Sports shots

BigD · #1 June 9th, 2012, 12:19 PM

Been trying to shoot some shots at my kickboxing gym for our new website using my G£. They are all turning out very dark in S mode. So I swithed to M and the same, even with a high ISO. I then used the scene mode (sport) and this was much better but the shutter speed wasn't fast enough as 90 % of them were blurred. Am I doing something wrong, or is the standard 14 - 42mm kit lens not suitable????

Ned · #2 June 9th, 2012, 12:23 PM

The 14-42mm kit lens is slow and not well suited to action. If you cannot afford a faster lens, then you will require very high ISO (and the associated image degradation from high-ISO) to retain a fast shutter speed for action except in the brightest of light. Look at prime lenses if you want a good combination affordability, speed, and high image quality in a compact form.

If you're in Aperture Priority, open the aperture to the widest (smallest F-number) then bump up the ISO as high as necessary to get a reasonable shutter speed of say at least 1/200s-1/400s.

If you're in Shutter Priority, bump up the maximum ISO on your Auto ISO (through the main system menu) to a good high figure of at least 3200 or 6400. Then set a reasonable shutter speed (at least 1/200s-1/400s). Set ISO to Auto, and the camera will open your aperture as wide as it can then bump up the ISO as much as necessary to obtain that shutter speed.

A "reasonable" shutter speed of course varies depending on your focal length and just how fast the movement is. A wider angle lens doesn't require as fast a shutter speed to stop motion as a telephoto lens which crops tighter to the subject. If your photos are still motion blurred, then raise that value to a faster shutter speed. If you're finding that your ISO is getting bumped too high to be usable but you're not getting motion blur anymore, then try lowering your shutter speed and see how much more Image Quality you can eek out with a lower ISO.

Don't worry about Image Stabilization, as your shutter speed will be fast enough that it won't have any effect. Your subject motion should be greater than your camera shake with sports, unless you're REALLY shaky.

BigD · #3 June 9th, 2012, 12:47 PM

Thanks Ned. I will give that a try.

~tc~ · #4 June 9th, 2012, 09:34 PM

It sounds to me like you need to dial in some +EV compensation first - get the exposure where you want it, then use Ned's advice to get a fast enough shutter speed.

To get exposure compensation, half press the shutter so the exposure values read out, then push in the thumbwheel until the exposure bar is yellow, then dial in 1/3-2/3 +EV to brighten up the image. (Note, this is going to force the camera to select a longer shutter speed and/or higher ISO!

Sammyboy · #5 June 9th, 2012, 09:57 PM

Don't know what camera you're using, but have you tried taking a "movie" of the action, and then on your computer select the frames you want, and save them as jpeg's.