Nikon D5000 Sport Setting

heatherm0890 · Feb 1, 2010

Hi, everyone. I just got a Nikon D5000. I am somewhat of beginner but also somewhat familiar with photography so I thought I would post in this forum instead of beginner. Anyway, I am having problems with the sport setting of my camera. Even though it is sport it blurs? Any Ideas?

Big Mike · Feb 1, 2010

Welcome to the forum.

My first advice is to avoid the 'picture' settings. They are just there for people who don't know any better...and they really don't do anything that you can't do with the four primary modes (P, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority & Manual).

Getting back to your question. The sports mode simply puts a priority on a faster shutter speed...but the shutter speed that you can use, is determined by the light that you have to work with...and is limited by the lens's maximum aperture and the ISO setting.
So in other words, you just didn't have enough light to get sharp shots, given the aperture of your lens and the ISO setting.

I'd guess that the lens was at it's maximum aperture, so your only option there would be to buy a new/better lens with a larger max aperture.
You might be able to turn the ISO up higher, which would allow you to use faster shutter speeds...but the trade off is more digital noise.

Lastly, you could add light. Either by using flash (or another light source) or by shooting where/when there is more natural light.

Montana · Feb 1, 2010

Switch to manual and shy away from the sport setting. Or go to aperture priority and set the camera for the widest aperture on the lens and adjust ISO until you get a "motion stopping" shutter speed.

EDIT~ Big Mike types faster than I.....LOL

heatherm0890 · Feb 1, 2010

Ok i have tired the manual settings but everytime I try to do things with aperture or shutter speed I end up with black shots...it looks like I left the lens cap on...

Big Mike · Feb 1, 2010

Ok i have tired the manual settings but everytime I try to do things with aperture or shutter speed I end up with black shots...it looks like I left the lens cap on...

You can't just pick setting randomly...you still need to measure the light that you are shooting in. The camera does this in any of the auto modes, but you can still use the camera's meter in Manual mode.

While aiming the camera at your scene, look at the meter scale (...-2...-1...0...1...2...).
You will have to adjust the settings until the 'needle' gets close to the ....0... in the middle of the scale.
Tip: switch it to an auto mode and take note of the settings, then switch it back to manual and input those setting. That will give you a good starting point and you can experiment from there.