what am I doing wrong?

[Jurence]

Lower ISO
Make shutter speed faster for more clarity
Make aperture smaller (more light to balance the above two)

 

[benhasajeep]

Ohh. Well whta can i Do to get clearer pics?

My shuter speed is 1/320 and aperture is 11 and ISO is like 500.

What should I do?

Have to remember that the shutter speed matching lens length is a rule of thumb for camera shake. So if your shooting 200mm you should be at about 1/250 for shutter. Now if you are trying to take a pic of a bird flying flapping its wings. And you want a blur free photo of the bird. You need to kick up the shutter another notch or two, maybe more. Yes IS helps with camera shake, but you still need a speed fast enough to stop the motion of the bird. An example of this would be taking a picture of a race car going by. You could be using a 300mm lens with IS on at say 1/125 shutter. And take a picture of the car. With IS the frame of the picture will be in focus (background / foreground), but the car will be a blur across the screen. That is motion blur. Only cured by fast shutter, IS or not.

As for the infinity, try the camera on a still object that is easy to focus on. Make sure camera is very still. Let it AF and take a pic (see if it looks in focus to you through view finder). Look at the lens and see where it focused at (make sure object is at infinity range or more). Then look at the pic. Most cameras will let you zoom in on a pic in camera on the screen. If its not in focus, go to manual and just adjust it a little bit one way or another (or if it didn't look in focus originally, focus manually till it looks in focus). Then again take a shot and check on screen by zooming in. Once you definately get it dialed in. Check the lens. And either mark it or remember where infinity is. Say for example on your lens infinity is actually in the middle of the right loop of the infinity symbol.

The one pick of the bird through the branches is a tough one for AF. If that was done manual with the lens set to infinity, it may be just a little tweak is needed in figuring out which way its slightly out.

 

[feRRari4756]

Okay thanks alot! ill try that now.

see this is like the type of shots i wann get

 

[feRRari4756]

Okay unfortunatley it was too dark and couldnt tell if it was out of focus or noise or what so ill try that tommorow. but do you guys think that the canon 30d is able to take the pics like the one i posted above?

 

[benhasajeep]

Okay unfortunatley it was too dark and couldnt tell if it was out of focus or noise or what so ill try that tommorow. but do you guys think that the canon 30d is able to take the pics like the one i posted above?

Any of the DSLR's in the last couple years can just fine. Lens may be a different story though. The less expensive lenses will not be as near as sharp as the top ones.

 

[feRRari4756]

Okay thanks. Thhis brought something else to mind.

Our whole "discussion" was weather or not my FOCUS was the reason for t he non-sharp images. Well, after reading your last post, it may be my LENS that is the problem.

Is my lens good? (shown in an earlier post by me.)

 

[McQueen278]

IDK if you reply was aimed towards me, but I am NOT zooming in at all. These are the originals. These were also taken in RAW format.

You are trying to shoot a bird in flight at 1/200th f/7.1 400ISO, at 210mm and hand held without image stabilization(EXIF from Pic 2). That is your problem. Try shooting in aperture priority (Av) instead of the program mode (P). Use a slightly larger aperture like f/5.6 and a little bit higher ISO, maybe 800, to get a faster shutter speed if you are going to hand hold. You could also use the all auto focus sensors mode to track the against the featureless sky to increase the chances for proper focus. Thankfully, there is nothing wrong with your camera.

As per the OP's questions regarding cropping, I don't know why you aren't getting the results you got with a P&S. Can you post an example of the problem and the EXIF data?

 

[feRRari4756]

Thanks for your inclusive reply!

How did you know that I was shooting with those settings? (BTW, I was shooting in full manual, not P)

What are the advantagse of the AV mode?

And what are the advantages and how do i put my canon 30d into "All auto focus sensors mode"?

 

[Early]

The photos I take have ben blurred somewhat too, but its only after I zoom in using photo shop that it really gets bad. I'm aware that there is a point where the photo can't be zoomed into further without blurring etc., but I'm not going that far. WHen I used the point and shot which was 8mp I could zoom into things where it looked as though it was a macro shot with crisp results, but I can't even zoom in a litle bit with A100 and have it clear. I always use the steady shot too. My husband seems to think its because the lens is not specifically "digital" but the Sony is supposed to use the minolta lens without a problem - or so they say.

Sorry - can't post any prints I don't save junk and when I saw them I got mad and simply deleted them.

Okay! Minolta made two versions of the 70-210. One was the f4, the older version, commonly called the beer can lens, which was a good one. The other is a f4-5.6 or something, which is said to be not so hot at the long end.

Who started this thread, anyway?

 

[McQueen278]

Thanks for your inclusive reply!

How did you know that I was shooting with those settings? (BTW, I was shooting in full manual, not P)

What are the advantagse of the AV mode?

And what are the advantages and how do i put my canon 30d into "All auto focus sensors mode"?

I use a program that lets me right click on an image and open a window with all of the data (EXIF Data) that the camera recorded. It's called exif viewer or something, I forget. Your camera said it was in program mode, but that doesn't matter. The advantage in AV mode is that you set the aperture value to achieve a desired depth of field and set the ISO and the camera figures out what shutter speed is nessessary for a good exposure from the other two variables. It just allows you to work faster.

To activate all the autofocus sensors at once, hit the button on the top right of the back of the camera that looks like a square with dots in it and use the control wheel by the shutter button to scroll through the sensors. You'll see on the top display a representation of all 9 sensors in the same patern as they appear in your viewfinder. Scroll until all of the sensors are shown on the top screen or look through the viewfinder and scroll through until all the points light up red. Then just press the shutter halfway down to resume shooting.

 

[feRRari4756]

I use a program that lets me right click on an image and open a window with all of the data (EXIF Data) that the camera recorded. It's called exif viewer or something, I forget. Your camera said it was in program mode, but that doesn't matter. The advantage in AV mode is that you set the aperture value to achieve a desired depth of field and set the ISO and the camera figures out what shutter speed is nessessary for a good exposure from the other two variables. It just allows you to work faster.

To activate all the autofocus sensors at once, hit the button on the top right of the back of the camera that looks like a square with dots in it and use the control wheel by the shutter button to scroll through the sensors. You'll see on the top display a representation of all 9 sensors in the same patern as they appear in your viewfinder. Scroll until all of the sensors are shown on the top screen or look through the viewfinder and scroll through until all the points light up red. Then just press the shutter halfway down to resume shooting.

Oh yea I knew how to activate all AF sensors. I guess i just didnt know what you meant by all sensors "mode" or whatever.

And about the AV, when i seet the ISO to 800 and the aperture at <whatever> (what should my aperture be set at to take extremly clear pictures against the featurless sky?), how will the camera know that i am taking action shots and it NEEDS TO HAVE a VERY high shutter speed? Like why wouldnt it just put it at 1/250 instead?

 

[feRRari4756]

Ive been doing some reading and do you guys think it should be using Tv mode to shoot action? (because i can set the speed really high, and it will adjust the aperture and iso to still make the image bright)??

 

[tsaraleksi]

No, that's not really a great idea. You need to set the aperture so that for the given scene, you'll have a higher shutter speed-- there is a very basic relationship between the two settings, as one changes so must the other.

 

[feRRari4756]

Okay. I just dont know why I am not getting good results with long shots with this camera.

I will try my 3rd day of shooting tommorow and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[feRRari4756]

hey guys i went out shooting deer today and i think something might be wrong with my 70-210 lens because it never focuses clearly.

this deer was like 350-500 yards away. i was zoomed all the way out to 210 mm. do you think at the far away it should have went to infinite zoom?