Went to the softball game yesterday and I obviously made a few mistakes.
Here are a few details of what I did.
First, the weather was cloudy and windy, later in the afternoon we had a couple of clear moments.
I tried Manual and TV mode using a different setting for each that were recommended. I also used sports and automatic mode too. I used my monopod for all shots and I was leaning on a fence for most of the pictures. I used the IS function on and off.
The primary lens was the Canon EF 70-200 2.8L and I also took a few shots using the Canon 24-105 L. The 105 had a Polarizer which I forgot was on the lens until I got home.
Anyway, the first few pictures were over exposed, I must have had my aperture to low, and I did have the 2.8 feature selected on the 200 lens, which I think may have also contributed to the poor quality.
Thanks everyone.
Merlin1300
Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX
Shoot in either Av, Tv or P mode with multi-point AF and you'll likely do better.
Shooting Manual for unplanned spontaneous shots will be hit or miss unless you're a Pro or advanced hobbyist.
Bryan Peterson has a reasonable tutorial
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Photographs-Camera/dp/0817439390-
IF you'd forced the lens to f/2.8, then your DOF would have been shallow, and all but that at center focus may have been unsharp.
Please explain "the 2.8 feature". What ISO, shutter speed did you use.
A few suggestions from a sports shooter.
I clear my camera settings after every game. Conditions change and no two games are alike. It makes me aware of my current camera settings when I get to my next game.
Next here is some general settings to start with. Until you get a better grip of the camera I would stay away from the manual setting. For action Use TV set the shutter speed no lower than 1/1000 and use auto ISO. Use auto on both shooting style and white balance. These setting will get you started and you can tweek them after a few shots.
If you are shooting thru the chain-link fence or netting. Put your hood on the 70-200. Center it in the links and butt it right up to the fence. The higher the focal length you use the less you will see of the links.
Camlane wrote:
Please explain "the 2.8 feature". What ISO, shutter speed did you use.
Camlane,
It's a selection switch similar to the AF/MF & IS switch on my lens. It has 2 options one is 1.4m-oo and the other is actually 2.5m-oo not 2.8. My mistake sorry. The ISO I used for some shots were 200 to 800, as for the shutter speed I use a max of f/11 and lower.
Thanks
Woodsman
Loc: North of Peterborough Ontario
Looking at the data of the over exposed shot I see you were using spot metering. That could explain why the light background is blown out so badly. I use spot a lot but mostly in darker backgrounds where I want to highlight/meter the subject only. The other thing you might want to try is to look up "back button focus" on the internet, there are sites that tell you how to setup your Canon for that and videos on what it does. It takes the focus function off the shutter switch and puts it on another button and the shutter button becomes a shutter release only. On my T3 focus changes to the * button and as long as that is held down and the camera is in continuous focus mode the camera will try to focus continuously while you take pictures with the shutter button. Very useful for moving subjects. Since changing both my Nikon and Canon cameras to BBF I use it exclusively now. Just my two cents worth
Woodsman,
Thanks for the advice.
It's best after you post to go back and add titles to each to make it easy for discussions. It is important to learn how to see your camera settings on your computer. I checked the first picture and it was over exposed and the data is attached. David
Meives wrote:
It's best after you post to go back and add titles to each to make it easy for discussions. It is important to learn how to see your camera settings on your computer. I checked the first picture and it was over exposed and the data is attached. David
David,
I'm not sure what you mean by "go back and add titles".
Thanks,
Cookie
PaulR01 wrote:
A few suggestions from a sports shooter.
I clear my camera settings after every game. Conditions change and no two games are alike. It makes me aware of my current camera settings when I get to my next game.
Next here is some general settings to start with. Until you get a better grip of the camera I would stay away from the manual setting. For action Use TV set the shutter speed no lower than 1/1000 and use auto ISO. Use auto on both shooting style and white balance. These setting will get you started and you can tweek them after a few shots.
If you are shooting thru the chain-link fence or netting. Put your hood on the 70-200. Center it in the links and butt it right up to the fence. The higher the focal length you use the less you will see of the links.
A few suggestions from a sports shooter. br I clea... (
show quote)
Excellent advice. No lower than 1/1000, let ISO auto and play with the aperature for DOF. I usually leave it at 2.8 because I love the look. Only point of debate would be using spot focus on the center AF point and crop in post to taste. Center AF point is almost always the fastest and most reliable and in sports shooting...that is what determines getting the action and missing it. I have found multipoint to not work as well when the action is fast and furious.
Also, learn to use Back button focusing and set the autfocus mode to Servo (canon). Shooting mode to high speed continuus.
Hold that back button down, point and fire away ! You will get lots of files to delete and I can gauarantee a couple will have your friends thinking your a pro (just dont tell 'em you shot 300 pics to get that beauty your are showing them :-)
...as you gain experience, your "keeper to tosser" ratio will improve...
Cookie223 wrote:
Camlane,
It's a selection switch similar to the AF/MF & IS switch on my lens. It has 2 options one is 1.4m-oo and the other is actually 2.5m-oo not 2.8. My mistake sorry. The ISO I used for some shots were 200 to 800, as for the shutter speed I use a max of f/11 and lower.
Thanks
That is a focus range limiter so that autofocus doesn't have as wide a range to search if all of your shots will be at a distance greater than 2.5 meters. In your case, I would leave it at 1.4-infinity.
I do not have advice on settings, as that will vary depending on conditions. I will say that what helped me, when my son was in football, was to go to the practices. While they practiced, so did I. That way when it was game time, I felt comfortable and had an idea of what shots I could get.
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