

Thanks for your reply.

I will give it a shot, any idea as to what shutter speeds I should be trying to achieve? I was thinking that I have to be somewhere around the 1/200 or 1/250 minimal, is this correct?

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

[Big Mike]

It depends on the speed of the subject and the direction (relative to the camera) of the movement. 1/200 or 1/250 'should' be fast enough to freeze most movement of baseball players.

It also helps if you capture the action at a 'peak' moment. The top of a jump, for example. This is when the actual movement of the subject isn't very fast but you still get the effect of action in the image. Your camera is great in that it shoots at 5 frames per second, so don't be afraid to rattle off a bunch of shots just to get that one fantastic shot.

 

[cecilc]

... somewhere around the 1/200 or 1/250 minimal, is this correct?

Firstly, all of the advice and suggestions from Mike are dead-on .... go with what he's said.

Don't be afraid of high ISO's with your 30D. Even at ISO 1600! And please keep this in mind: A sharp shot with a little noise (or grain!) beats a blurry shot with no noise every day of the week!

But keep it in AV mode and adjust your ISO to keep your shutter speed up - personally, I'd like to see a minimum of 1/500 - but I wouldn't like to go any lower than 1/400 ..... and, even at 1/500, that won't "stop" a ball in flight (or a swinging bat!) .... you'll have to be up in the 1000's to do that ....

The good news is that you can make some adjustments on the fly and see what happens .... start out with your ISO at 800 and see what kind of shutter speeds you're getting and what kind of images you're getting. If your shutter speeds are in the 1000's and you're happy with the images, then you're set! But if you're finding shutter speeds up in the 2000/3000 range, then you can adjust your ISO downward a bit. But the noise at ISO 800 will probably not even be noticeable on a properly exposed image ....

 

[JIP]

Samples??

 

[Jon, The Elder]

Response #6, 7 are right on. I shoot horse events and bought the 30D because it is an excellent camera for sports.

You might start at (in Av) ISO 400/f4/center point focus/shutter at 1/1000.

We still use the 28-135 for a lot of our work, it is a good working lens. It does need a little PP for sharpening.