Why Cant I Take Good Pics Even In Auto.

[chezzyr]

Kirislin: what lens did you take that first shot with?

It appears to me you took it completely zoomed to 300mm.

This may or may not help but I have noticed with some

consumer lenses they are a bit dodgy at the extreme end.

If I was you I would do some testing and see how it goes

at about 290mm. Also I would test it with some non moving

subjects as well as trying some with manual focus.

sort of an elimination process...

Edited August 29, 2008 by chezzyr

[Kirislin]

I think it was fully zoomed out. I know I just have to really apply myself and start learning what's what. there's no easy fix. I just wish I could wake up one morning and have this inbuilt understanding. Like the good camera fairy touched me with her magic wand while I was sleeping.

[rubiton]

You need to practice and practice. When I got my first zoom lens 2 out of 24 pics were any good. Wasnt the camera it was what I was doing. Anyway . First thing is read the manual that came with the camera. It will make it easier to understand when we all start taking about AI Servo etc.

Now if it is on One Shot it will not be able to focus on a moving object and the pic look crap (I forgot to change it when I went from sales to races and couldnt work out why the focussing was so slow and out for the first race - then I realised I had it on the wrong focus setting). Now if you set it on AI Servo it will (well at least my camera and it does mention ths in the manual) only use the centre focus point to focus on the subject. In the second shot your centre focus point is on the water (which is perfectly sharp and in focus).

You also have to pactice holding the camera perfectly still and slowly dpressing the button - pushing too hard or quick will cause camera shake. To focus without taking a pic depress the shutter halfway (this is how you can practice - try taking pics of cars on a road going by they are bigger and easier than dogs).

As for settings try P - seems to be popular amongst photographers (I take everything on manual). Also stick to an aperture around 6.3 or F8 - anylower and you start to lose your focus depth of field which will result in blurry pics. I would also put the ISO on 400 so you get a nice high speed setting (around 1/1000 for running dogs).

[Kirislin]

Thankyou THANKYOU to everyone who's suggested things for me to try. I've started pressing buttons and worked out the continous shooting in manual as opposed to the auto sports mode. I took some pics today, changed the shutter speed and ISO and they worked. I'll post them in the "dog walking" thread I started but I can see an improvement in the still shots. The ones of Razor the black Amstaff were taken today. so again, THANKYOU!!

Edited October 2, 2008 by Kirislin